Deborah is an oratorio

Oratorio

An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...

 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...

. It was one of Handel's very early oratorios and was based on a 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...

 by Samuel Humphreys. It received its premiere performance at the King's Theatre in London on 17 March 1733.

The story of the oratorio takes place in a single day and is based on the Biblical stories found in 4 and 5 Judges

Book of Judges

The Book of Judges is the seventh book of the Hebrew bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its title describes its contents: it contains the history of Biblical judges, divinely inspired prophets whose direct knowledge of Yahweh allows them to act as decision-makers for the Israelites, as...

. The Israelites have been subjugated for 20 years by the Canaanites, when the prophetess Deborah

Deborah

Deborah was a prophetess of Yahweh the God of the Israelites, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel, counselor, warrior, and the wife of Lapidoth according to the Book of Judges chapters 4 and 5....

 foretells the death of the Canaanite commander Sisera at the hands of a woman. The Israelite commander Barak

Barak

Barak , Al-Burāq the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, was a military general in the Book of Judges in the Bible. He was the commander of the army of Deborah, the prophetess and heroine of the Hebrew Bible...

 leads them into battle against the Canaanites and they come out victorious because Jael, wife of a friend of Sisera, assassinated him during the battle. Celebration ensues.

Dramatis personae

• Deborah (soprano)
• Barak (alto)
• Abinoam (bass)
• Sisera (alto)
• Jael (soprano)
• An Israelite Woman (soprano)
• Chief Priest of Israelites (bass)
• Chief Priest of Baal (bass)
• Herald (tenor)
• Chorus of the Priests and Israelites
• Chorus of the Priests of Baal

E-book

Score of Deborah (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 1869)

External links

• Full-text of Humphreys' libretto hosted at 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...
  
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• Program Notes by Boston Cecilia
  Boston Cecilia
  The Boston Cecilia is a choral society in Boston, Massachusetts, which is in its 132nd season. Founded in 1876, the ensemble has enjoyed historic relationships with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and famous conductors and composers, such as Arthur Fiedler, Igor Stravinsky, and Antonín Dvořák...
  
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