Solomon (HWV 67)

Many are attracted to power, but few can handle it. Which ruler would be a true role model for you? One from the Old Testament is King Solomon, who, according to the Bible, ruled the United Kingdom of Israel about 3,000 years ago. He was not only generous and loving, he was also so upright that to this day people talk about “Solomon's judgment” when it comes to making a difficult decision, and so wise that even other powerful figures, such as the Queen of Sheba, bowed before him.

In 1748/49, George Frideric Handel was the first composer to combine the stories of the great king into a single musical entity in his English-language oratorio Solomon, which in three acts and four episodes explores rich musical depths: double choirs, jubilant choruses, additional strings and a full wind section – including two horns!

Despite all the splendour, Handel, true to his protagonist, also allows time for softer emotions. As in the Song of Solomon (Old Testament), he sets the mutual affection between the king and his wife, the daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh, to music in scintillating arias.

Handel demonstrates his dramatic artistry in the second act, when Solomon settles the famous dispute between two women over the motherhood of a baby. When the king orders the child to be cut in two with a sword, the true mother reveals herself by announcing her renunciation in order to save the child's life – and the wise ruler believes her. Handel captures this brilliantly with a moving aria and eloquent choruses of praise.

Indeed, these choruses make the listener want to fly away, to meditate, even to fight when their magnificent power is unleashed in the third act. Handel grants them a rare place of prominence in his work, sometimes in four-part homophony, then artfully polyphonic up to an eight-part jubilant movement. For Handel's Solomon also understood the power of music. He sings: “Sweep the string to sooth the royal fair, and rouse each passion with th' alternate air.” Wise is he who gives the king dominion over a whole kingdom of sound.