For this week, I’m posting Handel‘s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba. Handel (1685 – 1759) was a German-born baroque composer who moved to the UK in 1712. Educated in Halle, he is famous for (among others) his operas and oratorios. He became anglicized, and was closely associated with the British nobility. He wrote music for four coronations, much of which is still used today. He died a rich man, and was so well-thought-of he was given a state funeral at Westminster Abbey.

Today’s piece comes from one such oratorio, Solomon, based largely on the biblical stories.

Okay, if, like me you’re asking What’s an oratorio?, it was basically a large composition of the time. Orchestra, choir, soloists… Italian in origin, as you can probably guess from the name, oratorios are very similar to operas, although while you can think of an opera as musical theatre, an…