Portsmouth Choral Union performing Handel Saul: with The Consort of Twelve in the Festival of Chichester. at St Paul's Church, Chichester on Sunday 7th July 2024

Please note: This concert is in the past and has already taken place.

Portsmouth Choral Union performing Handel Saul

with The Consort of Twelve in the Festival of Chichester.

Add to my Calendar 07-07-2024 18:30 07-07-2024 20:30 36 Portsmouth Choral Union performing Handel Saul As part of this year’s Chichester Festival, Portsmouth Choral Union will be performing Handel’s rarely heard oratorio Saul. Conceived on a large scale, the original orchestration of this work is lavish and includes instruments rarely encountered at that time including harp, trombones and carillon (a keyboard instrument making the sound of chiming bells, and there is also an expanded woodwind section with both flutes and oboes.  The first performance featured large kettledrums borrowed from The Tower of London.  Unlike some of Handel’s less often performed oratorios, Saul has a good balance of solo arias and dramatic choruses (including a rousing Hallelujah). In this performance the Choral Union will be accompanied by Chichester’s renowned early music ensemble ‘The Consort of Twelve’, and directed by David Gostick. Saul received six performances in its first season, quite remarkable for the time and was one of the works most revived by Handel in subsequent seasons. The Handel scholar Winton Dean, describes Saul as ‘one of the supreme masterpieces of dramatic art’ a statement easily justified by the excellence of its libretto (by Charles Jennens who provided the text for Messiah) and Handel’s remarkable musical characterisation. This concert, not to be missed by lovers of Baroque Choral Music and Handel in particular. St Paul's Church, Chichester DD/MM/YYYY

Details

St Paul's Church
Churchside
Chichester
West Sussex
PO19 6FT
England

Sunday 7th July 2024
6:30 PM

Programme

George Frideric Handel – Saul, HWV 53

Performers

David Gostick – Conductor
Charlotte Bowden – soprano
Joseph Bolger – counter-tenor
Kieran White – tenor
Jamie Wollard – Bass

The Consort of Twelve
Portsmouth Choral Union

Programme Note

As part of this year’s Chichester Festival, Portsmouth Choral Union will be performing Handel’s rarely heard oratorio Saul. Conceived on a large scale, the original orchestration of this work is lavish and includes instruments rarely encountered at that time including harp, trombones and carillon (a keyboard instrument making the sound of chiming bells, and there is also an expanded woodwind section with both flutes and oboes. The first performance featured large kettledrums borrowed from The Tower of London.

Unlike some of Handel’s less often performed oratorios, Saul has a good balance of solo arias and dramatic choruses (including a rousing Hallelujah).

In this performance the Choral Union will be accompanied by Chichester’s renowned early music ensemble ‘The Consort of Twelve’, and directed by David Gostick.

Saul received six performances in its first season, quite remarkable for the time and was one of the works most revived by Handel in subsequent seasons. The Handel scholar Winton Dean, describes Saul as ‘one of the supreme masterpieces of dramatic art’ a statement easily justified by the excellence of its libretto (by Charles Jennens who provided the text for Messiah) and Handel’s remarkable musical characterisation.

This concert, not to be missed by lovers of Baroque Choral Music and Handel in particular.

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