Soloist: Soprano
Chorus: S-S-A-T-B
Orchestra: 2 oboes, violins 1 & 2, violas 1 & 2, continuo

***

Laudate pueri
Sit nomen Domini
A solis ortu
Excelsus super omnes
Quis sicut Dominus
Suscitans a terra
Quihabitare facit
Gloria patri

Program Notes by Martin Pearlman

Handel completed this setting of Psalm 112 on July 8, 1707.  He had written a smaller and simpler Laudate pueri not long before, but this one belongs to his first stay in Rome, where he presented some of his most inspired early works for the pope and other dignitaries, works including his Dixit Dominus, the oratorio La Resurrezione, and a number of his greatest cantatas.  Like these other works, the Laudate pueri  has all the brilliance, as well as the light touch that we associate with the greatest music of Handel's apprentice years in Italy.  It is scored for solo soprano, chorus and an orchestra of oboes, strings and continuo.

Boston Baroque Performances

Laudate pueri, HWV 237

November 11, 1997
NEC’s Jordan Hall, Boston, MA
Martin Pearlman, conductor

Soloists:
Sharon Baker, soprano
Cyndia Sieden, soprano

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