Featuring the Brandenburg Choir performing Zadok the Priest · The text of Zadok the Priest relates to the anointing of King Solomon and the words have been used at every English

Featuring the Brandenburg Choir performing Zadok the Priest

HANDEL'S ANTHEMS & FIREWORKS 1

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2019 SYDNEY City Recital Hall Wednesday 24 July 7pm

Friday 26 July 7pm

Saturday 27 July 2pm (Matinee)

Saturday 27 July 7pm

Wednesday 31 July 7pm

Friday 2 August 7pm BRISBANE QPAC Tuesday 30 July 7:30pm

MELBOURNEMelbourne Recital CentreSaturday 3 August 7pm Sunday 4 August 5pm

Paul Dyer AO Artistic Director, Conductor Australian Brandenburg Orchestra Brandenburg Choir Emma Black (Vienna) Baroque oboe

PROGRAM

Handel Coronation Anthem No. 1 Zadok the Priest, HWV 258

Handel Coronation Anthem No. 4 My Heart is Inditing, HWV 261

Handel Coronation Anthem No. 2 Let Thy Hand be Strengthened, HWV 259

Handel Coronation Anthem No. 3 The King Shall Rejoice, HWV 260

Interval

Handel Concerto for Oboe No. 3 in G minor, HWV 287 i Grave ii Allegro iii Largo iv Allegro

Handel Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 351 i Ouverture ii Bourée iii La Paix iv La Réjouissance v Menuet 1 & 2

CHAIRMAN’S 11Proudly supporting our guest artists.

Concert duration is approximately 110 minutes, including one interval.Please note concert duration is approximate only and is subject to change. We kindly request that you switch off all electronic devices prior to the performance.

This concert will be broadcast on ABC Classic on 11 August at 12noon.

QPAC performance is proudly supported by Brisbane Schools Choir. The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra would like to give special thanks to Brisbane Girls Grammar School, Brisbane Grammar School, Brisbane State High School, and John Paul College.

HANDEL'S ANTHEMS & FIREWORKS 1716 AUSTRALIAN BRANDENBURG ORCHESTRA

The Quire stalls at Westminster Abbey. The original medieval quire stalls were replaced in the 18th century and again by the present ones in 1848. The black and white marble floor dates from 1677.

CREDIT © DEAN AND CHAPTER OF WESTMINSTER

18 AUSTRALIAN BRANDENBURG ORCHESTRA HANDEL'S ANTHEMS & FIREWORKS 19

Handel's Anthems & FireworksProgram Notes

George Frideric Handel (1685–1759)

Handel was one of the most acclaimed composers of the Baroque period. Although he came from Germany, most of his career was spent in London, where he became very successful as a composer mostly of operas and later oratorios. Unlike most other composers in the eighteenth century, Handel made his living as a freelance musician and was never employed long-term by a court or church. Nevertheless he developed a close relationship with the British royal family, and was commissioned by them to write ceremonial works which would become his most famous: the anthems for the coronation of King George II in 1727, including the instantly recognisable Zadok the priest, and Music for the Royal Fireworks.

ANTHEMS FOR THE CORONATION OF KING GEORGE II

Zadok the priest, HWV 258 Let thy hand be strengthened, HWV 259 The King shall rejoice, HWV 260 My heart is inditing, HWV 261

George II asked Handel to compose the anthems for his coronation and that of his wife, Queen Caroline, which was to take place on 11 October 1727 at Westminster Abbey. This was a task that only a British subject could perform, so it was lucky that shortly before he died King George I had signed into law ‘An Act for naturalizing… George Frideric Handel, and others’.

The English coronation ceremony has remained essentially unchanged since it was first devised more than a thousand years ago. Heavy with religious symbolism, it consists of a series of rituals designed to impress those present with the wealth and power of the monarch and to emphasise that the monarch derives his or her power from God.

An anthem is a sacred choral work sung during an Anglican church service, and anthems have been part of the coronation liturgy for centuries. They are sung at significant points in the ritual, with the same texts frequently used, taken from the Bible or the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.

According to the eighteenth-century English music historian Charles Burney, Handel had words sent to him, by the bishops, for the anthems; at which he murmured, and took offence, as he thought it implied his ignorance of the Holy Scriptures: “I have read my Bible very well, and shall chuse for myself.”

Some of the texts Handel chose had in fact been used at previous coronations, and are all from the Old Testament: Zadok is based on I Kings, Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened is from Psalm 89, The King shall rejoice comes from Psalm 21, and My heart is inditing is based on passages from Psalm 45 and Isaiah.

