Oratorio in three parts
The oratorio “Athalia” tells the Old Testament story of the Queen Athalia. Handel composed it in 1733 for Oxford University where it was first performed laterthat year during the celebrations for the awarding of honorary degrees. The great success of this performance is generally regarded as a reason for Handel’s renewed interest in the oratorio form. As was frequentlythe case, Handel also carried on composing this work after the first performance. Thus, for the version which was performed in London in 1735, he introduced numbers in Italian for the Italian singer Carestini in theroleof Joad. He also ended the work with an organ concerto. For the performance in 1756 he drew on other works for the third act. Conversely, large parts of the music to Athalia form the basis for other works by Handelsuch as “Parnasso in festa” (HWV 73) and the Wedding Anthem (HWV 262).
The Piano reduction by Andreas Köhs (BA4082-90), based on the Urtext of the “Halle Handel” Edition, includes themain version of 1733 together with an appendix containing the versions of 1735 and 1756 as well as the outline of a planned version of 1743 which was not performed.
- Based on the Urtext of the “HalleHandel” Edition
- Includes all versions
- Detailed foreword (Ger/Eng)
- Full score (BA4082) and Vocal score (BA4082-90) available for sale
- Performance material (BA4082-72) available forhire
| Genres | Sacred |
| Format | Vocal Score |
| NumberOfPages | 426 |
| Media | Sheet Music |
| Publisher | Bärenreiter-Verlag |
| Contributors | Friedrich Hä ndel, Georg(Composer) |
| ISMN | 9790006536313 |