![George Frideric Handel by Balthasar Denner](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/George_Frideric_Handel_by_Balthasar_Denner.jpg)
''Esther'' (
HWV 50) is an
oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...
by
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...
. It is generally acknowledged to be the first English oratorio. Handel set a libretto after the
Old Testament drama by
Jean Racine
Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditio ...
. The work was originally composed in 1718, but was heavily revised into a full oratorio in 1732.
Masque (1718, revised 1720)
''Esther'' began in 1718 as a
masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masque ...
, or chamber drama (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 at
Cannons
A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during ...
, where the
Duke of Chandos
The Dukedom of Chandos is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England. First created as a barony by Edward III in 1337, its second creation in 1554 was due to the Brydges family's service to Mary I during Wyatt's rebellion, wh ...
employed Handel from 1716 - 1718 as resident composer writing for his patron's singers and small orchestra. Little is known about this first version of ''Esther''. The version which survives is of a revision in 1720, also probably intended for private performance at Cannons, where the very wealthy Duke of Chandos employed a group of musicians and singers, and where ''
Acis and Galatea'', Handel's first non-religious vocal work in the English language, also had its premiere in 1718.
The Cannons version of ''Esther'' was in six scenes with no break and written for an ensemble of one soprano, an alto, two tenors and two basses. Like ''Acis and Galatea'', ''Esther'' may have been staged or semi-staged, with the soloists singing together to create a chorus when required. The author of the
libretto
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...
is uncertain.
Dramatis Personae
![Esthermillais](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/de/Esthermillais.jpg)
*Esther (soprano)
*Ahasuerus, King of Persia (tenor)
*Mordecai (tenor)
*Haman (bass)
*Israelite Woman (soprano)
*Priest (alto)
*First Israelite (tenor)
*Second Israelite (bass)
*Habdonah (bass)
*Persian Officer (bass)
*Chorus of Israelites
*Chorus of Persian Soldiers
Synopsis
![Esther Denouncing Haman](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Esther_Denouncing_Haman.jpg)
Esther, a Jewish orphan, lived with her relative Mordecai, an advisor to King Ahaseurus of Persia. Mordecai had discovered and prevented a conspiracy to assassinate the King. Ahaseurus, having rejected his previous wife, selected Esther as his spouse. The Prime Minister, Haman, became enraged when Mordecai refused to bow to him, Mordecai stating that he would bow only to his God. The first version of "Esther" opens as Haman decides to order the extermination of all Jews throughout the Persian empire as retaliation for Mordecai's insult to him. The Jews, meanwhile, are celebrating Esther's accession as Queen of Persia but their happiness turns to mourning when they hear the news that the slaughter of all Jews has been ordered. Esther asks Mordecai why he is displaying grief by being dressed in sackcloth and ashes and he tells her the King has followed his Prime Minister's advice to order the extermination of the Jews. He asks Esther to appeal to her husband to rescind the order, but she explains that it is forbidden upon pain of death to approach the King without being sent for. She decides to take this risk anyway and goes to see the King, who pardons her breach of protocol in approaching him without invitation and offers to grant any petition she asks. Esther only requests that the King and Haman will attend a banquet hosted by herself. At the dinner, Esther reminds the King that Mordecai had saved his life and reveals her Jewish origin. She tells the King that the order to exterminate the Jews is directed against Mordecai and herself. Haman had prepared a gallows on which to hang Mordecai, but the King orders Haman himself to be executed there. The Jews give thanks to God for their deliverance.
Musical features
Notable among the arias is "Tune your harps with cheerful noise", with
pizzicato
Pizzicato (, ; translated as "pinched", and sometimes roughly as "plucked") is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of instrument :
* On bowed ...
string accompaniment; an actual harp is used in the orchestra in the following aria. The work ends with a lengthy and grandiose choral movement.
