Georg Friedrich Händel (1685 – 1759) was a German, later British, baroque composer who spent the bulk of his career in London, becoming well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, and organ concertos. Handel received important training in Halle and worked as a composer in Hamburg and Italy before settling in London in 1712; he became a naturalised British subject in 1727. He was strongly influenced both by the great composers of the Italian Baroque and by the middle-German polyphonic choral tradition.

Chandos Anthems, HWV 246–256, is the common name of a set of anthems written by George Frideric Handel. These sacred choral compositions number eleven; a twelfth of disputed authorship is not considered here. The texts are psalms and combined psalm verses in English. Handel wrote the anthems as composer in residence at Cannons, the court of James Brydges, who became the First Duke of Chandos in 1719. His chapel was not yet finished, and services were therefore held at St Lawrence in Whitchurch. The scoring is intimate, in keeping with the possibilities there. Some of the anthems rely on earlier works, and some were later revised for other purposes.

Ten of the anthems were published in 1748. With a leading Jubilate, an additional closing anthem in different scoring, and in different order, they were published in the Samuel Arnold edition of Handel's works. In the Hallische Händel-Ausgabe, anthems 1 to 11 are titled Anthems for Cannons. Carus-Verlag published an edition in 2009, calling them Cannons Anthems.

Handel’s three anthems (My song shall be alway HWV 252, O come let us sing HWV 253, O praise the Lord HWV 254) were composed in 1717 and 1718 for Cannons, a country estate near to London. The three pieces are noteworthy for their festive character and their varied orchestral accompaniment. Handel borrows older material from his Italian period and his earlier works for the Chapel Royal in London – a standard procedure for this composer, who reused particularly successful pieces as starting points for his later works. The scoring for solo voices, chorus, oboe, strings, and continuo was tailored to the musical resources of the small country estate. Two additional recorders are needed for “O come let us sing unto the Lord”.

No. 7 (HWV 252) "My song shall be alway" is partly derived from the "Te Deum in D" (HWV 280). The trio "Thou rulest the raging sea" performed at Cannons but probably spurious -- possibly composed by Johann Pepusch or Nicola Haym instead and is based on Psalm 89.

Source: Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandos_Anthems).

Although originally written for Voice (STB), Violins, Oboes & Basso Continuo (Cello, Bassoon & Bass), I created this Interpretation of the Chandos Anthem No. 7 in E Minor (HWV 252) for Winds (Flute, Oboe, French Horn & Bassoon) & Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).