Alexander's Feast (Handel)

Structure of the work#

• Part one: # Overture # Recitative (tenor): Twas at the royal feast # Aria and chorus (tenor): Happy, happy pair # Recitative: Timotheus plac’d on high # Recitative (Soprano): The song began from Jove # Recitative: The song began from Jove # Chorus: The list’ning crowd # Aria (soprano): With ravish’d ears # Recitative: The praise of Bacchus # Aria and chorus: Bacchus ever fair and young # Recitative: Sooth’d with the sound # Recitative: He chose a mournful muse # Aria (soprano): He sung Darius, great and good # Recitative: With downcast looks # Chorus: Behold Darius great and good # Recitative: The mighty master smil’d # Arioso (soprano): Softly sweet in Lydian measures # Aria (tenor): War, he sung, is toil and trouble # Chorus: The many rend the skies with loud applause # Aria (soprano): The prince, unable to conceal his pain # Chorus: The many rend the skies with loud applause
• Part two: # Recitative and chorus: Now strike the golden lyre again # Aria (bass): Revenge, Timotheus cries # Recitative: Give vengeance the due # Aria (tenor): The princes applaud with a furious joy # Aria and chorus (soprano): Thais led the way # Recitative (tenor): Thus long ago # Chorus: At last divine Cecilia came # Recitative (soloists + chorus): Let old Timotheus yield the prize # Chorus: Let old Timotheus yield the prize # Organ concerto, Opus 4 Number 1 # Chorus: Your voices tune

Recordings#

• 1968 – Honor Sheppard (soprano), Max Worthley (tenor), Maurice Bevan (bass) – Oriana Concert Choir & Orchestra, conducted by Alfred Deller – originally issued on The Bach Guild label in 1964, later transitioned to Vanguard in 1968 (2 LP SRV-282/3 SD) and reissued in 1993 on CD (2 CD 08 9057 72)
• 1978 – Felicity Palmer (soprano), Anthony Rolfe Johnson (tenor), Stephen Roberts (bass) – Bachchor Stockholm, Concentus Musicus Wien, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt – originally issued on Telefunken (2 LP 6.35440 EK), and reissued in 1984, 2000 and 2009 on CD (242 641-2, 3984-26796-2, 2564 59056-2) on Teldec
• 1979 – Helen Donath (soprano I), Sally Burgess (soprano II), Robert Tear (tenor), Thomas Allen (bass) – Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Philip Ledger – originally issued on EMI (2 LP SLS 5168), and reissued in 2010 on CD (2 CD 50999 6 28520 2 9) on Virgin Classics, paired with Ledger’s 1974 recording of The Choice of Hercules
• 1988 – Donna Brown (soprano I), Carolyn Watkinson (soprano II), Ashley Stafford (countertenor), Nigel Robson (tenor), Stephen Varcoe (bass) – Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner – recorded live on June 13 & 14, 1987 at the Stadthalle Göttingen; originally issued on Philips Classics (2 LP 422 053-1), and reissued in 1988 and 2006 on CD (422 053-2, 475 7774) on Philips Classics and Decca Records, for the latter’s The Originals series of reissued material
• 1991 – Nancy Argenta (soprano), Ian Partridge (tenor), Michael George (bass) – The Sixteen, conducted by Harry Christophers – includes the insertion concertos (HWV 294 & 289), but lacks the concerto grosso; originally issued on Collins Classics (2 CD 70162), and reissued in 2006 (2 CD COR16028) on CORO, The Sixteen’s own independent record label

Alexander’s Feast today: performances and recordings#

The soprano aria War, he sung, is toil and trouble was featured in Alfonso Cuaron’s film Children of Men.

External links#

• Full-text libretto hosted by Stanford University.
• Score of Alexander’s Feast (ed. Friedrich Chrysander, Leipzig 1861)