George Frideric Händel - Jubilate, HWV 279 {Music for the Peace of Utrecht}

Composer: George Frideric Händel (23 February 1685 -- 14 April 1759)
Ensemble: Netherlands Bach Society
Conductor: Jos Van Veldhoven
Soloists: Nicki Kennedy (soprano), William Towers (counter tenor), Julian Podger (tenor), Wolfram Lattke (tenor), Peter Harvey (bass)
Year of recording: 2009

Jubilate (Utrecht), canticle for soloists, chorus & orchestra, HWV 279, written in 1713.

00:00 - I. O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands
01:57 - II. Serve the Lord with gladness
03:54 - III. Be ye sure that the Lord he is God
06:35 - IV. O go your way into his gates
10:09 - V. For the Lord is gracious
13:06 - VI. Glory be to the Father
14:30 - VII. As it was in the beginning

Utrecht 'Te Deum' and 'Jubilate' is a sacred choral composition in two parts, written by Händel to celebrate the Treaty of Utrecht, which established the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, ending the War of the Spanish Succession.

The combination of a Te Deum and Jubilate (Psalm 100) follows earlier models. It was his first commission from the British royal family and established his career in London, and it was also his first major sacred work to English texts. Händel followed the models of Henry Purcell's 1694 Te Deum and Jubilate with strings and trumpets, which was regularly performed for official functions in St Paul's even after the composer's death, and a 1709 setting by William Croft. As in these models, Händel composed a combination of two liturgical texts, the Ambrosian Hymn Te Deum, We praise thee, O God, and a setting of Psalm 100, O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands, which is a regular canticle of the Anglican Morning Prayer. He followed the version of the Book of Common Prayer. The Te Deum and Jubilate, along with another composition "As Pants the Hart", earned Händel a yearly income from Queen Anne's Court. Donald Burrows writes in "Handel and the English Chapel Royal" that "his close association with the Court, reinforced by his musical contribution to events that were personal to the royal family, gave him both the benefits and the disadvantages of identification with the Hanoverian establishment." However, at the time his annual pension was granted it would not have been obvious that he was going to continue to enjoy the favour of the future George I, who was in fact opposed to the Treaty of Utrecht.

In the Jubilate, only the first movement is for solo and choir, an alto soloist, who exposes a coloratura theme, which the choir repeats. Movement 1 is adapted from "Laudate Pueri" which Handel composed for his Carmelite Vespers in Rome. Movement 3 is an introspective duet of alto and bass solo, with solo oboe and violin, based on the first movement of Handel's A mirarvi io son intento (HWV 178), composed in 1711 in Hanover. In movement 5 three low voices expand on For the Lord is gracious. All other movements are set for the choir.

The work was first performed in a public dress rehearsal on 5 March 1713 in St Paul's Cathedral. The official premiere took place after the tedious peace negotiations had finished, in a solemn thanksgiving service on 7 July 1713.