Alexander Balus is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...

. The libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 is by Thomas Morell

Thomas Morell

Thomas Morell was a librettist, classical scholar, and printer.Morell is important for having written the longest and most detailed surviving account of collaboration with Handel.-Librettos:...

 after the biblical book of 1 Maccabees

1 Maccabees

The First book of Maccabees is a book written in Hebrew by a Jewish author after the restoration of an independent Jewish kingdom, about the latter part of the 2nd century BC. The original Hebrew is lost and the most important surviving version is the Greek translation contained in the Septuagint...

. Fourth in a series of oratorios celebrating the victories of the Royal family over the Jacobite uprisings, Alexander Balus was composed in the summer of 1747 and premiered on 23 March 1748 with Caterina Galli

Caterina Galli

Caterina Galli was an Italian operatic mezzo-soprano. She first rose to fame in England in the 1740s and early 1750s where she was particularly admired for her performances in the works of George Frideric Handel...

 singing the title role.

Dramatis personae

• Alexander Balus, King of Syria (alto)
• Ptolemee, King of Egypt (bass)
• Jonathan, Chief of the Jews (tenor)
• Cleopatra, Daughter to Ptolemee (soprano)
• Aspasia, her Confident (soprano)
• A Sycophant Courtier (tenor)
• Messenger (tenor)
• Another Messenger (bass)
• Chorus of Israelites
• Chorus of Asiates
• Chorus of Ruffians

E-book

Score of Alexander Balus (ed. Friedrich Chrysander

Friedrich Chrysander

Karl Franz Friedrich Chrysander was a German music historian and critic, whose edition of the works of George Frideric Handel and authoritative writings on many other composers established him as a pioneer of 19th-century musicology.Born at Lübtheen, in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Chrysander was the son...

, Leipzig 1870)

External links

• Alexander Balus information at gfhandel.org.
• Full-text libretto hosted by Stanford University
  Stanford University
  The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
  
  .