s masques Acis and Galatea and Haman and Mordecai (renamed Esther) led to the establishment of the English oratorio--a large musical composition for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra, without acting or scenery, and usually dramatizing a story from the Bible in English-language lyrics. Handel first capitalized on this form in 1733 with Deborah and Athalia. Handel also continued to comanage an Italian opera company in London despite many difficulties. Throughout his London career he had suffered competition not only from rival composers but also from rival opera houses in a London that could barely support even one Italian opera in addition to its English theatres. Finally, in 1737, his company went bankrupt and he himself suffered what appears to have been a mild stroke. After a course of treatment at Aix-la-Chapelle, France, he was restored to health and went on to compose the Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline (1737) and two of his most celebrated oratorios, Saul and Israel in Egypt, both of which were performed in 1739. He also wrote the Twelve Grand Concertos, Opus 6, and helped establish the Fund for the Support of Decayed Musicians (now the Royal Society of Musicians). Handel was by this time at the height of his powers, and the year 1741 saw the composition of his greatest oratorio, Messiah, and its inspired successor, Samson. Messiah was given its first performance in Dublin on April 13, 1742, and created a deep impression. Handel's works of the next three years included the oratorios Joseph and His Brethren (first performed 1744) and Belshazzar (1745), the secular oratorios Semele (1743) and Hercules (1745), and the Dettingen Te Deum (1743), celebrating the English victory over the French at the Battle of Dettingen. Handel had by this time made oratorio and large-scale choral works the most popular musical forms in England. He had created for himself a new public among the rising middle classes, who would have turned away in mor...
