Anthem on the Peace / Foundling Hospital Anthem (Large Score, hardback)

Handel Anthem on the Peace / Foundling Hospital Anthem (Large Score, hardback)

Volume 14 of Series III (Church Music) of the Halle Handel Edition contains two anthems composed by Handel in 1749, representing his last contributions to the English anthem genre.  He performed the Peace Anthem “How beautiful are the feet” HWV 266 for the first time on 25 April in a thanksgiving service held in London at the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace, as part of the celebrations marking the Peace of Aachen.  A month later, on 27 May, Handel held his first benefit concert in the still unfinished chapel of the Foundling Hospital, founded in London in 1739, with the proceeds from ticket sales going towards the completion of the church.  The first part of the concert featured “Music for the Royal Fireworks” (first performed on 27 April), composed only a few weeks earlier, as well as the Peace Anthem.  The second part of the concert contained arias and choruses from his oratorio “Solomon”, which premiered at Covent Garden Theatre in March 1749, and concluded with the Foundling Hospital Anthem “Blessed are they that considereth the poor” HWV 268, created especially for the benefit concert.  The event promoted the reputation of the orphanage and was a great financial success. Handel remained associated with the hospital, donated an organ to the chapel and performed the “Messiah” there annually from 1750 onwards; the proceeds always went to the orphanage.

After Handel's death, the two anthems were largely forgotten.  Even in the mid-20th century, Otto Erich Deutsch believed that the Peace Anthem was Handel's Dettingen Anthem with a new text, and the autograph sheets of “How beautiful are the feet” (Peace Anthem No. 1 and No. F1) were attributed to the “Messiah” oratorio.  It was not until the 1970s that  HWV 266 could be reconstructed, mainly with the help of the programme printed for the concert on 27 May 1749. Nevertheless, a complete score of the Peace Anthem has remained elusive until now.

The Foundling Hospital Anthem was performed once again at the official opening of the orphanage chapel in April 1753.  This second version, with the addition of two arias and a duet, is considerably more extensive than the first version of 1749, which, as a purely choral work, is powerful and compact.  HHA Volume III/14 offers both versions in complete and separate scores.

- How beautiful are the feet (HWV 266) (HWV 267) (Anthem on the Peace) / Blessed are they that considereth the poor (HWV 267) (Foundling Hospital Anthem)

- Halle Handel Edition  Series III/14