_Handel's Occasional Oratorio_ (Vol. iii., p. 426.).--The "Occasional
Oratorio" is a separate composition, containing an overture, 10
recitatives, 21 airs, 1 duet, and 15 choruses. It was produced in the
year 1745. It is reported, I know not on what authority, that the King
having ordered Handel to produce a new oratorio on a given day, and the
artist having answered that it was impossible to do it in the time
(which must have been unreasonably short, to extort such a reply from
the intellect that produced _The Messiah_ in three weeks, and _Israel in
Egypt_ in four), his Majesty deigned no other answer than that done it
must and should be, whether possible or not, and that the result was the
putting forward of the "Occasional Oratorio."
The structure of the oratorio, which was evidently a very hurried
composition, gives a strong air of probability to the anecdote.
Evidently no libretto was written for it; the words tell no tale, are
totally unconnected, and not even always tolerable English, a fine
chorus (p. 39. Arnold) going to the words "Him or his God we no fear."
It is rather a collection of sacred pieces, strung together literally
without rhyme or reason in the oratorio form, than one oratorio. The
examination of it leads one to the conclusion, that the composer took
from his portfolio such pieces as he happened to have at hand, strung
them together as he best could, and made up the necessary quantity by
selections from his other works. Accordingly we find in it the pieces
"The Horse and his Rider," "Thou shalt bring them in," "Who is like unto
Thee?" "The Hailstone Chorus," "The Enemy said I will pursue," from
_Israel in Egypt_, written in 1738; the chorus "May God from whom all
Mercies spring," from _Athaliah_ (1733); and the chorus "God save the
King, long live the King," from the _Coronation Anthem_ of 1727. There
is also the air "O! Liberty," which he afterwards (in 1746) employed in
_Judas Maccabaeus_. Possibly some other pieces of this oratorio may be
found also in some of Handel's other works, not sufficiently stamped on
my memory for me to recognise them; but I may remark that the quantity
of _Israel in Egypt_ found in it may perhaps have so connected it in
some minds with that glorious composition as to have led to the practice
referred to of prefixing in performance the overture to the latter work,
to which, although the introductory movement, the fine adagio, and grand
march are fit enough, the light character of the fugue is, it must be
confessed, singularly inappropriate.
I am not aware of any other "occasion" than that of the King's will,
which led to the composition of this oratorio.