Belshazzar (Handel)

Belshazzar (HWV 61) is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel. The libretto was by Charles Jennens, and Handel abridged it considerably. Jennens' libretto was based on the Biblical account of the fall of Babylon at the hands of Cyrus the Great and the subsequent freeing of the Jewish nation, as found in the Book of Daniel.

Handel composed Belshazzar in the late Summer of 1744 concurrently with Hercules, during a time that Winton Dean calls "the peak of Handel's creative life". The work premiered the following Lenten season on 27 March 1745 at the King's Theatre, London. The work fell into neglect after Handel's death, with revivals of the work occurring in the United Kingdom in 1847, 1848 and 1873. With the revival of interest in Baroque music and historically informed musical performance since the 1960s, Belsahzzar receives performances in concert form today and is also sometimes fully staged as an opera. Among other performances, Belshazzar was staged at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2008.

Precis: Despite the warnings of his mother Queen Nitocris, King Belshazzar of Babylon commits sacrileges against the God of the Jews, who are in captivity there. The city is besieged, Belshazzar is slain, and the Jews are freed to return to their homeland by Cyrus the Great of Persia.

Scene: Babylon, 538 BC. The city is being besieged by an army of Medes and Persians, led by Cyrus.

The Palace in Babylon

The Queen Mother Nitocris, mother of Belshazzar, muses on the changes than can affect even the most powerful of human beings (Accompanied recitative:Vain, fluctuating state of human empire!) Nitocris has become convinced that the God of the Jews, who are being held in captivity in Babylon, is the true God, and to Him she prays (Air:Thou, God most high, and Thou alone). The Jewish prophet Daniel, whom she has learnt to trust, comes to her. She is concerned about the fate of the empire under the rule of her wayward son. Daniel advises her that submission to the will of God will be rewarded (Air: Lament not thus, O Queen, in vain!).

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