Of the oratorios of Handel, " Saul " is one of the most dramatic and suggestive of the glare of the footlights, and it could very fittingly be presented with scenery, costumes and action. There is great human interest and therefore many distinct personalities, among them being some of the most beautiful and picturesque of the Bible. " Saul " was finished by Handel Sept. 27, 1738, two months and four days having been employed for its composition, a short enough time for the majority of composers; but in view of the fact that the " Messiah " was written in twenty-four days and " Israel in Egypt " in twenty-seven, we may find some cause for astonishment in this unusual deliberation. "Saul " was the work with which was opened Handel's oratorio venture in the King's Theatre in the Haymarket. (He leased the theatre for the purpose of giving oratorios there twice a week.) According to the London Post, the first performance was held Jan. 16, 1729, at six o'clock. " Saul " proved very successful and was heard again several times before the close of the season. It was the finest oratorio yet written by Handel, and numbered among its virtues the essential one of unity.
In this instance there exists some uncertainty as to who wrote the poem, which follows with fair faithfulness the biblical narrative. It is believed to have been either Charles Jennens or Thomas Morrell, and Newburgh Hamilton, who prepared "Alexander's Feast," has also been suspected of its authorship. Although the generality of opinion seems rather to favor Jennens, it savors very strongly of the style of the text of "Judas Maccabaeus," written by Morrell. The poem into which the marvelous story of love, friendship and ungoverned passion has been put is very conventional, although out of its general banality occasionally emerges some such vivid figure as " Envy, eldest born of Hell." One may be guilty of some regret that the Bible phraseology has not been transferred to the score in all its original force and piquancy, as was afterwards done with such success in " Israel in Egypt " and the " Messiah." The characters introduced are Saul, King of Israel; Jonathan, his son; Abner, captain of the host; David; Apparition of Samuel; Doeg, a messenger; an Amalekite; Abiathar; Merab and Michal, daughters of Saul; the Witch of Endor; the Israelites.
The story opens in the camp by the valley of Elah. The Israelites sing a song of triumph over the slaying of the huge Goliah by the young shepherd David, and their ultimate victory over the disheartened Philistines. The scene shifts to Saul's tent, where the King and Jonathan, his son, and his daughters, Merab and Michal, are gathered. Abner presents the young hero to the royal company, and Saul bestows the elder daughter's hand upon him in reward and welcomes him as a permanent member of his household. The daughter Merab scorns David on account of his lowly origin (this has no justification in the original account), but the heart of the gentler Michal has gone out to him.
The scene changes to a place before an Israelitish city, and women come " singing and dancing to meet King Saul with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music." Alas! they make invidious comparisons, such as " Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands." The jealousy of Saul, a creature of moods, is roused to white heat. At the king's house they whisper among themselves of how he mutters in his rage. In his imagination he already sees the throne usurped by this comely young warrior who so effectually appeals to the popular fancy. A stranger to self-control, he angrily hurls his javelin at David, who evades it.
Then Saul charges Jonathan with the task of ridding the earth of the object of his hatred. But Jonathan, whose soul is knit to David's in friendship, struggles with his sense of filial duty and finally refuses to accept the charge.
The opening scene of part two is laid in the palace. The danger thickens about David, who confers with Jonathan over the situation. Saul has contemptuously bestowed Merab, his gift to David, on Adriel, but David acknowledges his preference for Michal to the haughty elder sister. When Saul enters, still raging, Jonathan attempts to calm him and to plead David's cause. Saul, realizing that he cannot depend upon Jonathan as his instrument, craftily changes his tactics, pretending that David has been reinstated in his affections. He gives him Michal as a snare, and the two happily plight their troth. The scene changes to the house of David, who admits to Michal that Saul's overtures are insincere. When he has told her that after destroying Saul's enemies he has again had to avoid the King's wrath, the loving Michal urges him to fly and lets him down through the window. When Doeg comes from Saul, Michal shows the chagrined messenger the bed with the image she has put within it to conceal her husband's flight.
The scene changes to the palace, where the Feast of the New Moon is being celebrated. Saul has fancied to secure David when he came to take his place at the board. When to explain his absence, Jonathan says that David has gone to attend the annual sacrifice, Saul hurls the javelin this time at his son, cursing him for the stupidity of a friendship with a man who will probably rob him of the throne.
The first scene of part three is placed in the abode of the witch of Endor, who, at Saul's bidding, by her unholy arts, brings Samuel from the realm of the dead. Samuel has only a hopeless message for the unhappy king. The morrow shall see him and his sons dead at the hands of the Philistines. In due time we find David mourning over the news of the death of Jonathan brought by the dissembling Amalekite, who is put to death. Abner, in the midst of the lamentation, gives over to David the head of the kingdom and the trust of recovering " what Saul by disobedience lost."
As the libretto is unusually long and the score is divided into eighty-nine numbers, it would of course be more than futile to mention all of them. The work is distinguished by powerful dramatic expression. The parts of both David and Jonathan are beautifully conceived, and their scenes together are marked by tenderness and pathos.
However, " Saul " is not frequently given at the present day for the reason that it is very diffuse, poetically weak, and containing many recitatives and airs that are conventional and monotonous, and far removed in style from the present day. The long overture (Sinfonia), in four movements, is conventional, like Handel's overtures generally, and has no apparent appropriateness to the work that follows.
The triumphal chorus, " Welcome, welcome, mighty King," is one of the most interesting numbers. This jubilant processional employs " carillons " (chimes of little bells), in its accompaniment. The instrumental introduction to "Along the monster atheist strode " has a curious suggestion of the stride of Goliath. It is a characteristic piece of Eighteenth Century realism.
Possibly the finest and most skilfully wrought of the numbers is the powerful chorus, " Envy, eldest born of Hell." Sharing with it in the characteristics which give it rank among the great Handelian choruses is that entitled " O fatal consequence of rage." David's beautiful song, " O Lord, whose mercies numberless," is well worthy of mention, and Jonathan's aria, " Sin not, O King," is a simple but lovely number. Saul's scene with the witch of Endor, preceded by his striking recitative, " Wretch that I am," is dramatic in the extreme, the incantation music gaining much in effect by the skilful use of the oboes and bassoons. Most famous of all the numbers is the magnificent " Dead March " in C major, the elegy on the death of Saul and Jonathan. It is impossible to conceive how sound could be more utterly sad. " Nothing," says Schoelcher, " has a more solemn effect than those orchestral rollings, interrupted by the grave accents of trumpets and trombones, which recall the memory of the warrior, and by the lamentations of the hautboys, which pierce from time to time like flashes of despair." Even the urchin upon the street recognizes this wonderful " Dead March " when he hears it played for some later fallen hero. It is one of the most remarkable instances in music of powerful effect attained by the simplest means, and the wonder never fails that such effect could be secured in the major mode. It is a peculiarity of almost all Handel's dirges and songs of sorrow that they are written in this mode, while almost without exception other composers have deemed the minor a necessity for the expression of sorrow and hopelessness. Handel subsequently used this march in a similar situation in " Samson." David's beautiful aria, In sweetest harmony they lived," is a striking instance of the ease with which the living forget the once unbearable shortcomings of the dead.
Handel, whose praiseworthy thriftiness about utilizing old compositions is well known, evidently had some thought of introducing Queen Caroline's Funeral Anthem as an elegy on the death of Saul and Jonathan. A change of mind is evinced by the fact that it is struck out of the manuscript score. He found his opportunity to use the Funeral Anthem, however, in his next work, "Israel in Egypt."
