Esther (Handel)

Template:Handel oratorios Esther (HWV 50) is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel and is generally acknowledged to be the first English oratorio. Handel set a libretto by John Arbuthnot and Alexander Pope after the Old Testament drama by Jean Racine. It is a short (1 hr. 40 min.) work compared to Handel's later oratorios. The work was originally composed in about 1718, but was heavily revised into a full oratorio in 1732.

Masque (1718)

Somewhat surprisingly for an oratorio, the work was originally staged or semi-staged. It began as a masque (HWV 50a), composed early in Handel's English career, and before the body of his success as an opera composer. It was first composed and performed, probably, at Cannons, where the Duke of Chandos employed Handel in 1718 as resident composer writing for his patron's singers and small orchestra. Little is known about this first version of Esther. It had a few other private performances but otherwise remained untouched for more than a decade thereafter.

Oratorio (1732)

In 1731, Handel had different needs since public tastes were changing. London's most famous and popular composer of Italian operas was finding the enthusiasm of his audience for the genre to be waning. He returned to Esther, revised it, and presented an expanded oratorio version (HWV 50b) in a public premiere at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket on 2 May 1732. The work was popular and was frequently performed as a staple of Handel's oratorio repertoire throughout the rest of his career.

James Murray recounts as an anecdote of the 1732 premiere performance that the foreign singers garbled the text, one making the line "I come my queen to chaste delights" to be heard as "I comb my queen to chase the lice." according to a contemporary account.

Although this was Handel's first venture into his signature oratorio genre, it already displayed remarkable variety even with relatively small ensemble to create a wide variety of moods from the joyous choruses when the Israelites first learn that Esther, one of their own, will be made queen by their Persian overlord, King Ahasuerus, to their despondent cries when they are told that his anti-semitic minister, Haman, has ordered the death of all Jews in the kingdom. Then there is the tense appeal by Esther's kinsman Mordecai begging her to risk her life to save him and her people, leading to lyrical arias in which her charms entice the King to a dinner with Haman. Here she reveals that Haman is the source of the order to destroy Mordecai—a man, she reminds her husband, who, though a Jew, uncovered a plot against the king's life. The infatuated and outraged Ahasuerus peremptorily orders the execution of Haman. This is followed by a pathetic appeal of the minister to the queen, which she shrilly denies. The oratorio ends in grand Handelian style with an 11 minute extravaganza in which all the musical forces are rotated in a kaleidoscopic paean of joy that the Lord has slain the enemy of Israel. An interlude in the midst of blaring trumpets and shouting choristers features a bass duet which looks forward to the rebuilding of the temple. This surprise echoes Handel's ability to keep interest alive throughout the oratorio by varying the musical texture and timbre.

External links

• Esther libretto hosted by Stanford University (1718 Masque version).
• Esther libretto hosted by Stanford University (1732 Oratorio).
• Information on Esther at gfhandel.org.