Handel’s was not the only music in the service. Unusually for an age when most music had a very short ‘shelf life’, much of the music for the Coronation Service was to be old, tradition dictating the choice of works dating back as far as the late Renaissance, including music by Thomas Tallis and Orlando Gibbons, and from the seventeenth century, by Henry Purcell and John Blow.

Mr Hendel has composed the Musick for the Abbey at the Coronation, and the Italian Voices [Italian singers from Handel’s opera company], with above a Hundred of the best Musicians will perform; and the Whole is allowed by those Judges in Musick who have already heard it, to exceed any Thing heretofore of the same Kind: It will be rehearsed this Week, but the Time will be kept private, lest the Crowd of People should be an obstruction to the Performers.

PARKER’S PENNY POST, 4TH OCTOBER 1727

The rehearsal went well, according to the Norwich Gazette, which reported that there were: 40 Voices, and about 160 Violins, Trumpets, Hautboys [oboes], Kettle-Drums, and Bass's proportionable; besides an Organ, which was erected behind the Altar: And both the Musick and the Performers were the Admiration of all the Audience.

London was full of people for such a major event, and the Earl Marshall issued notice of traffic arrangements on the day and detailed instructions listing all the people who would take part, what they had to wear, and the order in which they would process. ‘The Herb-woman, with her Maidservants, strewing sweet Herbs &c.’ came first, and the king came last. Then as now, there were to be no interlopers entering Westminster Abbey but only those with official tickets ‘signed and marked with my Name and Seal’, and peers and peeresses were sternly told not to bring their servants.

About the coronation service itself, however, we have only two pieces of information. One of these was the order of service. One hundred copies were printed, but only the Archbishop of Canterbury’s copy still survives, with his hand-written notes in the margins. The other record of the ceremony was the Chapel Royal’s list of the music as it was actually performed.

From these, it appears that the coronation did not go according to plan, at least as far as the music was concerned. The first anthem (not one of Handel’s) was omitted altogether ‘by the Negligence of the Choir of Westminster’ as the Archbishop of Canterbury noted tersely. Then, where the printed order listed Handel’s second anthem The King shall rejoice, the fourth, Let thy hand be strengthened, was performed instead. The Archbishop scribbled crossly, ‘The Anthem all in confusion: All irregular in the Music’.

Program Notes

Memorial to George Frideric Handel at Westminster Abbey


Handel's Anthems & Fireworks



WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

The Coronation Anthems were composed for Britain’s most significant ceremonial occasion and for the reverberant space of Westminster Abbey, so Handel composed powerful, extrovert, ‘big picture’ music which exploited the extraordinarily large number of players and singers recruited for the occasion.

The text of Zadok the Priest relates to the anointing of King Solomon and the words have been used at every English coronation since 973. It is sung at the most crucial point of the coronation, the Anointing, when the monarch is anointed on hands, head, chest, shoulders and elbows with holy oil to show he or she has been chosen by God. Handel’s setting was immediately popular and is the only piece of music to be performed at every subsequent coronation of a British monarch. It must have made an astonishing impact, with its long whisper-quiet instrumental introduction and sudden thundering power of the first choral entry with all voices and instruments sounding, including three trumpets and timpani. Handel’s dynamic marking in the score at that point is simply, ‘loud’. The music’s sense of inexorability is enhanced by its being in three continuous movements, ending in shouts of ‘God save the King!’ and a jubilant Alleluia.

Let thy hand be strengthened should have been sung when the king finally ascended the throne towards the end of the ceremony, but it was actually performed early in the coronation at the point known as the Recognition, where the king is presented to the people as their sovereign. This anthem, like the other three, is in three sections, but it is the only one scored without trumpets and timpani. It is more reflective and less overtly grand than the other anthems, its second section in a minor key, ‘Let justice and judgment’, being particularly subdued.

Its contrapuntal ‘Alleluia’ ending is more affirming than exultant.

The King shall rejoice should have been sung first in the coronation service, at the Recognition, when the people are asked to pay homage to the monarch. ‘The People signifie their Willingness and Joy, by loud and repeated Acclamations, all with one Voice crying out, ‘God Save King George the Second’. Then the Trumpets sound. And the choir sing this Anthem.’ Whether it was actually sung at that point, or later during the Crowning, remains unclear. This anthem is in four distinct, contrasted movements. The future composer of Messiah can be heard in the pastoral triplets of the second movement, and in the long seemingly endless vocal melismas which depict the word ‘blessings’ in the third (listen for a little of ‘Worthy is the lamb’ and ‘And he shall purify’). The final movement is a weighty and majestic ‘Alleluia’, again with all voices and instruments blazing, underlining the legitimacy of George II’s power.

