Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne (Eternal Source of Light Divine), HWV 74

• Date: 1713
• Composer: George Frederick Handel
• Period: Baroque (1600-1749)

Review

The composition of odes to celebrate the new year and the birthday of the monarch was a long standing tradition in England, as a number of works by Purcell and others readily testify. Normally the task of composing such occasional works fell to the Master of the King's (or Queen's) Musick, a position held in the early part of the eighteenth century by John Eccles. However Eccles seems to have provided no such works between 1711 and 1715, a gap filled probably in 1713 for the monarch's birthday by Handel. He had returned to England for a second visit late in 1712, quickly catching the mood of the nation by composing a Te Deum and Jubilate for the service of thanksgiving to celebrate the Peace of Utrecht. It was possibly the success of this piece, the commissioning of which from Handel rather than a native composer has puzzled Handel scholars, which led to him being asked to provide a celebratory ode for the birthday of Queen Anne, February 6. Both the Utrecht Te Deum and the Ode "Eternal Source of Light Divine" demonstrate how clearly he had assimilated the English choral style of Purcell, the sacred work being clearly indebted to the English composer's well-known Te Deum and Jubilate in D of 1694. However Handel's works are planned on a broader scale, with greater prominence given to wind parts. The text by Ambrose Phillips (1674 - 1749) is one of the best examples of a genre that frequently embarrasses modern listeners by its obsequious praise of the subject. Here, however, Handel was provided with a text that not only praises the queen as the author of peace, but includes pastoral imagery of the kind to which Handel always responded with his best music. The result is a seven-movement work that transcends the usual occasional nature of such pieces. Particularly striking are the opening alto solo, with its demanding obbligato part for solo trumpet, the gentle soprano and alto duet "Kind health descends," and the majestic final lines of the chorus, "The day that gave great Anna birth." ~ Brian Robins, Rovi

Albums with Complete Performances of the Work

Title	Date
Angelic Harmonies	1996
Art of James Bowman	1996
Buxtehude: Jubilate Domino; Jesu, Meine Freud und Lust	1997
Glorious Majesty: Music for English Kings & Queens	2012
Handel: Alexander's Feast; Ode for Queen Anne	1999
Handel: Coronation Anthems	2001
Handel: Music for Royal Occasions	1989
Handel: Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne	2009
Handel: Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne; Anthem for the Foundling Hospital
Handel: Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne; Three Coronation Anthems	2003
Handel: Utrecht Te Deum & Jubilate	1998
Music of Handel, Bach and the English Renaissance	2008
The Wynton Marsalis Collection [Box Set]	2006

Albums with Excerpt Performances of the Work

Title	Date
A Hyperion Treasury	1993
Bach: 6 Sonatas & Partitas for Violin Solo [Exclusive Free Sampler Included]	2003
Baroque Music: Wynton Marsalis, Edita Gruberova, Raymond Leppard & the English Chamber	1985
Beethoven: Masterpieces for Solo Piano - 8 Sonatas [Exclusive Free Sampler Included]	2003
Canaletto: Music of His Time	2005
Classic Kathleen Battle: A Portrait	2002
Essential Handel	2005
Eternal Source of Brass Divine	2011
Eternal Source of Light	2002
Georg Friedrich Händel: Great Oratorio Duets	2006
Greatest Hits: Mozart/Bach/Handel/Vivaldi	1995
Greatest Hits: Trumpet	1994
Handel Greatest Hits	2006
Handel for Brass
Handel: Greatest Hits	1994
Handel: Messiah HWV56; Concerto a due cori No1 HWV332
Hidden Gems	1997
Hymnus	1996
Kathleen Battle & Wynton Marsalis: Baroque Duet	1992
Light of the World: The Abbey School Choir	2007
Masterpieces for Guitar [Exclusive Free Sampler Included]	2003
Mozart: Exsuiltate, jubilate, K. 165; Alessandro Scarlatti: Su le sponde del Tebro; etc.	1996
Mozart: The Great Piano Concertos [Exclusive Free Sampler Included]	2003
Music at St. George's	1998
Soprano Arias with Trumpet & Organ
Tchaikovsky: The Orchestral Masterpieces, Vol. 1 [Exclusive Free Sampler Included]	2003
The Music of the King's Consort	1991
The Art of Alfred Deller: The Counter-Tenor Legacy
The Best Music for Meditation [Best Buy Exclusive]	2005
The Classical Album 2011	2010
The Handel Collection	2006
The James Bowman Collection	1996
The Most Relaxing Handel Album in the World...Ever!	2006
The Number One Classical Album 2008
The Very Best of Handel	2005
Violin, Trumpet, Guitar, Flute: Greatest Hits	1995
Vivaldi: The Orchestral Masterpieces, Vol. 1 [Exclusive Free Sampler Included]	2003

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