Handel: Samson

Album by George Frideric Handel & Raymond Leppard & Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

Samson is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel, first performed in 1743. The work exemplifies Handel's mature Baroque oratorio style, combining dramatic recitatives, expressive solo writing and expansive choral textures in English and reflecting his late-career focus on large-scale Biblical narratives within the English choral tradition.
First released: 2015

Tracklist

  1. 1.
    Recitative: Can’st thou for this, vain boaster? (Samson, Harapha)
    0:53
  2. 2.
    SAMSON, Oratorio in three acts, HWV 57 - Symphony
    4:09
  3. 3.
    ACT ONE. Awake the trumpet’s lofty sound! (Chorus)
    1:58
  4. 4.
    Duet: Go, baffled coward, go (Samson, Harapha)
    2:26
  5. 5.
    Air: Ye men of Gaza, hither bring (Israelite Woman, Chorus)
    4:21
  6. 6.
    Recitative: Here lies the proof (Samson)
    1:02
  7. 7.
    Recitative: Why by an angel was my birth foretold (Samson)
    1:17
  8. 8.
    Hear, Jacob’s God, Jehovah, hear! (Chorus)
    3:48
  9. 9.
    Recitative: Dagon, arise, attend thy sacred feast! (Harapha)
    0:19
  10. 10.
    Air: Total eclipse! No sun, no moon! (Samson)
    5:08
  11. 11.
    Oh first created beam! And thou great world! (Chorus)
    4:13
  12. 12.
    Fix’d in his everlasting seat (Chorus)
    3:08
  13. 13.
    Recitative: Brethren and men of Dan, say, where is my son (Manoah, Micah)
    1:07
  14. 14.
    ACT THREE. Recitative: More trouble is behind, for Harapha (Micah, Samson, Harapha)
    1:51
  15. 15.
    Air: Presuming slave, to move their wrath! (Harapha)
    2:34
  16. 16.
    Air: To sorrows now I tune my song (Manoah)
    2:18
  17. 17.
    Recitative: Justly these evils have befall’n thy son (Samson)
    1:37
  18. 18.
    Recitative: Consider, Samson, matters now are strain’d (Micah, Samson)
    1:05
  19. 19.
    With thunder arm’d great God, arise! (Chorus)
    3:05
  20. 20.
    Air: Why does the God of Israel sleep? (Samson)
    3:26
  21. 21.
    Recitative: For thee, my dearest son, must thou meanwhile (Manoah, Samson)
    2:15
  22. 22.
    Recitative: Be of good courage (Samson)
    1:15
  23. 23.
    Air: Then long eternity shall greet your bliss (Micah)
    1:02
  24. 24.
    Air: Thus when the sun from’s wat’try bed (Samson)
    4:34
  25. 25.
    Air: Joys that are pure, sincerely good (Micah)
    3:50
  26. 26.
    Air: Great Dagon has subdued our foe (Israelite Woman, Chorus)
    2:05
  27. 27.
    Then round about the starry throne (Chorus)
    3:28
  28. 28.
    Recitative: What noise of joy was that? (Manoah, Micah)
    0:58
  29. 29.
    Air: How willing my paternal love (Manoah)
    4:04
  30. 30.
    ACT TWO. Air: Return, O God of hosts! (Micah)
    4:12
  31. 31.
    Recitative: Your hopes of his deliv’ry seem not vain (Micah, Manoah, Chorus)
    2:10
  32. 32.
    Recitative: But who is this, that so bedeck’d and gay (Micah, Samson)
    1:47
  33. 33.
    Air: Ye sons of Israel, now lament (Micah, Chorus)
    4:33
  34. 34.
    Air: With plaintive notes and am’rous moan (Israelite Woman)
    4:26
  35. 35.
    Recitative: Did love constrain thee? (Samson)
    0:55
  36. 36.
    Symphony: dead march
    3:41
  37. 37.
    Glorious hero, may thy grave (Manoah, Chorus)
    4:13
  38. 38.
    Air: Your charms to ruin led the way (Samson)
    3:48
  39. 39.
    Recitative: Forgive what’s done (Dalila)
    0:32
  40. 40.
    Recitative: Come, come! no time for lamentation now (Manoah)
    0:42
  41. 41.
    Air: Let the bright Seraphim in bringing row (Israelite Woman, Chorus)
    6:28
  42. 42.
    Duet: My faith and truth, O Samson, prove (Dalila, Israelite Woman)
    3:59
  43. 43.
    Let their celestial soncerts all unite (Chorus)
    3:01
  44. 44.
    Recitative: Let me approach, at least, and touch my hand (Dalila, Samson)
    0:31
  45. 45.
    Duet: Traitor to love! I’ll sue no more (Dalila, Samson)
    1:39
  46. 46.
    Recitative: She’s gone! A serpent manifest (Micah, Samson, Harapha)
    2:25
  47. 47.
    Air: Honour and arms scorn such a foe (Harapha)
    5:48