Handel Oratorio Samson

Classical Music Milestone: February 18 

George Handel's oratorio Samson premieres at London's Covent Garden

Samson is an oratorio based on a libretto by Newburgh Hamilton, who based it on Milton's Samson Agonistes, which which in turn was based on Samson in the Holy Bible's Old Testament Book of Judges.  Samson is considered one of Handel's finest dramatic works.

Below is I think a brilliant recording performed by Münchener Bach-Chor Münchener Bach-Orchester, Karl Richter conducting.  Soloists: Sheila Armstrong, Martina Arroyo, Helen Donath, Ezio Flagello, Norma Procter,  Thomas Stewart,  Alexander Young.




Here's the recording tracks: 
1. Overture 00:00
2. Chorus of Philistines: Awake the trumpet's lofty sound! 06:38
3. Air (Philistine woman): Ye men of Gaza, hither bring 08:42
4. Air (Samson): Total eclipse 12:52
5. Chorus of Israelites: Then round about the starry throne 17:23
6. Air and chorus (Micah, Israelites): Return oh Gof of hosts! 19:25
7. Duet and chorus (Dalila, Virgin, Virgins): My faith and truth, oh Samson prove 29:35
8. Air (Samson): Your charms to ruin led the way 36:37
9. Air (Harapha): Honour and arms such a foe 40:17
10. Duet (Samson, Harapha): Go, baffled coward, go 45:45
11. Chorus of Israelites: With thunder armed 48:16
12. Chorus of Israelites and Philistines: Fix'd in his everlasting seat 51:24
13. Air (Samson): Thus when the sun from's wat'ry bed 54:36
14. Air and chorus (Philistine man, Philistines): Great Dagon has subdued our foe 58:35
15. Chorus of Philistines: Hear us our God, oh hear our cry! 01:02:28
16. Dead March 01:03:52
17. Solo and chorus (Israelites): Glorious hero, may thy grave 01:06:46
18. Air (Israelites woman): Let the bright Seraphim 01:13:06
19. Chorus of Israelites: Let their celestical concerts all unite 01:16:20

 The premiere on February 18, 1743, was a great success leading to a total of seven performances in its first season, the most in a single season of any of Handel's oratorios. Samson retained its popularity throughout Handel's lifetime.  It is usually performed as an oratorio in concert form. On occasions it has also been staged as an opera.

Video Credit: 

Handel - Samson.  VSP musicale. Accessed Feb 18, 2018.  

Resource:

Handel's Oratorio Samson.  operastanford.edu (Libretto Homepage).  Accessed February 18, 2015.


© 2007. Updated February 18, 2018. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights Reserved. 

Tchaikovsky's None but the Lonely Heart

Tchaikovsky Music / Song 


In late 1869, Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed a set of six romances for voice and piano, Six Romances, Op. 6.  The last of these songs, TH93:6, is one of his best-loved songs, the melancholy "None but the Lonely Heart." It is a setting of Lev Mei's poem "The Harpist's Song," which in turn was translated from Johann Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship.   

Tchaikovsky dedicated "None but the Lonely Heart" to Alina Khvostova. The song was first performed by Yelizaveta Lavrovskaya, a Russian mezzo-soprano, in Moscow, 1870, following it with its St. Petersburg premiere the following year during an all-Tchaikovsky concert hosted by Nikolai Rubinstein.

The music is used in the film of the same name, starring Cary Grant and Ethel Barrymore, directed by Clifford Odets.  

Here's  Tchaikovsky's "None but the Lonely Heart", interpreted by the late violinist Isaac Stern. Uploaded by DaMenke. Accessed February 14, 2014.




Here's another link of "None but the Lonely Heart", interpreted by violinist Daniel Lozakovich (arranged by Elman).

Lorenzo Da Ponte, Librettist of Wolfgang A. Mozart

Lorenzo Da Ponte, Mozart's librettist of some of the composer's greatest operas

Guest Writer:  (c) Agnes Selby
 
On 20th August 1838, while the trees in the Roman Catholic cemetery swayed gently in the breeze, a distinguished group of New York citizens gathered around an open grave bidding farewell to the scholarly old gentleman who had died peacefully in his ninetieth year. He had been the first Professor of Italian Literature at Columbia University and had endowed Columbia's library with a large collection of rare Italian books.

Exceedingly handsome even in his old age, he had looked patriarchal with a mane of glistening white hair and piercing eyes. He had been a popular citizen of New York, his children had married into the best American families, and his wife, who had died before him, was remembered as a gentle, ladylike creature of exquisite beauty.

The distinguished citizens did not mourn the old man too deeply. He had died of old age and had lived a long and fruitful life. Some even smiled to themselves as they remembered his little lies, boasting of writing librettos for the immortal Mozart, counting the Emperor Joseph II of the Holy Roman Empire amongst his friends and knowing Casanova intimately. Oh, he could tell some stories... and added to his little fibs was the gossip that he had once been a practicing priest. This gossip, they believed, was spread by his Italian enemies. On top of all that, the gossips said he had been born a Jew.