(Handel)
PART I
By the HAROLD BROOKE Choir
Relayed from the Biahopsgate Institute
THE libretto of Belshazzar was written by that friend Jennens who three years before had arranged for the composer the words of Messiah. Jennens wrote so much that Handel said Belshazzar would occupy four hours in performance, and as Jennens would not make cuts, the' masterful composer did that himself.
The usual form of the work heard nowadays is an abridged version.
After the Overture (slow Introduction and fugal quick portion), the First Scene opens. In an apartment in Bolshazzar's palace in Babylon sits the king's mother, Nitocris (Soprano), who muses on the 'vain, fluctuating state of human empire.'
The next Scene is the camp of Cyrus, leader of the Persian army, before Babylon. A chorus of Babylonians on the city walls derides the besieging Persians. Cyrus (Bass) exhorts his followers to press on the attack, for they trust in God.
The Third Scene is the house of the prophet Daniel (Bass). He is discovered with other Jews, encouraging them with the promise that the long-foretold time draws near when God shall end their captivity.
Scene Four is the .Palace of Belshazzar
(Tenor). The King decrees a feast. Seeing the sad faces of the Jews, he orders that their sacred vessels, which his grandfather captured from the Temple at Jerusalem, shall be used. The JeWs beg him not to lay profane hands on the holy vessels, and Nitocris warns him to go no farther in this. He scoffs at prudence, and will have his way. Nitociris pleads further with Belshazzar in a duet. She fears he is risking destruction by his impiety. ' Not to destruction, but to delight I fly,' he replies.
The Jews in chorus prophesy that God's wrath will surely descend on Belshazzar.
This ends the First Part of the work, all that is now to be broadcast.
[The Second Part tells of the preparations of the Persians for the assault of the city, whilst within it Belshazzar feasts. In the midst of the revelry the hand writes upon the wall Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin.' Daniel interprets the dread warning, and immediately a messenger rushes in to tell that the Persians have taken the city. The work ends with Cyrus and his followers freeing the Jews.]