Oratorio (1732)
![London Kings Theatre Haymarket](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/London_Kings_Theatre_Haymarket.jpg)
By 1731, Handel had spent more than ten years composing Italian operas for London and presenting seasons of his operas at London theatres. There was no system of royalties or copyright at that time, and a copy of the score of ''Esther'' having been obtained, the 1720 version was performed, apparently in a staged version, by boy singers of the Chapel Royal at the
Crown and Anchor tavern
The Crown and Anchor, also written Crown & Anchor and earlier known as The Crown, was a public house in Arundel Street, off The Strand in London, England, famous for meetings of political (particularly the early 19th-century Radicals) and vari ...
, a popular venue for music, and was very successful. A member of the Royal Family asked Handel to present ''Esther'' at the theatre where his operas were performed, but the
Bishop of London
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
,
Edmund Gibson
Edmund Gibson (16696 September 1748) was a British divine who served as Bishop of Lincoln and Bishop of London, jurist, and antiquary.
Early life and career
He was born in Bampton, Westmorland. In 1686 he was entered a scholar at Queen's Coll ...
, would not permit Biblical stories to be acted out upon the stage. Therefore, Handel decided to present ''Esther'' in concert form as an addition to the 1732 opera season, with the singers currently appearing in the Italian operas but no scenery or stage action, and in a revised three-act form with additional text by
Samuel Humphreys
Samuel Humphreys (23 November 1778 – 16 August 1846) was a noted American naval architect and shipbuilder in the early 19th century. He served the United States Navy as the Chief Constructor for the Navy from 1826 to 1846.
Naval archit ...
. The work was extremely popular and thus the form of the English oratorio was invented, almost by accident.
![Esther playbill](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Esther_playbill.jpg)
The
coronation anthem
A coronation anthem is a piece of choral music written to accompany the coronation of a monarch.
Many composers have written coronation anthems. However, the best known were composed by George Frideric Handel for the coronation of the British ...
s Handel had written for the coronation of
George II George II or 2 may refer to:
People
* George II of Antioch (seventh century AD)
* George II of Armenia (late ninth century)
* George II of Abkhazia (916–960)
* Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051)
* George II of Georgia (1072–1089)
* ...
in 1727, with their large orchestra and massed choruses, had made a huge impact, and the playbills advertising the 1732 performances of ''Esther'' said "The music will be disposed after the manner of the Coronation Service". Handel's Italian operas laid overwhelming emphasis on solo arias for the star singers, with no extra choruses, while for the revision of ''Esther'', the coronation anthems "My Heart is Inditing" and a version of "Zadok the Priest" were added. Their large choruses and grandiose orchestral effects with trumpets and drums were very different from what London audiences had experienced in Handel's Italian operas. ''Esther'' was very successful, Handel revived the work in many subsequent London seasons, and it proved the prototype for a long succession of similar dramatic oratorios in English by the composer.
The playbills also stated "N.B. There will be no action on the stage, but the house will be fitted up in a decent manner for the audience." An anonymous pamphleteer found this novel form of entertainment, with the Italian opera stars sitting on stage in contemporary dress and singing in mangled English, rather hard to get used to:
This being a new thing set the whole world a-madding. Han't you been at the oratorio? says one. Oh! if you don't see the oratorio you see nothing, says t'other, so away I go to the oratorio, where indeed I saw the finest assembly of people I ever beheld in my life; but to my great surprise found this sacred drama a mere concert, no scenery, dress or action, so necessary to a drama. But Handel was placed in a pulpit ... by him sat Senesino,
Strada, Bertolli and Turner Robinson tars of the Italian operain their own habits lothesnbsp;... Strada gave us a "Hallelujah" of an half hour long; Senesino and Bertolli made rare work of the English tongue, you would have sworn it had been Welsh. I would have wished it had been Italian, that they might have sang with more ease to themselves, since ... it might as well have been Hebrew.
James Murray recounts as an anecdote of the 1732 premiere performance that the foreign singers garbled the text, Senesino 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.
[Sherman, Bernard D: ''Inside Early Music'', page 254. Oxford University Press US, 2003.]
