George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) Saul, HWV 53 (1739) Oratorio in tre atti Atto 1 - SCENA 1 (nn. 1 - 5) 1. Coro: How excellent Thy name, o Lord 2. Aria (soprano): An infant rais’d by thy command 3. Trio: Along the monster atheist strode 4. Coro: The youth inspir’d by Thee, oh Lord 5. Coro: How excellent thy name, oh Lord - SCENA 2 (n. 11) 6. Aria (Merab): What abject thoughts a prince can have - SCENA 2 (nn. 18-21) 7. Aria (Michal): See, with what a scornful air 8. Aria (Michal): Ah, lovely youth! 9. Sinfonia 10. Recitativo (Michal): Already see the daughters of the land - SCENA 3 (nn. 22-24) 11. Coro di donne: Welcome, welcome, mighty king! 12. Recitativo accompagnato (Saul): What do I hear? - am I then sunk so low 13. Coro: David hi sten thousands slew - SCENA 5 (nn. 31-33) 14. Recitativo (Abner): Rack’d with infernal pains, ev’n now the king comes forth 15. Aria (David): Oh Lord, whose mercies numberless 16. Sinfonia Atto 3 - SCENA 2 (nn. 71-72) 17. Recitativo (Witch, Saul): With me what would’st thou 18. Aria (Witch): Infernal spirits, by whose pow’r - SCENA 3 (n. 73) 19. Recitativo accompagnato (Samuel, Saul): Why hast thou forc’d me from the realms of peace - SCENA 4 (n. 77) 20 Dead March - SCENA 5 (n. 78) 21. Coro: Mourn, Israel, mourn, thy beauty lost Michal (soprano) - Rosemary Joshua Merab (soprano) - Emma Bell David (controtenore) - Lawrence Zazzo Jonathan (tenore) - Jeremy Ovenden Sommo sacerdote/Strega di Endor (tenore) - Michael Slattery Amalekite/Abner (tenore) - Finnur Bjarnason Doeg/Fantasma di Samuel (baritono) - Henry Waddington Saul (basso) - Gidon Saks RIAS Kammerchor Concerto Köln René Jacobs, direttore