Philharmonia Baroque conquers Handel's "Wicked Queen"; oratorio for English opera fans (2 of 3)

John Prescott/Vanessa/Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra/Handel

Handel expert John Prescott with guide dog Vanessa of Philharmonia Baroque

Philharmonia Baroque will perform Athalia, Handel's Wicked Queen this weekend only in Palo Alto and at Herbst Theater in San Francisco after debuting in Berkeley last weekend (part 2 of 3).

Handel wrote Athalia, Handel’s Wicked Queen for a counter tenor, one of the few pieces Handel ever wrote for a counter tenor according to Philharmonia Baroque (program page 17). Note the counter tenor Robin Blaze who sings Joad, the priest, went to Oxford. The preludes speaker John Prescott also studied at Oxford as well as Cambridge. Vanessa his guide dog came with him to speak in the chapel. The pair are pictured right.

An audience member David Stewart sporting his plaid tie told me as soon as the applause stops Vanessa rises.

David Stewart/Philharmonia Baroque/Handel's Wicked Queen/Photo: Cindy Warner April 2009

Prescott according to the program (page 28) has written extensively on the music of Handel, who went blind; Prescott's doctoral thesis is on John Stanley, the 18th century blind organist, conductor, violinist and impresario.

Here is Handel's What Sacred Horrors Shake.

Choeur et Orchestre de la Xème Académie Baroque Européenne d'Ambronay
Direction Paul Mc Creesh, from YouTube.

If I may interject I had a golden retriever raised to be a Canine Companion and she was fond of Little Deuce Coupe. She sang along as we drove around in a Berkeleyesque vintage 1972 VW convertible Volkswagen.

David Stewart drove from Carson City, Nevada for the Athalia performance. He teaches cross country skiing at Kirkwood in the winter. He plays bagpipes and harmonica, Woody Guthrie songs like ballads and blues. He started on the bagpipes in 1951 at the age of 17.

He said the speaker, Prescott with Vanessa, talked of how Handel was too liturgical for theater yet too theatrical for the church. No costumed performances were allowed in church in England at the time and women could not sing solo. Handel used castratas, although I read on Wikipedia that practice was finally outlawed. Handel wrote forty Italian operas which were popular in England at the time. The Beggar’s Opera followed, a satire of Italian operas. Handel was popular with Jews.

It was wonderful then to see Celine Ricci, a soprano, cast in the role of Joas, King of Judah.

Here's is Handel's Cease Thy Anguish.

This is a duet sung by Diana Higbee and countertenor David Clegg in the role of Josabeth and Joad in Händel's oratorio ATHALIA perfomed for the 24th Ambronay Festival (France) in 2003.

So about Athalia, Handel’s Wicked Queen. It established within the context of Italian opera the popularity of English oratorio (page 16). Though dramatic in form, it was not acted—there was a long-standing bar on the public staging of stories in the English theater—but gained distinctive impact from the inclusion of choruses reinforced by the boys and men of the Chapel Royal choir. The reaction of London audiences was rather mixed, with the die-hard opera fans disliking the absence of scenery and the de-emphasis of great solo arias, but sufficient enthusiasm was expressed to encourage Handel to produce another oratorio, Deborah, the next year.

Here's the writer with conductor Nic McGegan at his harpsicord after the performance.

Nic McGegan/Philharmonia Baroque/Handel's Wicked Queen/Photo: Cindy Warner