Eternal Source of Light Divine

Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne (HWV 74) is a secular cantata composed by George Frideric Handel to a libretto by Ambrose Philips, of which the first line, "Eternal source of light divine", provides an alternative title for the work. It was probably composed during January 1713 for a performance on 6 February 1713, although there is no record of the performance having actually taken place. Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work as HG xlviA; and HHA i/6.

The cantata celebrates Queen Anne's birthday, and the accomplishment of the Treaty of Utrecht (negotiated by the Tory ministry of Anne in 1712) to end the War of the Spanish Succession. Queen Anne was said by the Duke of Manchester to be "too careless or too busy to listen to her own band, and had no thought of hearing and paying new players however great their genius or vast their skill." Nevertheless, and whether or not she ever heard this ode for her birthday, she granted Handel a "pension" (subsidy for living expenses) of two hundred pounds a year, for life.

Each of the seven stanzas of the ode concludes with the following words sung by the chorus:

Although composed for countertenor, it is often sung by sopranos. For example:

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