Dramatis personae
Synopsis
Act 1
Esther and her adoptive father Mordecai are thrilled by Esther's elevation to Queen of Persia. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister Haman, insulted by Mordecai's refusal to make obeisance to him on religious grounds, persuades King Ahasuerus to order the extermination of all Mordecai's fellow Jews throughout the Empire (which at that time included Jerusalem and
Judea
Judea or Judaea ( or ; from he, יהודה, Hebrew language#Modern Hebrew, Standard ''Yəhūda'', Tiberian vocalization, Tiberian ''Yehūḏā''; el, Ἰουδαία, ; la, Iūdaea) is an ancient, historic, Biblical Hebrew, contemporaneous L ...
). Esther and the Jewish people are giving thanks to God for Esther becoming Queen when Mordecai brings the news that the royal order has been given for the Jews' extermination and their happiness turns to mourning.
Act 2
![Esther-before-ahasuerus](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Esther-before-ahasuerus.jpg)
Mordecai asks Esther to appeal to her husband the King to rescind his order for the extermination of the Jews, but Esther explains that she, like everyone else, is forbidden, upon pain of death, to approach the King without his express invitation. However, on Mordecai's pleading, she decides to risk the King's wrath. The Jewish people pray that her mission of mercy will succeed. When Esther confronts the King, he is at first displeased and she faints away. The chorus comment that her charms are sure to melt the King's heart in the end.
Act 3
Mordecai and the Jewish people are confident that God will come to their aid and that Esther's plea to the King will be successful. In the King's apartments, Ahaseurus now declares he will give Esther anything she asks. Esther reveals her Jewish origins and points out that Haman devised the order for the Jews' extermination in order to target herself and Mordecai, who had previously saved the King's life. The King is horror struck and orders Haman's execution. Haman appeals to Esther for pardon, but she scorns him. The Jews offer magnificent songs of praise to God for their salvation.
Musical features
Notable among the pieces added for 1732 is the opening arioso for Esther, "Breathe soft ye gales", scored for strings and two each of bassoons, recorders and oboes. The woodwinds and strings are at first divided into numerous different parts, as they play against a background of a contrasting group of continuo instruments consisting of organ, harpsichord,
theorbo
The theorbo is a plucked string instrument of the lute family, with an extended neck and a second pegbox. Like a lute, a theorbo has a curved-back sound box (a hollow box) with a wooden top, typically with a sound hole, and a neck extending ou ...
and harp. The instruments then join together to create a lush texture.
Recordings
1718 version as revised in 1720
*Patrizia Kwella (Esther),
Anthony Rolfe Johnson
Anthony Rolfe Johnson (5 November 1940 – 21 July 2010) was an English operatic tenor.
Early life
Anthony Rolfe Johnson was born in Tackley in Oxfordshire. As a boy, he demonstrated musical ability and sang as a boy soprano, making a record ...
(Ahasuerus),
Ian Partridge
Ian Partridge (born 12 June 1938) is a retired English lyric tenor, whose repertoire ranged from Monteverdi, Bach and Handel, the Elizabethan lute songs, German, French and English songs, through to Schoenberg, Weill and Britten, and on to cont ...
(Mordecai),
David Thomas (Haman),
Emma Kirkby
Dame Carolyn Emma Kirkby, (; born 26 February 1949) is an English soprano and early music specialist. She has sung on over 100 recordings.
Education and early career
Kirkby was educated at Hanford School, Sherborne School for Girls in Dors ...
(Israelite Woman), Drew Minter (Priest). Conductor
Christopher Hogwood
Christopher Jarvis Haley Hogwood (10 September 194124 September 2014) was an English conductor, harpsichordist, writer, and musicologist. Founder of the early music ensemble the Academy of Ancient Music, he was an authority on historically info ...
,
The Academy of Ancient Music
The Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) is a British period-instrument orchestra based in Cambridge, England. Founded by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood in 1973, it was named after an 18th-century organisation of the same name (originally the Ac ...
Orchestra and Chorus. L'Oiseau-Lyre 4144232, released 1985.
