George Frideric Handel - Judas Maccabaeus

CD1

1 Overture Grave - Allegro - Lentement - Allegro 6:06
2 ACT ONE
Chorus: Mourn, ye afflicted children 4:10
3 Recit: Well may your sorrows 1:07
4 Duet: From this dread scene 2:28
5 Chorus: For Sion lamentation make 2:25
6 Recit: Not vain is all this storm of grief 1:03
7 Aria: Pious orgies, pious airs 3:12
8 Chorus: O Father, whose almighty pow'r 2:15
9 Recit: I feel the deity within 0:58
10 Aria & Chorus: Arm, arm, ye brave! 3:55
11 Recit: 'Tis well, my friends 0:40
12 Aria: Call forth thy pow'rs, my soul 1:39
13 Recit: To heav'n's Almighty king 0:27
14 Aria: O liberty, thou choicest treasure 2:24
15 Aria: Come, ever-smiling liberty 2:46
16 Recit: O Judas, may these noble views 0:12
17 ARia: 'Tis liberty, dear liberty alone 2:35
18 Duet: Come, ever-smiling liberty 1:03
19 Chorus: Lead on, lead on! 0:47
20 Recit: So will'd my father 1:09
21 Semi-chorus: Disdainful of danger 1:55
22 Recit: Ambition! 0:16
23 Aria: No, no unhallow'd desire 1:52
24 Chorus: Hear us, O Lord 3:09
25 ACT TWO
Chorus: Fall'n is the foe 2:59
26 Recit: Victorious hero! 0:33
27 Aria: So rapid thy course is 3:54
28 Recit: Oh let eternal honours 0:31
29 Aria: From mighty kings 6:07
30 Duet & Chorus: Hail, hail, Judea 1:58
31 Recit: Thnaks to my brethren 0:38
32 Aria: How vain is man 5:26
33 Recit: O Judas, O my brethren! 0:38
34 Aria & Chorus: Ah! wretched Israel! 6:26

CD 2

1 Recit: Be comforted 0:43
2 Aria: The Lord worketh wonders 2:53
3 Recit: My arms! Against this Gorgias 0:20
4 Aria & Chorus: Sound an alarm! 3:46
5 Recit: Enough! To Heav'n we leave the rest 0:39
6 Aria: With pious hearts 3:11
7 Recit: Ye worshippers of God 1:00
8 Duet & Chorus: Oh! never, never bow we down 6:04
9 ACT THREE
Aria: Father of Heav'n! 6:12
10 Recit: See, see yon flames 0:32
11 Recit: Oh grant it, Heav'n 0:26
12 Aria: So shall the lute and harp awake 4:07
13 Recit: From Capharsalama 1:06
14 Chorus of Youths; Duet; Chorus: See, the conqu'ring hero comes! 1:46
15 March 1:09
16 Duet & Chorus: Sing unto God 2:21
17 Recit: Sweet flow the strains 0:49
18 Aria: With honour let desert be crown'd 3:07
19 Recit: Peace to my countrymen 0:36
20 Chorus: To our great God be all the honour giv'n 2:03
21 Recit: Again to earth 0:46
22 Duet: O lovely peace 6:35
23 Aria & Chorus: Rejoice, O Judah! Hallelujah! Amen 3:17
24 APPENDIX - Alternates & Additions
Recit: Well may we hope 0:12
25 Duet & Chorus: Sion now her head shall raise 5:23
26 Aria: Wise men, flatt'ring may deceive us 5:09
27 Aria: Far brighter than the morning 6:37
28 Recit: Sweet are thy words 0:14
29 Aria: Great in wisdom, great in glory 3:32
30 Recit: Not vain is all this storm of grief 0:51
31 Aria: Pious orgies, pious airs 2:59





Judah was the third son of Mattathias the Hasmonean, a Jewish priest from the village of Modiin. In 167 BCE Mattathias, together with his sons Judah, Eleazar, Simon, and Jonathan, started a revolt against the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who since 175 BCE had issued decrees that forbid Jewish religious practices. After Mattathias's death in 166 BCE, Judah assumed leadership of the revolt in accordance with the deathbed disposition of his father. The First Book of Maccabees[1] praises Judah's valor and military talent, suggesting that those qualities made Judah a natural choice for the new commander.

In the early days of the rebellion, Judah received a surname Maccabee. Several explanations have been put forward for this surname. One
suggestion is that the name derives from the Aramaic maqqaba, "the hammer", in recognition of his ferocity in battle. It is also possible that the name Maccabee is an acronym for the Torah verse Mi kamokha ba'elim Hashem, "Who is like unto thee among the mighty, O Lord!"

(Exodus 15:11).

Minding the superiority of Syrian forces during the first two years of the revolt, Judah's strategy was to avoid any involvement with the
regular army of the Seleucids, and to resort to guerilla warfare, in order to give them a feeling of insecurity. The strategy enabled Judah
to win a string of victories. At Nahal el-Haramiah, he defeated a small Syrian force under the command of Apollonius, who was killed. Judah
took possession of Apollonius's sword and used it until his death as a symbol of vengeance. After Nahal el-Haramiah, recruits flocked to the Jewish cause.

Their story is told in G.F. Handel's popular operatic oratorio, "Judas Maccabeus" (1746)… For complex reasons, the books 1 and 2 Maccabees appear in Catholic and Orthodox Christian bibles and the "Apocrypha" appended to some Protestant Christian bibles, but not in Jewish ones…



Click here hopefully!!!

for the lyrics:
http://opera.stanford.edu/iu/libretti/judas.htm
or
http://www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/poetry/TheCompletePoeticalWorksofHenryWadsworthLongfellow/chap28.html