Alexander's Feast - Handel, George Frideric 1685-1759; Hamilton, Newburgh 1691-1761; Dryden, John 1631-1700; Deller, Alfred 1912-1979; Oriana Concert Choir and Orchestra (United Kingdom) (New York Vanguard The Bach Guild, 1976)
Händel's Ode 'Alexander's Feast' (HWV 75) is set to a libretto by Newburgh Hamilton. Hamilton adapted his libretto from John Dryden's ode Alexander's Feast, or the Power of Music (1697) which had been written to celebrate Saint Cecilia's Day. Jeremiah Clarke (whose score is now lost) set the original ode to music. The work describes a banquet held by Alexander the Great and his mistress Thaïs in the captured Persian city of Persepolis, during which the musician Timotheus sings and plays his lyre, arousing various moods in Alexander until he is finally incited to burn the city down in revenge for his dead Greek soldiers.
Originally released in 1964
Keywords: Cecilia -- Saint -- 200-230; 18th Century (1701-1800); Oratorio; United Kingdom