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George Frideric Handel

Belshazzar, HWV 61

HWV 61 Vocal

Belshazzar (HWV 61) is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel. The libretto was by Charles Jennens, and Handel abridged it considerably. Jennens' libretto was based on the Biblical account of the fall of Babylon at the hands of Cyrus the Great and the subsequent freeing of the Jewish nation, as found in the Book of Daniel.

Handel composed Belshazzar in the late Summer of 1744 concurrently with Hercules, during a time that Winton Dean calls "the peak of Handel's creative life". It premiered the following Lenten season on 27 March 1745 at the King's Theatre, London. It fell into neglect after Handel's death, with revivals in the United Kingdom in 1847, 1848 and 1873. With the revival of interest in Baroque music and historically informed musical performance since the 1960s, Belshazzar receives performances in concert form today and is also sometimes fully staged as an opera. Among other performances, Belshazzar was staged at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2008 and by the Zurich Opera in 2019.

From Wikipedia.

Movements

  1. Overture, Maestoso - Allegro

Act 1

  1. Scene 1, Accompagnato ed Arioso "Vain, fluctuating state of human empire!" (Nitocris)
  2. Scene 1, Air "Thou, God most high, and Thou alone" (Nitocris)
  3. Scene 1, Recitativo "The fate of Babylon, I fear, is nigh" (Nitocris, Daniel)
  4. Scene 1, Recitativo "O much belov'd of God and man!" (Nitocris, Daniel)
  5. Scene 1, Air "Lament not thus, oh Queen, in vain!" (Daniel)
  6. Scene 2, Chorus "Behold, by Persia's hero made" (Babylonians)
  7. Scene 2, Recitativo "Well may they laugh" (Gobrias, Cyrus)
  8. Scene 2, Accompagnato "Oh memory! Still bitter to my soul" (Gobrias)
  9. Scene 2, Air "Opprest with never-ceasing grief" (Gobrias)
  10. Scene 2, Air "Dry thoes unavailing tears" (Cyrus)
  11. Scene 2, Recitativo "Be comforted: safe though the tyrant seem" (Cyrus)
  12. Scene 2, Accompagnato "Methought, as on the bank of deep Euphrates" (Cyrus)
  13. Scene 2, Recitativo "Now, tell me, Gobrias" (Cyrus, Gobrias)
  14. Scene 2, Air "Behold the monstrous human beast" (Gobrias)
  15. Scene 2, Recitativo "Can you then think it strange" (Cyrus)
  16. Scene 2, Air "Great God! who, yet but darkly known" (Cyrus)
  17. Scene 2, Recitativo "My friends, be confident" (Cyrus)
  18. Scene 2, Chorus "All empires upon God depend"
  19. Scene 3, "O sacred oracles of truth" (Daniel)
  20. Scene 3, Accompagnato "Rejoice, my countrymen"
  21. Scene 3, Recitativo "For long ago, whole ages ere this Cyrus" (Daniel)
  22. Scene 3, Air "Thus saith the Lord to Cyrus" (Daniel)
  23. Scene 3, Chorus, "Sing, oh ye heav'ns!"
  24. Scene 4, Air "Let festal joy triumphant reign!" (Belshazzar)
  25. Scene 4, Recitativo "For you, my friends" (Belshazzar, Nitocris)
  26. Scene 4, Air "The leafy honours of the field" (Nitocris)
  27. Scene 4, Recitativo "It is the custom, I may say, the law" (Belshazzar, Nitocris)
  28. Scene 4, Chorus "Recall, oh king! thy rash command" (Jews)
  29. Scene 4, Recitativo "They tell you true" (Nitocris, Belshazzar)
  30. Scene 4, Duet "Oh dearer than my life, forbear!" (Nitocris, Belshazzar)
  31. Scene 4, Chorus "By slow degrees the wrath of God" (Jews)

Act 2

  1. Scene 1, Chorus "See, from his post Euphrates flies!"
  2. no. 22. Semi-Chorus "Why, faithless river"
  3. no. 23. Semi-Chorus "Euphrates has his task fullfill'd"
  4. no. 24. Chorus "Oh things on earth, proud man must own"
  5. Scene 1, Recitativo "You see, my friends, a path" (Cyrus)
  6. Scene 1, Air "Amaz'd to find the foe so near" (Cyrus)
  7. Scene 1, Chorus "To arms, to arms! no more delay!" (Persians)
  8. Scene 2, Chorus "Ye tutelar gods of our empire"
  9. Scene 2, Air "Let the deep bowl thy praise confess" (Belshazzar)
  10. Scene 2, Accompagnato "Where is the God of Judah's boasted pow'r?" (Belshazzar, Chorus)
  11. Scene 2, Recitativo "Call all my Wise Men" (Belshazzar)
  12. Scene 2, A Sinfony (Allegro Postillions)
  13. Scene 2, Recitativo "Ye sages! welcome always to your king" (Belshazzar)
  14. Scene 2, Recitativo "Alas! too hard a task the king imposes" (Wise Men)
  15. Scene 2, Chorus "Oh misery! - oh terror! - hopeless grief!"
  16. Scene 2, Recitativo "Oh king! live for ever!" (Nitocris, Belshazzar)
  17. Scene 2, Air "No! to thyself thy trifles be" (Daniel)
  18. Scene 2, Accompagnato "Yet, to obey his dread command" (Daniel)
  19. Scene 2, Recitativo "Oh sentence too severe!" (Nitocris)
  20. Scene 2, Air "Regard, oh son, my flowing tears" (Nitocris)
  21. Scene 3, Air "Oh God of Truth! oh faithful guide!" (Cyrus)
  22. Scene 3, Recitativo "You, Gobrias, lead directry to the palace" (Cyrus)
  23. Scene 3, Chorus "Oh glorious prince!"

Act 3

  1. Scene 1, Air "Alternate hopes and fears" (Nitocris)
  2. Scene 1, Recitativo "Fain would I hope" (Nitocris, Daniel)
  3. Scene 1, Air "Can the black Aethiop change his skin?" (Daniel)
  4. Scene 1, Recitativo "My hopes revive" (Nitocris, Arioch, Messenger)
  5. Scene 1, Chorus "Bel boweth down" (Jews)
  6. Scene 2, Air "I thank thee, Sesach" (Belshazzar)
  7. Scene 2, A Martial Symphony
  8. Scene 3, Air "To pow'r immortal my first thanks" (Gobrias)
  9. Scene 3, Recitativo "Be it thy care, good Gobrias" (Cyrus)
  10. Scene 3, Air "Destructive War, thy limits know" (Cyrus)
  11. Scene 3, Duet "Great victor, at your feet I bow" (Nitocris, Cyrus)
  12. Scene 3, Recitativo "Say, venerable prophet" (Cyrus, Daniel)
  13. Scene 3, Soli & Chorus "Tell it out among the heathen"
  14. Scene 3, Accompagnato "Yes, I will build thy city" (Cyrus)
  15. Scene 3, Soli & Chorus "I will magnify thee" (Daniel, Nitocris, Chorus)

Elsewhere

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