Handel's Oratorio 'Joshua'

It is a great shame that much of Handel's dramatic music is rarely performed these days.  His oratorio 'Joshua' is a case in point, but there are two opportunities to hear it in the West Midlands, in the first production of this piece outside London in modern times.

ensemble 1685 with orchestra, directed by Richard Jeffcoat, will present this splendid music at:

Carrs Lane Church Centre, on Friday September 3rd at 7.00 pm
Warwick Road URC, Coventry, on Saturday September 4th at 7.00 pm

Tickets £10 (£6 for under 21s) at the door

Programme Note

Handel wrote Joshua as part of a series celebrating the defeat of the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.  His treatment of the biblical story of the entry of the wandering Israelites into Canaan under their leader Joshua, the demolition of Jericho, and the rout of the scruffy savages who had the misfortune to live there, was resonant and popular in Georgian London, and, although we may feel uneasy about its modern equivalence, we can revel in Handel's most blazingly colourful music, with trumpets and horns and drums.

Meanwhile Handel concocts a sub-plot telling the story of two young lovers.  Though they are but names in the Bible, their love-music provides welcome contrast to the blood-curdling shouts of victory elsewhere: indeed Joshua contains both Handel's grandest and his sweetest music. 

ensemble 1685 presents the oratorio complete, and with historical instruments, in the first production of this piece outside London in modern times, using a specially-prepared edition.

Despite the religious origins of the story, Handel conceived this and all his oratorios with the same dramatic intent he used for his earlier operas, as works
for a live audience in the theatre, and we hope you enjoy the show.

Richard Jeffcoat (Artistic Director, ensemble 1685)

ensemble 1685