Georg Friedrich Händel: Saul HWV 53: Voice: Vocal Score

Oratorio in three acts-Saul was given its first performance under Handel’s direction at the Haymarket Theatre London on 16 January 1739. The original libretto (dated 1738) refers to the work as “an Oratorio or Sacred Drama”. This libretto was written by Charles Jennens (1700–1770) a wealthy amateur writer from Gopsall Leicestershire. A letter of 28 July 1735 from Handel to Jennens suggests that a complete raft of the text already existed at that time. Saul occupies an extraordinarily important position in the English oratorio tradition that Handel brought to perfection standing alongside Israel in Egypt at the end of the first creative period of such works.- Urtext of the Halle Handel Edition - Full score (BA4020) & vocal score (BA402090) available for sale - Performance material (BA402072) available for hire

This oratorio for SATB soli SATB chorus and orchestra is one of the richest and fullest of all Handel's works although not his most well-known. This vocal score includes a piano accompaniment revised from that of the German Handel Society.

SATB-Beginning with a trumpet-like fanfare the joyful chorus of this anthem from the oratorio Saul enters in antiphonal statements. The closing hosannas propel the tempo with an upward cascading counterpoint climaxing in a typically rewarding Handelian ending.