Scoring: Soli SMsATB (1751: SAATB), Coro S(S)AT(T)B, 2 Ob, 2 Tr, Timp, (1758+ 2 Cor, 2 Fl dolce) 3 Vl, Va, Bc

Belshazzar, with its detailed stage instructions and many short forms such as accompagnato recitatives and ariosi, is the most dramatic of George Frideric Handel’s oratorios. It is de facto a sacred opera, but because of the ban on biblical plots on the stage in England at that time, it had to be composed in the form of an oratorio, i. e. for non-staged performance. For this wor...