Alexander Balus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oratorios by George Frideric Handel

Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (1707) La Resurrezione (1708) Brockes Passion (1715) Esther (1718) Acis and Galatea (1718) Esther (1732) Deborah (1733) Athalia (1733) Alexander's Feast (1736) Il trionfo del Tempo e della Verità (1737) Saul (1738) Israel in Egypt (1738) L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (1740) Messiah (1741) Samson (1741) Semele (1743) Joseph and his Brethren (1743) Hercules (1744) Belshazzar (1744) Occasional Oratorio (1746) Judas Maccabaeus (1746) Joshua (1747) Alexander Balus (1747) Susanna (1748) Solomon (1748) Theodora (1749) The Choice of Hercules (1750) Jephtha (1751) The Triumph of Time and Truth (1757)

Alexander Balus (HWV 65) is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel. The libretto is by Thomas Morell after the biblical book of 1 Maccabees. Fourth in a series of oratorios celebrating the victories of the Royal family over the Jacobite uprisings, Alexander Balus was composed in the summer of 1747 and premiered on 23 March 1748.

[edit] Dramatis personae

• Alexander Balus, King of Syria (alto)
• Ptolemee, King of Egypt (bass)
• Jonathan, Chief of the Jews (tenor)
• Cleopatra, Daughter to Ptolemee (soprano)
• Aspasia, her Confident (soprano)
• A Sycophant Courtier (tenor)
• Messenger (tenor)
• Another Messenger (bass)
• Chorus of Israelites
• Chorus of Asiates
• Chorus of Ruffians

[edit] E-book

Score of Alexander Balus (ed. Friedrich Chrysander, Leipzig 1870)

[edit] External links

• Alexander Balus information at gfhandel.org.
• Full-text libretto hosted by Stanford University.