Handel Dixit Dominus

[Barbirollians]

To my shame I realised when reading the recent Gramophone Collection article that I did not know this piece. My only recording was the dreary Ohrwall recording on BIS when it came coupled with Emma Kirkby’s recording of that long lost Gloria .

Much the most easily available of the recommendations was the ECO/Preston account from the late 1980s with terrific solo singers Auger,Dawson and Montague and the like . What a wonderful thrilling piece it is . Have played it every day this week.

[Pianoman]

Yes a marvellous, infectious piece - I also played it to death recently, having invested in two new additions - Hengelbrock and Marcus Creed, both really thrilling versions that came out top in the recent Gramophone 'collection' survey.

[ardcarp]

Dixit is indubitably the most exciting Handel choral work to perform, whether as string-player, conductor or singer...big claim! It was written (as I'm sure you know) when he was young and heavily influenced by the Italian style; and before he came to England and began writing to suit the English taste.

[oddoneout]

I sang it a few years ago and it was certainly quite a challenge - a very physical sing - but what a sense of achievement. I would dearly like to sing it again but not sure if I could do it justice now. I bought a Musica Sacra CD at the time which also has the Coronation Anthems(which we were supposed to have been singing last Saturday...), Foundling Hospital Anthem(which I didn't know) and the Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate, sung variously by King's Cambridge, Winchester Cathedral, and Christ Church Oxford. It has had many airings, being such an uplifting collection of music.

[Barbirollians]

I sang it a few years ago and it was certainly quite a challenge - a very physical sing - but what a sense of achievement. I would dearly like to sing it again but not sure if I could do it justice now. I bought a Musica Sacra CD at the time which also has the Coronation Anthems(which we were supposed to have been singing last Saturday...), Foundling Hospital Anthem(which I didn't know) and the Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate, sung variously by King's Cambridge, Winchester Cathedral, and Christ Church Oxford. It has had many airings, being such an uplifting collection of music.

It sounds like it would be terrific fun to sing.

[oddoneout]

It sounds like it would be terrific fun to sing.

It is. It's also what I think of as a sampler(in the embroidery sense) or journeyman piece, setting out all that the composer was capable of at that stage, that formed the basis of what he went on to produce in subsequent works - the exciting word setting, nimble vocal lines, exquisite slow sections, interesting harmonies.

[ardcarp]

It is. It's also what I think of as a sampler(in the embroidery sense) or journeyman piece, setting out all that the composer was capable of at that stage, that formed the basis of what he went on to produce in subsequent works - the exciting word setting, nimble vocal lines, exquisite slow sections, interesting harmonies.

That's an interesting way of looking at it. I am sure there is some truth in that, but I've never seen it as 'an apprentice piece'. Of course Handel had a terrific talent for all the things you say. Bur he had also a business-man's knack of writing what was popular. In England, that taste was partly Italian opera, but that waned somewhat over time and he turned more to oratorio. However it has long been my thesis that the music he heard from composers such as Croft and Greene at the great state occasions (e.g. Thanksgivings for the Battle of this and that, or the annual Feast of the Sons of the Clergy held at St Paul's) was a model for him...though of course he did it a whole lot better! It would be fascinating to know what would have happened if Handel had never come to King George's England. Dixit Dominus with knobs on?

[oddoneout]

That's an interesting way of looking at it. I am sure there is some truth in that, but I've never seen it as 'an apprentice piece'. Of course Handel had a terrific talent for all the things you say. Bur he had also a business-man's knack of writing what was popular. In England, that taste was partly Italian opera, but that waned somewhat over time and he turned more to oratorio. However it has long been my thesis that the music he heard from composers such as Croft and Greene at the great state occasions (e.g. Thanksgivings for the Battle of this and that, or the annual Feast of the Sons of the Clergy held at St Paul's) was a model for him...though of course he did it a whole lot better! It would be fascinating to know what would have happened if Handel had never come to King George's England. Dixit Dominus with knobs on?

I wasn't saying that was its intention, and the journeyman piece reference wasn't meant as a derogatory comment on Dixit, just how it seems to me, a snapshot of what he could do at that stage in his career, with elements resurfacing in subsequent years.

[rauschwerk]

Some of Handel's vocal writing is so bizarre that to my mind it betrays inexperience. Either that or he knew it would be sung one to a part by singers whose abilities he understood. Consider the really angular bass part of bars 126-131 of the Gloria (barring as per Bärenreiter 2012). I sing that and think, 'call that a bass line, Mr Handel?'

[cloughie]

Some of Handel's vocal writing is so bizarre that to my mind it betrays inexperience. Either that or he knew it would be sung one to a part by singers whose abilities he understood. Consider the really angular bass part of bars 126-131 of the Gloria (barring as per Bärenreiter 2012). I sing that and think, 'call that a bass line, Mr Handel?'

You’re putting GFH in the same bracket as MVC arrangers who frequently misjudge the range of the parts!

[Pulcinella]

Some of Handel's vocal writing is so bizarre that to my mind it betrays inexperience. Either that or he knew it would be sung one to a part by singers whose abilities he understood. Consider the really angular bass part of bars 126-131 of the Gloria (barring as per Bärenreiter 2012). I sing that and think, 'call that a bass line, Mr Handel?'

The liner notes for the BBC MM release (I Barocchisti, under Diego Fasolis) describe the Gloria as being 'vocally virtuosic'.


Like many others here, I suspect, I grew up with the Kings/Willcocks LP, which I now have on CD.
I also have the later Cleobury version, Parrott, and Preston in addition to the BBC MM release.
The Preston is probably my 'go to' version.

Yes, a great piece to sing and take part in, even with that taxing bass part!

[ardcarp]

Consider the really angular bass part of bars 126-131 of the Gloria (barring as per Bärenreiter 2012). I sing that and think, 'call that a bass line, Mr Handel?

I call it a bass line...and a jolly good one too!

JSB never shied away from an angular line...in fact I think he had one over GFH in that department. Especially if you're a tenor.

[MickyD]

I still like the Parrott version - and it comes in a nice 2 disc bargain set which can be had for silly prices at the moment.