Handel: Israel in Egypt: R3 in Concert Thursday 16 May

[doversoul1]

BBC Singers
Academy of Ancient Music
Gergely Madaras (conductor)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00050d0

[LeMartinPecheur]

This doesn't seem to get out much among choral societies, no doubt because it's a helluva big choral sing! 39 numbers in my old Novello score and 28 of them choruses, many of them double-choir. I've just sung it with Launceston Choral Soc (Choir 2) in association with Bude CS (Choir 1). There is so little for the soloists to do - quite a lot of recitatives without arias - that we did allow them three simple choruses as quartets The two CSs meant that we got to perform the work twice, once in each patch as it were, which was a better return than usual on all that rehearsal The two CSs rehearsed separately till a frantic last week when all got bolted together, fortunately very successfully.

Another odd thing about the work for the soloists: Sop, alt & ten will do it except for one famous number for two basses, The Lord id a Man of War. Our 'main' conductor (director of Bude CS) is also a prominent local bass soloist so he stepped in alongside our official (and very under-employed) bass soloist for this number, i.e. he turned round the other way on his podium. But why did GFH do this, particularly when there's nothing else for either solo bass?

I own a tattered Novello score marked 'June 27th 1903, Crystal Palace' with the soloists' names written against their arias. The alto was one Clara Butt, not yet a Dame, and one of the basses her husband Kennerley Rumford.
Alas, I couldn't sing from it because of changed formatting in the 'modern' rental edition - not actually very modern or user-friendly at all in layout and notation

A special delight was singing the multiple repeats of the phrase 'The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea' to a very horsey Cornish audience, the indicated feat much easier of achievement in Bude than Launceston!

[BBMmk2]

I don't know why this doesn’t get many outings. Very good work it is.

[doversoul1]

I’m still listening. I think the chorus is rather good.

LeMartinPecheur
Many thanks for your very interesting post.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Can anyone say whether Handel's performances featured star (operatic?) soloists with their names on the posters? I'd assumed this was always GFH's practice so as to attract audiences to this strange new beast the oratorio. But the strange balance of solos against choruses here makes more sense if he pulled his soloists from the choir as in tonight's performance, particularly the duet for two basses who in the score get nothing else at all to sing!

[Bryn]

Can anyone say whether Handel's performances featured star (operatic?) soloists with their names on the posters? I'd assumed this was always GFH's practice so as to attract audiences to this strange new beast the oratorio. But the strange balance of solos against choruses here makes more sense if he pulled his soloists from the choir as in tonight's performance, particularly the duet for two basses who in the score get nothing else at all to sing!

I have not been able to find a contemporary example, but less than 20 years after Handel's death, this was the sort of promotional material in use:

[LeMartinPecheur]

Hmm, the soloists had even less to do tonight because quite a few numbers were omitted, particularly late in part 2.

[Bryn]

Hmm, the soloists had even less to do tonight because quite a few numbers were omitted, particularly late in part 2.

Yes, it seems a tad lax of the Beeb, in their listing to show the Rameau to be "excerpts" but fail to do likewise re. Israel in Egypt.

Jean‐Philippe Rameau
Dardanus Suite Excerpts
Orchestra: Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale. Conductor: Nicholas McGegan.

Georg Frideric Handel
Israel in Egypt
Performer: BBC Singers. Orchestra: Academy of Ancient Music. Conductor: Sofi Jeannin.

George Frideric Handel
Water Music - Suites 1, 3 & 2 HWV 348-350
Orchestra: English Baroque Soloists. Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner.

[MickyD]

This is worth acquiring:

[ardcarp]

This doesn't seem to get out much among choral societies, no doubt because it's a helluva big choral sing! 39 numbers in my old Novello score and 28 of them choruses, many of them double-choir. I've just sung it with Launceston Choral Soc (Choir 2) in association with Bude CS (Choir 1). There is so little for the soloists to do - quite a lot of recitatives without arias - that we did allow them three simple choruses as quartets The two CSs meant that we got to perform the work twice, once in each patch as it were, which was a better return than usual on all that rehearsal The two CSs rehearsed separately till a frantic last week when all got bolted together, fortunately very successfully.

Another odd thing about the work for the soloists: Sop, alt & ten will do it except for one famous number for two basses, The Lord id a Man of War. Our 'main' conductor (director of Bude CS) is also a prominent local bass soloist so he stepped in alongside our official (and very under-employed) bass soloist for this number, i.e. he turned round the other way on his podium. But why did GFH do this, particularly when there's nothing else for either solo bass?

I own a tattered Novello score marked 'June 27th 1903, Crystal Palace' with the soloists' names written against their arias. The alto was one Clara Butt, not yet a Dame, and one of the basses her husband Kennerley Rumford.
Alas, I couldn't sing from it because of changed formatting in the 'modern' rental edition - not actually very modern or user-friendly at all in layout and notation

A special delight was singing the multiple repeats of the phrase 'The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea' to a very horsey Cornish audience, the indicated feat much easier of achievement in Bude than Launceston!

The work used to be more popular with choral societies precisely because it had a high percentage of choral numbers, many for double choir. Maybe the very fact that soloists have to be paid for (including the two basses) in spite of a low work-rate has made the economics unworkable in straitened modern times. And then there's the 3 trombones to pay for. I agree that in many places the Biblical text is relished by singers and audience alike.

[LeMartinPecheur]

The work used to be more popular with choral societies precisely because it had a high percentage of choral numbers, many for double choir. Maybe the very fact that soloists have to be paid for (including the two basses) in spite of a low work-rate has made the economics unworkable in straitened modern times. And then there's the 3 trombones to pay for. I agree that in many places the Biblical text is relished by singers and audience alike.

We did without trombones - organ accompaniment only