{ Program Notes
trouble. After emigrating from Germany
to England as a young man, he had enjoyed a celebrated career as the country’s
leading composer of operas, mostly in
Italian and enhanced by spectacular
costumes and scenic effects. But by the
end of the 1730s, Handel’s serious grand
operas were falling out of fashion. The
success of John Gay’s much simpler,
English-language The Beggar’s Opera
fueled a new enthusiasm for popular-style
comic operas. Unable to fill London’s
opera houses any more, Handel retreated
from the field and turned his genius to
sacred dramas or oratorios.
He was not a novice in this genre.
Even while busy writing operas,
Handel had composed a number of
oratorios, notably Israel in Y