Georg Friedrich Händel Alexander's Feast

Handel opened the oratorio season at Covent Garden Theatre in early 1736 with Alexander’s Feast. This magnificent composition afforded him an unparallelled opportunity to showcase his musical artistry, which few of his other oratorios could match. The text, which illustrates the power of music using the example of the ancient hero Alexander the Great, is based on Alexander's Feast, or, The Power of Musick, the ode by John Dryden which was widely known in England at the time. Alexander's Feast became one of Handel's most popular works and, alongside Acis and Galatea and Messiah, his most frequently performed oratorio during his lifetime.

For the first time the present Carus edition is based consistently on Handel’s conducting score, which he used for his own performances of the oratorio, thus not only eliminating timeworn errors, but also offering clarity concerning the choruses, the arias and recitatives, actually performed in Handel’s concerts, as well as their sequence of performance. The new Carus edition offers two performance versions: the version of the premiere in 1736, as well as a revised version from 1751. Furthermore, the inclusion of the Concerto for Harp HWV 294 (CV 55.294) is also possible; Handel composed this work especially for Alexander's Feast (as an illustration of Timotheus, the ancient poet who played the lyre). For this purpose the edition contains the appropriate alternatives for the sequence of the movements.