The fourth anthem, My heart is inditing, was sung during the coronation of the Queen, which took place towards the end of the ceremony. All the texts come from the King James’ version of the Bible, and the meaning can be somewhat obscure. In modern usage the first two lines of this anthem would be, ‘My heart overflows with a noble theme as I address my verses to the King’. Similarly, the final line, ‘Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and Queens thy nursing mothers’ might now be expressed as: ‘kings shall be your guardians and their queens your nurses’. This comes from the Old Testament Book of Isaiah, in which God promises the Jewish people that their enemies will be defeated and all other nations will serve them, and was probably intended as a metaphor for the power of the king of Great Britain relative to those of other nations.

Program Notes

Handel called on all his operatic experience in composing this anthem, first creating a gentle ambience to represent the Queen, before trumpets and drums enter to add a stately lustre to the conclusion of the first movement. The words ‘Kings’ daughters were among thy honourable women’ are then symbolically introduced by the upper voices of the choir, while ‘Upon thy right hand did stand the Queen in vesture of gold’ unfolds in appropriately luxuriant, rich harmonies. In the final section of the anthem the rushing fanfare-like figures of the violins and oboes are again reinforced by the trumpets and drums, creating a thrilling climax to the whole ceremony.

Zadok the Priest, and Nathan the Prophet anointed Solomon King. And all the people rejoiced, and said: God save the King! Long live the King! May the King live for ever, Amen, Alleluia.

My heart is inditing of a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made unto the King. Kings daughters were among thy honourable women Upon thy right hand did stand the Queen in vesture of gold and the King shall have pleasure in thy beauty. Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing mothers.

Let thy hand be strengthened and thy right hand be exalted. Let justice and judgment be the preparation of thy seat! Let mercy and truth go before thy face. Let justice, judgment, mercy and truth go before thy face. Allelujah.

The King shall rejoice in thy strength, O Lord Exceeding glad shall he be of thy salvation. Glory and great worship hast thou laid upon him. Thou hast prevented him with the blessings of goodness and hast set a crown of pure gold upon his head Allelujah.

The Coronation Chair in St George’s Chapel


Handel's Anthems & Fireworks



CONCERTO FOR OBOE NO. 3 IN G MINOR, HWV 287

Grave Allegro Sarabande: Largo Allegro

In 1703, when he was eighteen, Handel moved from his home town of Halle to take up a job with the Hamburg opera orchestra. He stayed there until late 1706, playing the violin and later the harpsichord. This concerto is believed to date from the same period although its origin is not clear, and for a time it was thought not to be by Handel at all. Handel was a renowned re-user of his own work, but while the concerto does not use material from any of his other early compositions, there are similarities with the operas he is known to have composed in the same period. He re-used the final Allegro in his Organ Concerto in G minor Op 4 No 3 (HWV 291).

This is both Handel’s earliest concerto and the oldest surviving concerto for solo oboe. The oboe had been an orchestral instrument from the mid-seventeenth century but the early eighteenth century saw a rush of composers keen to exploit its haunting and lyrical sound. Both Handel and Bach used the oboe as an obbligato (solo) instrument in vocal music, and concertos for solo oboe were composed by Vivaldi and Albinoni, among many others.

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

This concerto is in four movements (the three-movement concerto had not yet been popularised by Vivaldi), and features the mixture of French and Italian styles then fashionable in Hamburg. The dotted rhythms in the first movement are reminiscent of a French overture, while the third movement is a very expressive Sarabande, a French dance form. The two Allegro movements feature fast passage-work and interplay between the oboe and first violin.

A view of the fire-workes and illuminations at His Grace the Duke of Richmond's at Whitehall and on the River Thames on Monday 15 May 1749. Performed by the direction of Charles Fredrick Esq.

Hand coloured etching showing the Royal Fire-workes and Illuminations in Whitehall and on the River Thames.


MUSIC FOR THE ROYAL FIREWORKS HWV 351

Ouverture: Adagio – Allegro – Lentement - Allegro Bourrée La Paix [The Peace] La Réjouissance [Rejoicing] Menuet 1 Menuet 2

Handel composed the suite known as Music for the Royal Fireworks to accompany an elaborate fireworks display which celebrated the conclusion of the War of the Austrian Succession, which had lasted from 1740 to 1748 and had involved most of Europe. The celebrations had initially been intended as rather low-key, but the peace treaty’s conditions were not that favourable to Britain, and the government decided that something was needed to play up the role of the King and downplay their own role.

