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ISRAEL IN EGYPT - PROGRAM NOTES (downloadable Word document here)
Douglas R. McKay (2004)
Georg Friedrich / George Frederick Handel (b. Halle, 23 February, 1685; d. London, 14 April, 1759)
His sacred oratorio, "Israel in Egypt," is situated historically between the performance of the oratorio "Saul" (1739) and before the composition of "Messiah" (1741). It was first performed at the King's Theatre, London, 4 April, 1739.
Handel was a German by birth, but at age 42 he became a naturalized English citizen and adopted the anglicized version of his name. In October of 1738 he composed "Israel in Egypt," the fifth of his 19 English language oratorios. At that time political unrest ran rampant: battles raged between Russia and Turkey; British troops were involved in a border dispute with Spain, which eventually let to Britain's declaration of war. In 1738, Britain's distant restless colonies in America were still 38 years away from independence. George Washington was then only six; John Adams and Paul Revere were mere toddlers of three; Patrick Henry was barely two. On the continent, in 1738, Bach completed his great Mass in B minor; Leopold Mozart, the father-to-be of Wolfgang Amadeus, was yet a lad in his late teens; and the first cuckoo clock was invented in Switzerland. In Britain, the last English witch had been executed 26 years earlier; number 10 Downing Street had recently been constructed; and "Gulliver's Travels" had been in print for only 12 years. Handel, for his part, had already achieved renown with numerous operas, cantatas, anthems, suites, and songs. His celebrated "Water Music" was first performed on the River Thames in 1717, and he had made a personal fortune writing operas in the Italian manner since becoming director of London's Royal Academy of Music at age 34. Some three years after "Israel in Egypt," he would attain universal acclaim for his monumental oratorio, "Messiah," reportedly written in about three weeks' time.
Owing to a long career of notable artistic successes and a remarkable gift of genius, Handel is considered among the world's great composers. His English language oratorios alone are impressive: they were all first performed in London, with the exception of "Messiah," which had its premiere in Dublin. Schonberg states that Handel turned to writing oratorios when public interest in his Italian arias began to wane.
The choral oratorio that flourished in England during Handel's lifetime had its foundation in Italy as early as 1660. Originally an extended musical drama of a religious nature, oratorios were written for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra, with a perceptible dramatic focus intended to advance a biblical tale. Some of the earliest examples were even staged with costumes and scenery, a kind of expansive devotional opera. Handel's English oratorios, however, departed from the earlier Italian tradition by often eliminating the acting component and by shifting the narrative away from stagecraft to depict spiritual works of epic grandeur without costumes, scene changes, or dramatic movement. While his texts remained wholly religious in content, he trained his concerts' focus on choral narration and description - less operatic, for certain, but with an astounding variety of choral texture in the grand manner of the baroque.
At times these non-dramatic changes proved to be a hard sell among staid London concertgoers. Throughout his career Handel had tried new things on his audiences and his experiments were often a step ahead of their musical complacency. Such was certainly the case when "Israel in Egypt" came to town. It was the first oratorio in musical history to totally discard individual characters in favor of assigning a massive fixed chorus the task of narrating the biblical text. Largely as a result of their predisposition to expect from Handel many lively operatic arias in the Italian manner, his April 1739 concertgoers yawned, fidgeted, and grew instantly bored. The preponderance of spacious choral material simply ran counter to popular taste. Handel's new oratorio may have been choral splendor on a large scale, but his audience deemed the splendor tedious and fatiguing. One critic called the work, "Handel's most superbly magnificent failure." Attempting to offer some concessions to his distressed patrons, the composer hurriedly added a few songs and deleted some choral passages for the following week's performance, but these minor changes were not enough to placate a restless throng accustomed to greater operatic intensity and solo singing. "Israel in Egypt" folded after three performances.
To avoid duplicating the initial reaction of disenchantment to this work, today's better informed audience will attend the concert knowing beforehand that the oratorio will describe the oppression of the Israelites in Egypt and their subsequent escape from bondage by crossing the Red Sea, but with no specific dramatic role accorded to Moses. The story will be told in over 20 choral selections, plus four brief arias, three duets, and a few short recitatives. There are no independent orchestral numbers except for brief introductions to the choral narrative.
Part One, lasting just over half an hour, deals with an exciting assortment of Old Testament terrorism. The Israelite's misery at the hands of brutal taskmasters is countered by the sudden onslaught of several grievous plagues, sent to punish the Egyptians and to release the children of Israel from captivity. As one by one each revolting plague assails the Egyptians, Handel's sense of humor emerges, underscoring the musical delight he derives over the enemy's discomfort. You will hear, for example, the Egyptians groaning with disgust as water turns to blood; you will hear also the hopping of nasty little frogs, the buzzing of loathsome flies, the whirling of a swarm of locusts, the crashing and spattering of huge hailstones, and a thick gathering of spiritual gloom as darkness covers the land. All this chaos, interpreted through the imitative power of choral and orchestral music, illustrates divine anger, savage retribution, and an adversary's angst. It culminates with the sounds of lashing waves and wild waters: the Red Sea divides in half, allowing the Israelites to pass over into freedom.
Part Two, close to an hour in length, is a stirring paean to the triumph of the chosen people. The pictorial imagery we experienced in Part One when diverse plagues descended on the Egyptians is now concentrated on one colossal sustained impression: the sonorous splendor of the sea as it swallows up the Egyptians. This calamity co-mingles with passages of intense exuberance: an expression of the Israelite's relief from the burden of oppression.
Everything in Part Two is on a mighty scale. Soft, meditative strains are noticeably reduced; contemplative moods have given way to exultation. This section has been called "a great anthem for double chorus," leading to a final song of triumph, a "grand, jubilant, overpowering expression of victory."
"Israel in Egypt" is indeed a magnificent choral concert, but its performance will present a two-sided challenge. The first challenge will face members of the Chorale and the orchestra, whose talents and sustained energy must enhance the oratorio's richness and diminish its compositional flaws. The second challenge will face those of us in the audience, who will be asked to put aside for almost ninety minutes our present-day concerns to allow the majesty of Handel's creative imagination to envelope us in its soaring musical beauty.
Remembering, too, that George Frederick Handel wrote of a dark, violent time, not dissimilar to his own day and not unlike the explosive world we live in today; we may be separated by 266 years since the oratorio was written, but our awareness both of the turmoil it describes and the political unrest of Handel's time can help to bring the powerful message of his composition close to our hearts.
- Douglas R. McKay
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