Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759): The Chandos Anthems I-VI (6 English Psalms)

00:00 Psalm 96, "O Sing Unto The Lord" (Chandos Anthem IV) Sinfonia - Chorus "O Sing Unto The Lord" - Chorus "Declare His Honor" - Aria "The Waves Of The Sea" - Duet "O Worship The Lord" - Chorus "Let The Whole Earth" - Chorus "Let the Heav'ns Rejoice" 16:53 Psalm 42, "As Pants The Hart" (Chandos Anthem VI) Sonata - Chorus "As Pants the Hart" - Aria "Tears Are My Daily Food" - Recitative "Now, When I Think" - Chorus "In the Voice of Praise" - Duet "Why So Full of Grief" - Chorus "Put Thy Trust in God" 40:04 Psalm 51, "Have Mercy Upon Me, O God" (Chandos Anthem III) Sinfonia - Chorus "Have Mercy Upon Me, O God" - Duet "Wash Me Thoroughly" - Recitative "For I Acknowledge" - Aria "Against Thee Only" - Chorus "Thou Shalt Make Me Hear" - Aria "Make Me A Clean Heart" - Chorus "Then Shall I Teach Thy Way" 1:05:57 Psalm 11, "In The Lord I Put My Trust" (Chandos Anthem II) Sonata - Chorus "In The Lord I Put My Trust" - Aria "God Is A Constant Sure Defense" - Chorus "Behold! The Wicked End Their Bow" - Aria "But God, Who Hears The Suffering Poor" - Chorus "Snares, Fires And Brimstone" - Aria "The Righteous Lord" - Chorus "Then Shall My Song" 1:32:40 Psalm 145, "I Will Magnify Thee" (Chandos Anthem V) Sinfonia - Chorus "I Will Magnify Thee" - Aria "Every Day I Will Give Thanks" - Chorus "One Generation Shall Praise Thy Works" - Aria "The Lord Is Righteous" - Aria "The Lord Preserveth" - Chorus "My Mouth Shall Speak The Praise" 1:54:00 Psalm 100, "O Be Joyful In The Lord" (Chandos Anthem I) Sinfonia - Chorus "O Be Joyful In The Lord" - Duet "Be Ye Sure" - Chorus "O Go Your Way" - Trio "For The Lord Is Gracious" - Chorus "Glory Be To The Father" Helen Boatwright, soprano / Charles Bressler, tenor / Jerrold Held & Donald Miller, basses Oboe: Arthur Krilov & Harry Shulman / Bassoon: Morris Newman Violin: Matthew Raimondi / Violoncello: Seymour Barab / Organ (positiv): Paul Maynard The Collegium Musicum of Rutgers University - Alfred Mann, conductor This recording was made under the auspices of the Rutgers University Research Council and the American Choral Foundation, Inc., and was recorded at the Vorhees Chapel, Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J. Producer: Herman Adler. We know too little of Handel’s work. The Handelian oratorio grew in stages which in themselves represent magnificent achievements. The church cantata is the cornerstone of his creative career; but this fact is easily obscured, for the very wealth of influences which shaped Handel’s style is a supreme example of Baroque complexity. Handel was born less than four weeks before Bach, and the two masters served as organists in Protestant churches less than a hundred miles apart. The first two decades of their lives show parallel artistic developments, and within a span of two years both travelled to Liibeck to hear the renowned Dietrich Buxtehude. But while the following years saw Bach in Arnstadt, Mühlhausen, and Weimar, they saw Handel in Rome, Naples, and Venice. What Handel brought from Italy to England was not only a hitherto unknown mastery of opera and concerto, but also, as the Danish scholar Jens Peter Larsen has recently pointed out, a highly individual manner of choral writing! (1). It is manifested in Latin Psalms founded in part on German cantatas which date back to Handel’s early organist days. As he transformed the Lutheran church music and lent it spaciousness and splendor such as were known only to the Italian Baroque, he carved from the hymn texts and pietistic poems the pure and eternally strong poetry of the psalms; and in the musical language with which he treated this stricter choice of texts there appeared for the first time the typical grandeur of Handel’s choral style. The Psalm Laudate Pueri, composed in Rome in 1707, is based on one of the earliest works preserved from Handel’s hand. The Roman work served in turn for the opening chorus of Handel’s first English Psalm, “‘O be joyful in the Lord” (Psalm 100, the Jubilate, composed for the peace of Utrecht in 1713), and a revision of this work finally leads us to the series of twelve psalm compositions which Handel began in 1717 as composer-in-residence for the Duke of Chandos (2). James Lord Brydges, first Duke of Chandos, was one of the most remarkable personalities of early 18th century English society. As Paymaster General under the reign of Queen Anne, he had gathered a fortune and a reputation on which Pope and Swift have given caustic comment, and at the edge of London he had established as his residence the Palace of Cannons — an architectural monument of legendary finesse and extravagance.