Folio. Modern half light brown morocco with marbled boards, raised bands on spine with black leather label gilt and titling gilt. 1f. (recto title, verso table), [i] (blank), 161-167, 9-30 pp. (some pagination deriving from earlier editions). Engraved throughout. First Edition, fourth issue. Smith p. 104, no. 4: "The pagination 161-167 is from 'Overtures in Score' (1740) and takes the place of the original pagination in 2-8 in the earlier editions." BUC p 434. RISM H537 and HH537. Esther, the first English oratorio, was first performed at [?]Cannons in 1718. "Given its importance . it is regrettable that nothing is known about how [Esther] came to be written; even the authorship of the libretto (variously attributed to Pope and John Arbuthnot, and drawing upon Thomas Brereton's translation of the Racine play) is uncertain. The revivals of bothEstherandAcisin1732inspired the series of English oratorios and secular musical dramas that were to crown Handel's achievement. .English oratorio as a public entertainment began with Handel's production of a much revised version ofEstherin London on2 May 1732. .The1732Estherincluded two of the coronation anthems of1727, and its immediate successor,Deborah, [first performance at King's Theatre, London, 17 March 1733] included the other two as well as more music from the Brockes Passion, as if Handel was using his first English oratorios as a means of rehabilitating past work." Anthony Hicks in Grove Music Online Bound with: Handel The Most Celebrated Songs in the Oratorio Call'd Deborah. [HWV 51]. London: Printed for & Sold by I. Walsh Musick Printer & Instrument maker to his Majesty at the Harp & Hoboy in Catherine Street in the Strand. No. 545 [ca. 1735]. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), [i] (blank), 2-21 pp. Engraved throughout. First Edition, first issue. Smith p. 101, no. 1. BUC p. 433. RISM H520 and HH520. "Contains six songs and one duet. . The first three of these numbers are in the original libretto and in the music are described as sung in 'Deborah', the next two are from 'Esther', and the last two from 'Athalia', the latter four numbers appearing with the heading 'Sung . in the Oratorio', but without any oratory being named." Smith. An 18th century owner has added "Esther" and "Athalia" in manuscript to headings where applicable. Deborah, with libretto by Samuel Humphreys based on Judges V, was first performed in London at the King's Theatre on 17 March 1733. It is primarily a work of pasticcio, with a substantial portion of the music drawn from several sources within Handel's oeuvre, including his Dixit Dominus [HWV 232], Brockes Passion [HWV 48], and Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno [HWV 46a]. High points within the oratorio include the magisterial choruses and poignant arias. "Much of the finest of the airs - apart from the exquisite 'Tears such as tender fathers shed' - is Barak's 'Low at her feet'. The melody with its rising ninth in the first bar and the spare accompaniment with the sudden tumble down three octaves at the words 'he fell down dead' are a happy blend of the pictorial and expressive." Dean: Handel's Dramatic Oratorios and Masques, p. 234 Bound with: Handel The Choice of Hercules. [HWV 69]. London: Printed for I. Walsh, in Catharine Street, in the Strand. Of whom may be had Just Publish'd ., [ca. 1751]. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), [i] (blank), 2-41, [i] (blank) pp. First Edition, second issue. Engraved throughout. Smith p. 100, no. 2. BUC p. 433. RISM H987 and HH987. The Choice of Hercules was first performed at Covent Garden on 1 March 1751; this incidental music is largely a re-working of existing material, particularly as relates to Handel's abandoned Alceste, written six months earlier. See Dean: Handel's Dramatic Oratorios and Masques, p. 579. Provenance Possibly from the collection of noted English composer, organist, and violinist John Stanley (1712-1786), with an 18th century armorial bookplate to front pastedown incorporating a stag, stars, an
