The Choice of Hercules

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The Choice of Hercules ( HWV 69) is an oratorio work ( Musical Interlude ) by Georg Friedrich Händel . It is based on the Greek myth of Heracles at the crossroads .

Emergence

The origin of this dramatic cantata of approx. 40 minutes in length must be sought in the incidental music for Alceste , which Handel composed from December 27, 1749 to January 8, 1750 . This project, in which the operator of the Covent Garden Theater , John Rich , was involved, consisted of a series of recitatives, arias, choirs and symphonic interludes for a tragedy by Tobias Smollet .

There was no performance of the tragedy or the incidental music, although the preparations were well advanced. Scheibler cites the rural exodus as a possible reason due to a series of earthquakes in London at the turn of the year 1749/50. Anthony Hicks is considering a possible withdrawal by Rich because of the feared costs.

Handel uses a large part of Alceste's music for this interlude, and he also composed some new numbers. The work extended from June 28 to July 5, 1750.

The first performance took place on March 1, 1751 at London's Covent Garden Theater . Because the work is not suitable for a full-length entertainment and the oratorio Alexander's Feast was relatively short at one and a half hours, Handel played The Choice of Hercules as the third act for Alexander's Feast . He retained this practice for the subsequent performances in 1753 and 1755.

The cast at the premiere was as follows:

libretto

Who the librettist was is controversial. The most frequently mentioned name is that of Thomas Morell , who is responsible for both the previous oratorio Theodora and the following Jephtha . What is certain is that the text goes back to the poem The Judgment of Hercules by Robert Lowth (Glasgow 1743).

The fabric is widely known as part of the Hercules saga and has often been used in art. In 1733 Johann Sebastian Bach wrote the cantata Hercules on the Crossroads (BWV 213) with the same plot - a rare case in which Bach and Handel produced a work of the same subject and a similar form.

literature

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