*Lynda Russell (Esther), Tom Randle (Ahasuerus),
Mark Padmore
Mark Padmore (born 8 March 1961) is a British tenor appearing in concerts, recitals, and opera.
He was born in London on 8 March 1961, and raised in Canterbury, Kent, England. Padmore studied clarinet and piano prior to his gaining a choral s ...
(Mordecai), Michael George (Haman),
Nancy Argenta
Nancy Argenta is a Canadian soprano singer, best known for performing music from the pre-classical era. She has won international acclaim, and is considered one of the leading Handel sopranos of her time.
Life
She was born in Nelson, British Col ...
(Israelite Woman),
Michael Chance
Michael Chance CBE (born in Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom 7 March 1955) is an English countertenor and the founder and Artistic Director of The Grange Festival.
Chance was born in Penn, Buckinghamshire, into a musical family. After growing u ...
(Priest). Conductor
Harry Christophers
Richard Henry Tudor "Harry" Christophers CBE FRSCM (born 26 December 1953) is an English conductor.
Life and career
Richard Henry Tudor Christophers was born in Goudhurst, Kent. He was a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral under choirmaster Al ...
, The Symphony of Harmony and Invention and
The Sixteen
The Sixteen are a United Kingdom-based choir and period instrument orchestra; founded by Harry Christophers, they started as an unnamed group of sixteen friends in 1977, giving their first billed concert in 1979.
The group performs early Engl ...
. Coro COR16019, released 1996.
First reconstructable version (Cannons), 1720
Susan Hamilton (Esther),
James Gilchrist (Ahasuerus), Nicholas Mulroy (Mordecai), Matthew Brook (Haman), Electra Lochhead (Israelite),
Robin Blaze
Robin Blaze (born 1971 in Manchester) is an English countertenor.
Early life
The son of Peter Blaze, a professional golfer, and Christine, Blaze and his brother Mark grew up in Shadwell, near Leeds, and was educated at Leeds Grammar School, ...
(Priest). Conductor
John Butt,
Dunedin Consort
Dunedin Consort is Scotland's leading baroque ensemble based in Edinburgh, Scotland, recognised for its vivid and insightful performances and recordings. Formed in 1995 and named after Din Eidyn, the ancient Brittonic Celtic name of Edinburgh Cast ...
Orchestra and Chorus. Linn Records CKD 397, released 2012.
1732 version including two Coronation Anthems
Rosemary Joshua
Rosemary Joshua (born 16 October 1964) is a Welsh soprano, particularly known for her performances in Handel's operas.
Joshua was born in Cardiff and studied at the Royal College of Music. After completing her studies there, she made her debut at ...
(Esther),
James Bowman (Ahasuerus),
Susan Bickley
Susan Bickley is a British mezzo-soprano singer who performs in opera, Baroque and contemporary classical music.
Personal life and education
Susan Rochford Bickley was born into a Welsh family in Liverpool, England. Her father was a primary sch ...
(Mordecai),
Christopher Purves
Christopher Purves (born in Cambridge) is an English bass-baritone.''Opera'' (2009), vol. 60, p. 516, "Christopher Purves. Erica Jeal. Purves sings his first Falstaff at Glyndebourne this month Before I get to talk with ... Home was Cambridge, wh ...
(Haman), Rebecca Outram (Israelite Woman). Conductor
Laurence Cummings
Laurence Cummings (born 1968, Birmingham) is a British harpsichordist, organist, and conductor. He is currently music director of the Academy of Ancient Music.
Biography
Cummings was educated at Solihull School, Christ Church, Oxford and th ...
London Handel Orchestra and Chorus. Somm SOMM238/9, released 2007.
Notes
External links
*
*
* Esthe
librettohosted by
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
(1718 Masque version).
* Esthe
librettohosted by
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
(1732 Oratorio).
* Information o
Esthera
gfhandel.org
{{Authority control
Oratorios by George Frideric Handel
Cultural depictions of Esther
1718 compositions
1732 compositions
Oratorios based on the Bible
Operas based on works by Jean Racine