Saul (Handel)

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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)

Saul (HWV 53) is an oratorio in three acts written by George Frideric Handel with a libretto by Charles Jennens. Taken from the 1st Book of Samuel, the story of Saul focuses on the first king of Israel’s relationship with his eventual successor, David; one which turns from admiration to jealously and hatred, and ultimately leads to the fall and death of the eponymous monarch. The work, which Handel began in 1738, can be considered among his finest and includes the famous Dead March, a funeral anthem for Saul and his son Jonathan, and some of the composer's most dramatic choral pieces.

[edit] Dramatis personae

  • Saul (bass)
  • Merab (soprano)
  • Michal (soprano)
  • Jonathan (tenor)
  • David (alto)
  • Samuel (bass)
  • High Priest (tenor)
  • Witch of Endor (tenor)
  • Abner (tenor)
  • Amalekite (tenor)
  • Doeg (bass)
  • Chorus of Israelites

[edit] External links

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