HANDEL, George Frideric 1685-1759

Solomon, A Sacred Oratorio In Score, With all the additional Alterations, Composed in the Year, 1749. [HWV 67]. [Full score]

London: Arnold [Nos. 85-92], ca. 1790.

Folio. Dark ivory paper-backed blue boards. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 3-344 pp. Engraved.

Binding considerably worn, rubbed, and bumped. Slightly worn and soiled; first signature detached, with early tape to portions of inner margin and small holes to gutter; edges soiled. Quite a good copy internally overall.

Later edition. Smith p. 143, no. 5. RISM H1536

Solomon was first performed in London at Covent Garden on 17 March 1749. The question of authorship of the libretto remains uncertain, but it may have been supplied by Moses Mendez (?1690-1758), a Jewish English poet and playwright.

"It is a pity he [the librettist] cannot be identified, as he had a real gift for polished lyric verse using clear images drawn from nature. He must have some credit for the new richness of style and depth of feeling that appears in the music, and which Handel subsequently sustained in all his late works. Solomon was composed between 5 May and 13 June 1748. ... Solomon presents three views of an ideal monarch ruling an ideal kingdom, all linked by the religious fervour attendant upon the building of the new temple in Jerusalem. In the first act Solomon and his queen appear as the young lovers of the Song of Songs, sensuously celebrating their mutual happiness. The second act shows Solomon’s wisdom in resolving a dispute between two harlots, each claiming a baby as her own. In the third act Solomon is visited by the Queen of Sheba, and uses a musical masque to demonstrate the artistic achievements of his kingdom. The use of full brass and an extra body of ripieno strings in the orchestra, coupled with writing for double chorus, gives the music special power and colour." Anthony Hicks in Grove Music Online

One of the composer's final oratorios, with the iconic "Arrival of the Queen of Sheba" preceding the airs from the third act.

Item #39721

Price: $650.00  other currencies