Joshua is an oratorio

Oratorio

An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...

 by George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...

. It was composed in a month, between 19 July 1747 and 19 August 1747 and is Handel's fourth oratorio based on a libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 by Thomas Morell

Thomas Morell

Thomas Morell was a librettist, classical scholar, and printer.Morell is important for having written the longest and most detailed surviving account of collaboration with Handel.-Librettos:...

. The oratorio premiered on the 9th March, 1748 at the Covent Garden

Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...

 Theatre, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. Joshua is based on the Biblical stories of Joshua

Joshua

Joshua , is a minor figure in the Torah, being one of the spies for Israel and in few passages as Moses's assistant. He turns to be the central character in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Joshua...

.

Joshua is one of Handel's later works, from the height of his late creative period. Following the Jacobite Rising

Jacobite rising

The Jacobite Risings were a series of uprisings, rebellions, and wars in Great Britain and Ireland occurring between 1688 and 1746. The uprisings were aimed at returning James VII of Scotland and II of England, and later his descendants of the House of Stuart, to the throne after he was deposed by...

 in England, Handel produced a series of oratorios based on military themes: Occasional Oratorio

Occasional Oratorio

An Occasional Oratorio is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel, based upon a libretto by Newburgh Hamilton after the poetry of John Milton and Edmund Spenser. Handel composed the Occasional Oratorio hastily in January and February of 1746 and premiered it immediately on 14 February 1746. It...

, Judas Maccabaeus

Judas Maccabaeus (oratorio)

Judas Maccabaeus is an oratorio in three acts composed in 1746 by George Frideric Handel based on a libretto written by Thomas Morell. The oratorio was devised as a compliment to the victorious Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland upon his return from the Battle of Culloden...

, Alexander Balus

Alexander Balus

Alexander Balus is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel. The libretto is by Thomas Morell after the biblical book of 1 Maccabees...

, Joshua, and Solomon.

Handel's second-most-famous chorus, "See the Conq'ring Hero Comes" was first penned for Joshua. It was an immensely popular number and Handel soon added it to Judas Maccabaeus

Judas Maccabaeus (oratorio)

Judas Maccabaeus is an oratorio in three acts composed in 1746 by George Frideric Handel based on a libretto written by Thomas Morell. The oratorio was devised as a compliment to the victorious Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland upon his return from the Battle of Culloden...

, which had premiered the season before. The chorus is more often thought of in connection with that oratorio (Judas) because of its relatively greater fame.

Dramatis personae

• Joshua (tenor)
• Othniel (alto)
• Caleb (bass)
• Achsah, Caleb's Daughter (soprano)
• Angel (boy soprano)
• Chorus of Israelites
• Chorus of the defeated Israelites
• Chorus of the Tribe of Judah
• Chorus of Youths
• Chorus of Virgins

Original 1749 cast:

• Thomas Lowe
  Thomas Lowe (tenor)
  Thomas Lowe was an English tenor and actor. He began his career at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in 1740. That same year he portrayed the title role in the world premiere of Thomas Arne's Alfred. He sang principally at Covent Garden until 1760 and became particularly associated with the works of...
  
   (Joshua)
• Caterina Galli
  Caterina Galli
  Caterina Galli was an Italian operatic mezzo-soprano. She first rose to fame in England in the 1740s and early 1750s where she was particularly admired for her performances in the works of George Frideric Handel...
  
   (Othniel)
• Thomas Reinhold (Caleb)
• Domenica Casarini Latilla (Achsah)

External links

• Full-text Libretto
• Program notes by the Boston Cecilia
• Full Vocal Score