Anthem: The King Shall Rejoice

Over the years we’ve heard a great deal from George Frederick Handel (1685-1759) on the stages of the SMF, including several fully-staged operas. Handel was perhaps the most well-known musician across Europe in the mid-18th century. Born in Halle in central Germany, young Handel received only modest compositional lessons. This was very much the era of “on-the-job training,” especially for church musicians, and Handel would continue to self-instruct as he gradually came into contact with more diverse styles in Hamburg, Rome, and Venice. Even after he crossed north over the Alps in early 1710, Handel continued to think and create in the Italian style. He took a post at Hanover in Germany, but left for his first visit to London before the end of the year. He received permission from the Elector of Hanover for a second English tour—and never went back to Germany.
As fate would have it, his old employer in Hanover eventually became King George I of England in 1714. Handel smoothed the day of reckoning by writing the dazzling Water Music at the king’s request. Less than a decade later, Handel composed the anthem Zadok the Priest for a new king, George II, crowned on October 4, 1727. The text, from the Book of Kings, has been recited at coronations since the 10th century. Zadok has been sung at every English coronation since its premiere. Handel opens with a lengthy and harmonically rich instrumental prelude before the chorus enters with its powerful declamation, “Zadok the Priest...” The second section, written in a dance-like triple meter filled with dotted rhythms, sets the text of rejoicing. Handel injects so much animation that one can almost see people dancing to the good news. He later returns to the march topic for “God save the King!” and the kind of brilliant vocal writing we have come to expect from him.
The King Shall Rejoice unfolds in a similar vein. In fact, it appeared at the same 1727 coronation ceremony as Zadok and employs the same instrumental forces. Its text derives from the opening verses of Psalm 21, where the earthly king is reminded that all power comes from heaven. The opening ritornello in D major sets a triumphal tone bolstered by Handel’s use of punctuated rhythms when the chorus enters. The homophonic texture mirrors the unity of message on such an occasion, but Handel also nicely inserts a few polyphonic and melismatic gestures to offset full-speed-ahead jubilation. The second movement in A major softens the mood still further. Brass and timpani take a break, the strings set out a graceful 3/4 rhythm, and the chorus dances out a series of conversational exchanges. Handel revels in several extended 7-6 suspension chains on “Exceeding glad” as if to reinforce that thought. The third movement, starting with “Glory!” aptly bursts forth in all parts together as radiant D major. Moments later Handel strikingly shift gears to tonicize B minor for the unfolding of a grand fugue. He works back into D major for the mention of a “golden crown,” which the synaesthete will claim further corroborates D major as the key of the color gold. The entire anthem rounds off with a magisterial double fugue on “Alleluia.”
Such Coronation Anthems, of which Handel composed four, utilized massive orchestral and vocal forces. He responded to the grandness of the setting—Westminster Abbey—and the occasion by writing music that is bold, buoyant, and extroverted.

(c) Jason Stell