Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759): 4 Anthems for the Coronation of George II

00:00 Anthem No. 1: Zadok the Priest
05:49 Anthem No. 2: The King shall rejoice
16:55 Anthem No. 3: My heart is inditing *
29:44 Anthem No. 4: Let thy hand be strengthened
37:10 Chorus: From the censer curling rise (from “Solomon”)

The Ambrosian Singers & Menuhin Festival Orchestra - Yehudi Menuhin, conductor
* with Susan Longfield, soprano; Aljreda Hodgson, contralto; Ian Partridge, tenor; Christopher Keyte, bass

On June 11, 1727, King George died at Osnabrück. On June 15th his son George II was proclaimed king. It must have been shortly after this that Handel was commissioned to compose four anthems for the Coronation ceremony that was to occur in Westminster Abbey on October 11. The earliest surviving announcement is a notice from London, published in the Norwich Mercury of September 16: “Mr. Hendel (sic), the famous Composer to the Opera, is appointed by the King to compose the Anthem at the Coronation which is to be sung in Westminster Abbey at the Grand Ceremony!’

Parker’s Penny Post announced on October 4th: “Mr. Hendle (sic) has composed the Musick for the Abbey at the Coronation, and the Italian voices, with above a Hundred of the best Musicians will perform; and the Whole is allowed by those Judges in Musick who have already heard it, to exceed any Thing heretofore of the same Kind: It will be rehearsed this Week, but the time will he kept private, lest the Crowd of People should be an obstruction to the Performers!’

Finally, the Norwich Gazette printed on October 14th, a mere three days after the ceremony, an account of the rehearsal of October 6th. There were, the Gazette informed its readers, “40 Voices, and about 100 Violins, Trumpets, Hautboys, Kettle-Drums, and Bass’s proportionable; besides an Organ, which was erected behind the Altar: And both the Musick and the Performers, were the Admiration of all the Audience!’

From English accounts of the Coronation, it would appear that only three of Handel’s four anthems were performed. German accounts, however, mention all four. Handel’s autographs give the names of the solo singers as Thomas Bell, John Church, John Freeman, Bernard Gates, Francis Hughes, Mr. Leigh, and Samuel Weeley. Chrysander deduced that altogether 47 singers took part, and since the Chapel Royal had only 36, the balance must have come from elsewhere, possibly, as the Penny Post suggested, from the Italian Opera. The organ was a new instrument, especially built for the occasion by Christopher Schrider, son-in-law of “Father” Smith and since 1708 his successor as organ builder to the English court.

Beethoven once said to a colleague: “Handel is the unequalled Master of all Masters! Go and learn to produce such great effects by such modest means!” He could not have chosen a better example of Handel’s unique capacity for matching the splendor of regal and state ceremonial with music that was unashamedly, unhesitatingly direct in style, yet never vacuous or bombastic in content. Zadok the Priest, which is both the shortest and most celebrated of the four anthems, is an object lesson in how to achieve supreme grandeur of effect with what appear to be the simplest of means. Significantly, it has been performed at the Coronation of every English monarch since George II. The two other anthems that also bask in the splendor of trumpets and drums display similar qualities. They are The King shall rejoice and My heart is inditing, the latter being the anthem for Queen Caroline, who was a patron of Handel as well as a staunch friend and supporter.

The remaining anthem Let thy hand be strengthened, scored only for strings and oboes, is more restrained in character. The texts were selected by Handel himself from the Book of Kings and the Psalms. Handel prided himself on his knowledge of the Bible and is said to have declined the Bishop of London’s choice of words for the Coronation Anthems.

Handel made use of the music of the Coronation Anthems in several later works: of Zadok the Priest and My heart is inditing in Esther (1732); of The King shall rejoice and Let thy hand be strengthened in Deborah (1733); and of Zadok the Priest again in the Occasional Oratorio (1746).

The fifth and last piece featured in this recording, the chorus From the censer curling rise, is not a coronation an¬them as such, but it follows the same tradition. It is the opening number of Part II of Solomon, which was produced for the first time on March 17, 1746, at Covent Garden, and is a hymn of praise to King Solomon. With its unusually rich scoring and its antiphonal use of two four-part choruses, it creates an impression of tremendous opulence and splendor. The orchestra includes horns, bassoons, and divisi violas as well as oboes, trumpets, drums and the usual strings. The theme of the fugal central episode, incidentally, is taken from the second movement of Handel’s D major violin Sonata, Op. 1, No. 13.

Robin Golding

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