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Notes 58.4 (2002) 920-924



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Music Review

The Song of Moses


Thomas Linley Jr. The Song of Moses. Edited by Peter Overbeck. (Recent Researches in the Music of the Classical Era, 58.) Madison, Wisc.: A-R Editions, c2000. [Acknowledgments, p. vii; introd., p. ix-xi; text, p. xii-xiii; 2 plates; score, 260 p.; crit. report, p. 261-65. ISBN 0-89579-451-9. $85.]

When we think of English oratorios, we inevitably think of George Frideric Handel. Moreover, we assume that a Handel oratorio is supposed to be sung in a concert setting, unstaged, and performed by professional musicians. Yet it is less widely known [End Page 920] that these conventions developed somewhat by accident—and contrary to Handel's own intentions. In 1718, Handel wrote Esther, his first oratorio in English, and in 1732, a privately staged production of the work was mounted in honor of the composer's birthday. This performance took place at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in London, and the singers included the boy choristers from the Chapel Royal. Pleased with the result, Handel began arranging for a public performance of Esther at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket. The Bishop of London (who also served as Dean of the Chapel Royal) got wind of the plans, however, and raised various objections. Since opera houses were, by his estimation, immoral places, it was unconscionable to allow children to sing there; moreover, he felt it was improper to present a staged production of a sacred work in such a venue. As a compromise, advertisements for Esther, performed "By His Majesty's Command," assured the audience that "There will be no Action on the Stage" (the Daily Journal, 19 April 1732), and Handel employed professional singers only. Unstaged versions of Deborah and Athalia in 1733 followed in the wake of Esther's success, thus cementing the performance tradition of the English oratorio.

In England, oratorios did not function merely as substitute operas, since in contrast to the restrictions of many continental cities, opera was permitted on London stages during Lent. More to the point, throughout the year, English opera houses were forbidden to present operas on Wednesdays and Fridays—thanks to a statute intended to protect spoken drama from competition. Since oratorios were not operas, however, managers of opera houses found that they could use this loophole to continue earning profits. Nevertheless, the subject matter of the oratorios often seemed most appropriate for performances during the Lenten season, and it was during this pre-Easter period that most oratorios were presented. Enjoying royal patronage as well as substantial public approval, Handel's oratorios grew to be a regular London feature during Lent, and his contributions to the oratorio repertory also became a mainstay of the many preexisting summertime musical festivals held around the English countryside. Through these widespread and perennial performances, the Handelian oratorios were attaining the status of "classics," and the revival of this canon continued on a regular basis after Handel's death in 1759. So why did no real "school" of oratorio composers follow in Handel's footsteps?

Historian William Weber opens his study of the developing English canon by observing that "Eighteenth-century England was the first place where old musical works were performed regularly and reverentially, where a collective notion of such works—'ancient music'—first appeared" (The Rise of Musical Classics in Eighteenth-Century England: A Study in Canon, Ritual, and Ideology [Oxford: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1992], vii). Musical societies and concert series arose to feed the English hunger for this older repertory—the Academy of Ancient Music was founded in 1726 as the Academy of Vocal Music, and fifty years later the Concert of Ancient Music began its performances at the Tottenham Street Rooms in London, requiring that all its repertory be at least twenty years old. Handel's works, including his oratorios, were a mainstay of the concerts. At the same time, other subscription series catered to the taste for "modern" music, featuring new compositions in the latest "classical" genres. The advertised concert programs often identified the new...

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