Other notes - Handel

Handel spent a couple of years (1717-1718) as resident composer at Cannons, the home of James Brydges (later known as the Duke of Chandos). He wrote nearly a dozen large-scale anthems during his tenure as well as the masque Acis and Galatea and Esther, considered the first oratorio in English.   The Chandos Anthems, whose texts were carefully chosen from the Book of Common Prayer (1662), draw upon earlier material from both Handel’s Italian and first Chapel Royal works, and they also serve as forerunners of the large-scale pieces that were to come.

A setting of Psalm 51 (Miserere), the psalm of the day as designated in the Episcopal lectionary, Have mercy upon me, O God projects a penitential and introspective mood throughout. It is uniquely scored for a choir of soprano, tenor and bass; and an orchestra consisting of 1 oboe, 2 violins and basso continuo with separately notated lines for cello, bassoon and contrabass.  Of special interest is the omission of both the inner voices – alto and viola.  The resulting texture is one of crystalline clarity while maintaining depth of sonority.  

The piece opens with a plaintive overture followed by a somewhat unsettling Allegro. The chorus that follows returns to the melancholy mood of the opening Largo and is characterized by the reaching and imploringly expressive interval of the minor sixth on the text “have mercy.”  The poignant duet for tenor and soprano is again a plea for cleansing from one’s iniquities. The brief accompagnato recitative for tenor is voiced in a middle-low register. Perhaps this is intentional as the weight and acknowledgement of sin traps the believer.  This burden begins to lift in the tenor aria. 

Finally, a ray of hope eventually breaks through in the second chorus –treated in Handel’s most extrovert manner.  The text “that the bones that thou hast broken may rejoice” is set as a four voice fugue, the fourth voice being the violins.  At the conclusion of the fugue, Handel seamlessly returns to the opening motive of joy, this time in canon.  The soprano aria is a prayer that divine comforts be restored. Notice how the descending sixteenth note gesture in the violins and oboe represent the Holy Spirit pouring down. Our anthem ends on a positive note with a powerful double fugue to the words ‘Then I shall teach Thy ways unto the wicked’.