Handel's Joshua
Argument
ct One. The Children of Israel celebrate their miraculous
passage over the river Jordan, and their entrance into the land of
Canaan, under the guidance of Joshua. Joshua receives from an angel
his commission to go up against Jericho, and prepares the people for
the attack. The mutual attachment of Othniel and Achsah, and the
departure of Othniel to join in the war against Jericho.
Act Two. The destruction of the city of Jericho. The feast of the Passover kept. Tidings brought of the defeat of Israel at Ai. Joshua rouses the people to renew the attack. Othniel revisits Achsah. Her father, Caleb, dismisses him to the war in defence of the Gibeonites, the allies of Israel. Joshua and his army rescue Gibeon from the five confederate kings of the Amorites. The miracle of the sun and moon being stayed in their course during the battle.
Act Three. The wars having terminated, the people celebrate the praises of Joshua. He allots to Caleb the portion of the land which had been promised him by Moses. The gratitude of Caleb and the members of his tribe. Caleb's promise to bestow his daughter Achsah on whoever shall subdue the city of Debir. The task undertaken by Othniel, for whose success the aid of the Almighty is invoked. Othniel's triumphant return from victory. Receives the reward of his valor. The happy condition of the people, and their grateful ascription of praise to the Almighty.
HANDEL AND HIS ORATORIO CAREER
Handel's oratorio career divides roughly into four segments. In his first years in England, while he was learning the language and introducing himself musically and socially, there were two works "after the manner of an oratorio" written for the amusement of his titled friends at Cannons, the country home of the Duke of Chandos. *Acis and Galatea, a masque on classical models with gracious nods to Purcell, is clearly a masterpiece; Esther, which owes debt to Racine and to Greek drama, is perhaps less so, but is significant for what it presages. These works can be thought of as dipping-a-toe-in-the-water rather than representing a major re-direction of artistic effort. Handel's resolute intention was still to compose Italian, not English operas. He had left Germany for Italy in the first place because of his passionate attraction to Italian lyric ideals and forms. It would be thirteen years before he returned to the oratorio form. Indeed Acis and Esther had to wait twelve years to be heard by the general public at all, and then in such an altered state by comparison with their original versions as to defy recognition. Even so, when the London public got the chance, they were enchanted.
In 1733, Italian opera was struggling for an audience (not for the first or last time), so Handel took a second look at English possibilities. The result was Deborah and *Athalia. Deborah is a bit of a patch-work (28 of its 41 movements are reworkings of older material), but Athalia is a certifiable masterpiece and a model for the great dramatic oratorios of Handel's middle and late years. The mid 1730s were occupied almost exclusively with operatic activity; a serious illness intervened as well.
In 1738, strapped financially and artistically at a dead end, Handel returned (in desperation? with what degree of reluctance?) for a third time to English oratorio; and in the next six years ending in 1744, created an array of dramatic structures that is virtually unprecedented in his or anyone's creative history. Beginning with *Saul, a king drunk with jealous rage, and ending with another king, the sadistic *Belshazzar, drunk on liquor and power, Handel's genius veered during those six years from the classically inspired *Semele and *Hercules to the Jewish epic *Israel in Egypt, and a "family values" spectacular, Joseph and his Brethren; from incomparable Messiah to *L'Allegro, the most nearly perfect of all English pastorals; and then there is the great monument lodged in the midst of all this diverse splendor: mighty Samson. Lest he be thought an idler, during this same six year period Handel also wrote his admirable last operas as well as copious superb instrumental works.
1745 was a virtual blank — no new works at all. Then the Scottish rebellion and association with a new librettist, Thomas Morell, spawned a variant species, the military or victory oratorios — five of them in a row between 1746 and 1748. Winton Dean calls them "patriotic pageants:" the Occasional Oratorio, *Judas Maccabaeus, Alexander Balus, *Joshua, and finally, *Solomon. These works celebrate not only the trials and triumphs of a biblical tribe but also, and perhaps even more to the point, the splendors of the Georgian golden age, an age that paralleled Handel's own rise to maturity and esteem. During this period Handel began to mine new and deeper spiritual strata within himself, and discovered the means for calling them up in his music more consistently than before, indeed often outside the intention or consent of his librettists.
