Joseph and his Brethren

Joseph (HWV 59) is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel in the summer of 1743. Joseph is composed on a libretto by James Miller. It received its premiere performance that following Lenten season on 2 March 1744 at the Covent Garden Theatre with Élisabeth Duparc as Asenath, Esther Young as Phanor, John Beard (tenor) as Simeon/Judah, and Henry Reinhold as Pharaon/Reuben.

The libretto is based on the Biblical story of Joseph found in Genesis chapters 38-45. The libretto is hard to read without background context because the audience of Handel's oratorios was very familiar with the stories of the Hebrew Bible and would have known the whole story of Joseph as part of their cultural knowledge. Taking advantage of this, Miller tells the story in poetical form, leaving out events and background information which give it a fragmentary feel if read straight through.

The story (but not the oratorio) begins when Joseph's eleven brothers, jealous that their father Jacob loved Joseph best of all of them, seize him and sell him into slavery, telling their father that he has been eaten by wild beasts. The slave traders took Joseph to Egypt, where he became a servant in the house of Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh's guard. A good servant, Joseph eventually rose to be the head of the household servants. Potiphar's wife became attracted to Joseph and attempted to seduce him, but he rebuffed her. Because of this, she accused him of making advances on her and he was placed in jail. While in jail, Joseph interpreted the dreams of two of his prison-mates, both servants in Pharaoh's household. One of them Phanor, promised to help free Joseph from prison when he was restored to his position in Pharaoh's household, but forgot and several years pass.

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