All London watched for months as an elaborate Doric temple on which the fireworks would be displayed was slowly erected in Green Park. The temple was in Palladian style, 34 metres high and 124 metres long, with a lower wing at either side and a pavilion at each end. Made of wood and canvas whitewashed to look like stone, it was ornamented with a false balustrade, translucent windows lit from behind, statues, and the King’s arms. Hundreds of men worked feverishly to finish the building in time, scandalising the population by working on Sundays.

From the outset the event was plagued by poor planning and disagreements between all involved: the managers appointed by parliament, the Duke of Montagu and Charles Frederick, the French theatre designer charged with building the ‘Machine’ to display the fireworks, the Italian firework makers, and the German composer, Handel, who seems to have been asked to compose the accompanying music almost as an afterthought.

Not to mention King George II himself, who said that he did not want any music but if there had to be any, it must be ‘martial musick … and he hoped there would be no fidles [violins].’

Initially the event was advertised as having ‘a Band of a Hundred Musicians’ including forty trumpets and twenty French horns, ‘with 100 cannon to go off singly at intervals.’ As late as three weeks before the event Handel threatened to pull out if he could not have violins, although this may have been an ambit claim to reduce the unworkably high numbers of brass instruments wanted by Montagu and Frederick.

To partially defray the huge cost of the exercise Montagu decided that the rehearsal was to be a public concert at the pleasure gardens at Vauxhall. Handel would not agree, probably because he had planned his own fee-paying concert of the music which was to take place only a month later at the Foundling Hospital, but he was obliged to go ahead when the Duke of Montagu threatened in turn to use another composer’s music instead. The rehearsal was so well-attended (although more likely by 3,000 people than the reported 12,000) that carriages on London Bridge caused London’s first traffic jam, and probably Handel was among those delayed, as the rehearsal started two hours late.

After such a tremendous build-up, the event itself was bound to be an anticlimax, and so it proved, according to politician and man of letters Horace Walpole:

The next day were the fire-works, which by no means answered the expense, the length of preparation, and the expectation that had been raised; indeed, for a week before, the town was like a country fair, the streets filled from morning to night, scaffolds building wherever you could or could not see, and coaches arriving from


PROGRAM NOTES & TIMELINE © LYNNE MURRAY 2019

every corner of the kingdom. … The rockets and whatever was thrown up into the air succeeded mighty well, but the wheels and all that was to compose the principal part, were pitiful and ill-conducted, with no changes of coloured fires and shapes: the illumination was mean, and lighted so slowly that scarce anybody had patience to wait the finishing; and then what contributed to the awkwardness of the whole, was the right pavilion catching fire, and being burned down in the middle of the show.

The musicians, conducted by Handel, performed between 6 and 7 o’clock, just as well, as it was the pavilion in which they were seated which caught fire. Smoke obscured the grand sun on the top of the building with ‘Vivat Rex’ (long live the King) in the centre, and in the resulting confusion the remaining fireworks were let off in the wrong order and the effect was lost. Emotions ran high among the organisers and Servandoni, who designed the building, drew his sword on Charles Frederick.

There is no record of what anyone thought about the music.

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

The exact instruments Handel ended up using on the day are not known, but his autograph score indicates that it was indeed a particularly warlike band which would have suited the King: twenty-four oboes in three parts, nine horns in three parts, nine trumpets in three parts, twelve bassoons in two parts, a contrabassoon, and three sets of timpani. The score shows that he doubled the woodwind with strings, with the number of players reduced, and it was this orchestration that he used for the performance at the Foundling Hospital in London. Modern performances now follow this model.

The work begins with a particularly grand first movement, the splendid Ouverture in the triumphant key of D major. All instruments play in this extended movement, distributed across fifteen separate musical parts, with trumpets and timpani dominating. By comparison with the very weighty texture of the first movement, the second movement is a light and elegant dance in four parts without any brass instruments, and even the woodwinds drop away on the repeats, leaving just strings. La Paix (the peace) is also a graceful dance, played by all instruments except timpani. The sense of royal occasion returns with La Réjouissance (rejoicing) and the commanding final Menuet. In both movements Handel keeps the interest across several repeated sections by varying the instrumentation.


Handel’s first page of the ‘Ouverture’ from the Music for the Royal Fireworks, HWV 352


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Documents

Featuring the Brandenburg Choir performing Zadok the Priest · The text of Zadok the Priest relates to the anointing of King Solomon and the words have been used at every English