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George Frideric Handel's oratorio Saul was a pivotal work in the composer's career. Written in 1738, Saul launched the phase of Handel's career in which he largely abandoned Italian opera, the genre on which his career essentially rested, in favor of the English texted oratorio. Although Handel had written oratorios prior to 1738, Saul is often credited with being his greatest achievement in the genre up to that point, establishing certain frameworks on which several of his later oratorios were built. This work received more performances throughout the nineteenth century than any other of Handel's oratorios; Messiah surpassed it only in the twetieth century.1
In 1993, Albert E. Clark published the results of a survey of performances of Handel oratorios throughout the United States over a fifteen-year span.2 The results of the survey showed that, with the exception of Messiah and, to a lesser degree, Israel in Egypt (written immediately after P Saul) and Judas Maccabaeus, Handel's remaining oratorios are "seriously neglected" and most of them "languish in near oblivion."3 In an effort to rescue a portion of this repertoire from the latter fate, this article will bring the oratorio Saul to the attention of conductors with the intention that it will be performed more frequently. To that end, the article will outline the synopsis of the oratorio and highlight specific musical and dramatic features that point to the work's appeal, addressing performance-related issues, namely pacing, final cadences of recitatives, and cuts.
Summary of the Work
Saul functioned both as the beginning of a new phase in Handel's career and as the culmination of his preceding work as a composer of opera. The librettist Charles Jennens (also the librettist for Messiah) created the storyline by drawing from events and characters in 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel in the Old Testament. Beginning after David has successfully slain Goliath, the story follows Saul's precipitous fall into jealousy over David's fame.
The oratorio opens with a four-movement Sinfonía, which is followed by four choral movements with a short aria between the first and second chorus. The first of these choruses, "How Excellent Thy Name," depicts the Israelites offering praise and thanksgiving for their victory over Goliath and the Philistines (Figure 1). The movements that follow culminate in a...