Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne
The Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne ( HWV 74), also Eternal source of light divine after the opening words , is an ode by Georg Friedrich Handel .
Emergence
The ode, which lasts about half an hour, was written as tribute music for the birthday of the British Queen Anne on February 6, 1713, a few months after Handel had come to London for the second time (and now forever). Ambrose Philips (1674–1749) wrote the libretto . At the time of the conception, the Treaty of Utrecht was about to be concluded, in the negotiations of which Queen Anne had participated. The poetry is therefore also a thank you for the peace agreement. Since Queen Anne was ill on her birthday in 1713, it is believed that the performance did not take place until a year later.
The text consists of seven stanzas, each of which ends with a refrain:
- The day that gave great Anne birth
- Who fixed a lasting peace on Earth.
- The day that gave us the birth of the great Anne
- Who secured the lasting peace on earth.
Handel's setting is divided into nine parts, with the chorus always being sung by the choir, but with varying musical material.
Web links
- Score of the ode for Queen Anna's birthday (Handel edition, edited by Friedrich Chrysander , Leipzig 1887)