![]() ![]() In Part II the Jews, celebrating their victory over Apollonius and all of Samaria, are interrupted by the news that the troops of Antiochus are on the march from Egypt to “root out Israel’s strength, and to erase /Ev’ry memorial of the sacred place,” i.e., the Second Temple in Jerusalem, sacred center of Judaism for centuries. Accepting the role of leader, Judas incites a rebellion, resolving-like Patrick Henry-to face liberty or death. In Part I, the Israelites lament the death of Mattathias, father of Judas Maccabaeus and previous leader of the Jewish resistance to persecution under Antiochus IV Epiphanes, King of Syria. The story is taken from the First Book of Maccabees in the Apocrypha and the Antiquities of the Roman-Jewish historian Josephus. “The Triumph of Judas Maccabee” by Peter Paul Rubens 1634-1636 Handel’s audience could readily identify with the anxieties and triumphs of a “chosen people” under the threat of rebellion at home and invasion from abroad, as did audiences for the next two centuries who made it–second only to Messiah – Handel’s most popular oratorio. Similarly, the Duke of Cumberland – to whom Handel’s work is dedicated – had recently quashed the Jacobite Rising of 1745 at the Battle of Culloden, thereby protecting the Protestant Hanoverian monarchy from the encroachment of Catholicism in the guise of the exiled Catholic Pretender to the throne, James Francis Edward Stuart and his French allies. Leader of the eponymous Maccabean Revolt in 160-167 BCE against the Greek Seleucid Empire, Judas recovered the Second Temple of Jerusalem from heathen hands and preserved the Jewish religion against the encroachment of Hellenistic culture. NICHOLAS McGEGAN, MUSIC DIRECTOR LAUREATEĮight of the previous dramatic oratorios Handel had written in London had been based on the history of the Old Testament Israelites, but the heroic exploits of the guerilla rebel Judas Maccabaeus were particularly relevant to the contemporary circumstances of his audience.VALÉRIE SAINTE-AGATHE, CHORALE DIRECTOR.SPECIAL EVENT: Handel’s Amadigi di Gaula. ![]()
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