Then, the final summarizing, surpassing works: Susanna, a perhaps regretful look at the English operatic tradition that might have been his to create had he chosen to do so; Theodora, the only Christian oratorio (Messiah and La Resurrezione are special cases); and *Jephtha. Winton Dean notes the preoccupation in these last works with great spiritual issues, "a preoccupation that goes far beyond the content of the librettos."
Joshua, composed between 19 July and 19 August in 1747, and first performed in March 1748, is Handel's fourth collaboration with the librettist Thomas Morell. The composition of another "victory" oratorio only a few months after the enormously successful debut of Judas Maccabaeus might cause a cynic to suspect Handel and Morell of mercenary motives. And he might be right, since the sources, story and style are similar. But Joshua is more than Judas with a love interest. A number of critics have underrated this work, refusing to cede it an honored seat at the Handelian feast. Others have dismissed it as just another ho-hum catalog of Jewish battles fought and (mostly) won. But one wonders if they have really listened to the music. Many of Handel's works have suffered from a long tradition of performance abuse and misunderstanding, but some have lanquished because of inappropriate expectations.
As we have seen from the listing above, Handel composed in many different styles in his oratorio career. It is not fair to the great pyschological dramas like Saul or Samson or Jephtha to expect their narrative intensity to permeate works aspiring to a different esthetic and purpose. Dean's description of the middle period works as "patriotic pageants" is apt. Joshua and its companions from that period carry a proud standard. In honoring Jewish courage, perseverance and survival they also parade a British swagger, and do what they set out to do in a manner that is somehow naively appealing if a little shocking, and, to the extent in which they exult military slaughter, repugnant to modern sensibilities. Joshua himself comes off as a bit of a martinet: he fusses, fumes and gives a lot of orders, and he's a hard man to love. Handel gives our hero stirring music and requires stirling virtuosity of him. He is a rock on whom the Israelites can truly depend. Caleb is the highly regarded military veteran who during the course of the oratorio gains wisdom and age in roughly equal portions. Othniel is the ambitious young warrior, impetuous in pursuit of both love and military fame. Achsah is the quintessential Handelian heroine. We have seen her many times before: vernal, radiant, adoring, not bland — here, as in her other guises, calling forth Handel's most alluring music.
As is often true in Handel, some of the most wonderful music in Joshua occurs in the second act. The opening and closing choruses especially stand out. In the first, Jericho has been under siege for six days. Joshua calls for a trumpet blast; a solemn march accompanies the procession of the Ark of the Covenant; the walls collapse. A great da capo chorus describes the event: its middle section ("heav'n thunders, tempests roar, and groans the ground") is perhaps the greatest "thunder" piece in all the baroque. At the act's end, a miraculous moment occurs when Joshua, fearful of the effect of fading sunlight in another battle, commands the sun and moon to stand still. At the word "stop," the sun does indeed stop: the strings arrive at a high a, which then becomes an inverted pedal of changing color (from string to oboe to trumpet) that comes about as close to illustrating a visual/mystical phenomenon in nature as music is capable of doing.
The third act contains two of Handel's most familiar and best loved movements. The air "O had I Jubal's lyre" made its first melodic appearance in Handel's teens, and through various permutations in various works found its way finally, and most splendidly, into Joshua. And, everyone's second most favorite Handel chorus, "See the conqu'ring hero comes," usually associated with Judas Maccabaeus, here assumes its first intended position: as a greeting to victorious Othniel at the conclusion of Joshua. It became such a popular favorite that Handel transferred it to Judas, which was itself so popular that it was more often than Joshua.
An apology: we earlier incorrectly announced that this performance of Joshua would be a Boston premiere. Not so. In 1876, Handel and Haydn Society performed it, reviving it three years later. Most of the vocal scores being sung from at this performance were used at those performances.
*Indicates works that have been performed by The Boston Cecilia either in period instrument performances since 1981, or on modern instruments dating back to 1972.
- Donald Teeters
The Boston Cecilia performed this piece at New England Conservatory's Jordan Hall in Boston on November 5, 1995.
© 2004 Donald Teeters. All rights reserved.
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