G.F. Händel - Solomon (Labadie, 2014)

SOLOMON (HWV 67)
Oratorio in 3 acts
Composer: Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759)
Libretto: Unknown (attributed to Newburgh Hamilton)
First performance: Covent Garden Theatre, London , 17 March 1749

Solomon: Marie-Nicole Lemieux
Solomon’s Queen: Shannon Mercer
First Harlot, Queen of Saba: Karina Gauvin
Second Harlot: Krisztina Szabó
Zadok: James Gilchrist
Levite: Philippe Sly

Conductor: Bernard Labadie
La Chapelle de Québec
Les Violons du Roy
Recorded live at the Palais Montcalm, Québec City (21 March 2014)

Libretto available at: http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/libretti/solomon.htm

Picture: "The visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon" by Sir Edward John Poynter (1890).

ACT I
00:00 1. Overture
07:09 2. Your harps and cymbals (chorus)
10:23 3. Praise ye the Lord (Levite – air)
15:22 4. With pious heart (chorus)
19:54 5. Almighty Power (Solomon – accompagnato)
22:40 6. Imperial Solomon (Zadok – recitative)
23:30 7. Sacred raptures (Zadok – air)
27:45 8. Throughout the land (chorus)
31:46 9. Bless’d be the Lord (Solomon – recitative)
32:12 10. What though I trace (Solomon – air)
38:24 11. And see my Queen (Solomon – recitative)
39:07 12. Bless’d the day (Queen – air)
44:16 13. Thou fair inhabitant of Nile (Solomon, Queen – recitative)
44:58 14. Welcome as the dawn of day (Queen Solomon – duet)
48:03 15. Vain are the transient beauties (Zadok – recitative)
48:50 16. Indulge thy faith (Zadok – air)
52:04 17. My blooming fair (Solomon – recitative)
52:16 18. Haste to the cedar grove (Solomon – air)
55:32 19. When thou art absent (Queen – recitative)
55:51 20. With thee th’unshelter’d moor (Queen – air)
58:44 21. May no rash intruder ("Nightingale Chorus") (chorus)

ACT II
1:02:19 22. From the censer curling rise (chorus)
1:07:13 23. Prais’d be the Lord (Solomon – recitative)
1:08:21 24. When the sun o’er yonder hills (Solomon – air)
1:12:50 25. Great prince (Levite – recitative)
1:13:16 26. Thrice bless’d that wise discerning king (Levite – air)
1:16:34 27. My sovereign liege (Attendant, Solomon – recitative)
1:17:21 28. Thou son of David (First harlot – recitative)
1:18:38 29. Words are weak (First and second harlot, Solomon – trio)
1:24:38 30. What says the other (Solomon, second harlot – recitative)
1:25:56 31. Thy sentence, great king (Second harlot – air)
1:27:56 32. Withhold, withhold the executing hand (First harlot – recitative)
1:28:09 33. Can I see my infant gor’d (First harlot – air)
1:33:08 34. Israel attend (Solomon – accompagnato)
1:34:52 35. Thrice bless’d be the king (First harlot, Solomon – duet)
1:38:25 36. From the east unto the west (chorus)
1:40:57 37. From morn to eve (Zadok – recitative)
1:41:25 38. See the tall palm (Zadok – air).
1:46:47 39. No more shall armed bands (First harlot – recitative)
1:47:08 40. Beneath the vine (First harlot – air)
1:52:25 41. Swell, swell the full chorus (chorus)

ACT III
1:55:11 42. Sinfonia ("Arrival of the Queen of Sheba")
1:58:03 43. From Arabia’s spicy shores (Queen of Sheba, Solomon – recitative)
1:59:16 44. Ev’ry sight these eyes behold (Queen of Sheba – air)
2:03:44 45. Sweep, sweep the string (Solomon – recitative)
2:04:00 46. Music spread thy voice around (Solomon and chorus)
2:07:27 47. Now a different measure (Solomon and chorus)
2:09:07 48. Then at once from rage remove (Solomon – recitative)
2:09:48 49. Draw the tear from hopeless love (chorus)
2:12:29 50. Next the tortur’d soul release (Solomon – recitative)
2:12:44 51. Thus rolling surges rise (Solomon and chorus)
2:15:54 52. Thy harmony’s divine (Queen of Sheba – recitative)
2:17:02 53. Pious king (Levite – air)
2:20:13 54. Thrice happy king (Zadok – recitative)
2:21:07 55. Golden columns (Zadok – air)
2:25:03 56. The name of the wicked (chorus)
2:27:17 57. Gold now is common (Solomon – recitative)
2:27:45 58. How green our fertile pastures look (Solomon – air)
2:30:27 59. May peace in Salem (Queen of Sheba – recitative)
2:31:16 60. Will the sun forget to streak (Queen of Sheba – air)
2:36:56 61. Adieu, fair queen (Solomon – recitative)
2:37:15 62. Ev’ry joy that wisdom knows (Queen of Sheba, Solomon – duet)
2:40:03 63. Praise the Lord (chorus)