by Marvin J. Ward

Northampton, MA, 18 April 2009.   For its offering in this the 200th anniversary year of Handel’s death, Ian Watson, Artistic Director of Arcadia Players chose to present an oratorio other than the ubiquitous Messiah.  Israel in Egypt, Handel’s 2nd Biblical oratorio, following Saul written at about the same time, was presented in St. Mary’s Church by an ensemble of 22 musicians that included strings, pairs of oboes, bassoons, and trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, and organ, and 23 singers: 8 sopranos, 5 each altos, tenors, and basses.  This year is the 270th anniversary of the work’s première on 4 April 1739.

It thus precedes Messiah by 4 years, but shares with the latter librettist Charles Jennens, who used the book of Exodus together with Psalm 105, not always following the order of the verses in the Bible, to piece together his text for Part I, “The Exodus, ” with Part II, entitled “Moses’ Song,” using exclusively Exodus 15 straight through.  The version performed today, however, is Handel’s 1840 revision of the version written in 1838 that included an opening portion devoted to the death of Joseph, so Parts I and II were the original II and III, with only the opening orchestral Prelude being retained from the original Part I.  Unlike Messiah, the chorus is almost exclusively the star here; there are very few recitatives, only a pair of duets, and 4 arias, and the chorus is often divided into 2 halves.  The singers have little chance to catch their breaths, especially in Part I.

Another striking difference is that the music reflects the words much more closely.  While the melodies of Messiah are lovely – indeed, that is part of why it is so well-loved, they do not especially depict the text.  Not so here.  When “the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea” is sung, the rhythm imitates a gallop.  “…they sank into the bottom as a stone” is deep and heavy; “…they shall be still as a stone” has all the syllables on the same note; “…till Thy people pass over” has the notes in an arching pattern.  When the wind is mentioned, the woodwinds make it blow.  Then there are the 7 plagues in Part I.  The trumpet sounds when “He spake the word” and there is buzzing with the flies and lice and swarming with the locusts, pounding with the hail, for example.  When “He sent a thick darkness over the land,” the music becomes low and somber.  The whole is veritable sound painting.  At the same time, there is considerable variety in the choral writing, with some of the choruses and double choruses being in harmony, others fugues.

The musical and dramatic equivalent of the “Halleluiah” chorus is a double chorus on the text: “The Lord shall reign for ever and ever” that is broken by 2 tenor recitatives and then interwoven with a soprano solo, the whole set of 5 numbers sung in a continuous flow that brings the work to a triumphant close.  Indeed, Watson had the singers with recitatives, duets, or airs along the way either sing in place or move to the center (with the chorus taking seats behind the altar in some instances in Part II) while orchestra was playing so that the entire performance simply flowed along.  The work does show some habits hanging over from Handel’s previous focus on opera seria in that there are more repeats and da capos in the music, patterns that have nearly completely disappeared by the time he wrote Messiah.

The performance was impeccable, energetic, and riveting.  An insert for the season program book was provided that gave a list of the personnel, a fine historical note by Priscilla Drucker, and the libretto.  Tenor Peter Shea stood out, as usual, among the soloists, but all were excellent, their diction crystal clear; inevitably in some choral numbers, the words were a bit less readily distinguishable.  First-timer alto Thea Lobo will be welcome to return.  It was the 1st performance of the work by Arcadia Players and was a fine finish to the organization’s 20th season.  Israel in Egypt deserves to be heard more frequently.  Perhaps audiences will not have to wait another 20 years for a repeat?