word-books for Handel's performances of Samson, The

Musical Times, Spring 2005 by Burrows, Donald

It is not surprising that, under the pressure of the performing seasons and the printing processes for the books, the text in the word-books did not always match exactly with what was performed, and there was some inertia in the correction of established errors. Thus, for example, Hamilton's original heading of 'Grand Chorus' for 'Let the bright seraphims' lived on until 1752 in spite of the fact that this text was always performed as an air,9 while 'To Song and Dance' retained its heading 'Chorus of the Priests of Dagon' in all the word-books from Handel's lifetime with no recognition of the preceding air to the same text. A number of literal mistakes were corrected in successive editions, but other alterations were also made to the words which may never have been reflected in performance, such as 'Let not the God of Israel sleep' in place of 'Why does the God of Israel sleep?'. Most significantly from the musical point of view, the names of characters in front of the lines of recitatives and airs were prone to substitution or omission when alterations were made, so that the character-name may not always provide a reliable guide to the setting of the movement was that was performed. Obviously the word-books require critical interpretation in conjunction with the musical sources (in particular Handel's much amended performing score),10 and with information about the casts of solo singers from season to season.

No WORD-BOOKS for Samson present knottier problems than those dated 1743, the year of the oratorio's first performance. Four known different issues were identified by Dean, who placed them in a sequence that I believe to be most likely correct." The first issue is the one that is easiest to interpret, for it reflects the work as it was given at Handel's first performances, and the inclusion of Hamilton's Preface suggests that the oratorio was a novelty that required introduction to the London audience. Handel's first performing version of Samson had seen a rather curious evolution. When he first drafted the score in September-October 1741 he had probably expected a performance in London within the next year,12 but his extended visit to Dublin intervened. Unlike most of his London scores, the original draft of Samson bears very little hint of the intended singers, though he seems to have been thinking in terms of four or five soloists. When he returned from Dublin he took up the score again in the autumn of 1742, completing it but also extending it to accommodate an unusually large cast: for his oratorio season in February-March 1743 ne ended up with three sopranos (Clive, Avolio and Edwards), one mezzo-soprano/contralto (Gibber), two tenors (Beard and Lowe) and two basses (Reinhold and Savage).13 It is even possible that these forces were such that he did not feel the need to employ any extra singers, so that these soloists together also formed the complete 'chorus'.14 The success of the performances was graphically described in a well-known letter from Horace Walpole: