Our second concert marking the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death contrasts one of his finest shorter works, the Ode on St Cecilia’s Day (1739), with two rarely performed orchestral anthems. John Dryden’s ode on the theme of the power of music is vividly illustrated by stirring choral writing and arias with lute, flute, violoncello and trumpet obbligato.

The expressive anthem ‘As pants the hart’ was evidently a favourite of the composer since he wrote five versions of it. We have chosen the last and richest one, written for a concert in 1738. ‘Blessed are they that considereth the poor’ was Handel’s last anthem, composed in 1749 for the Foundling Hospital in London.

It is a fascinating work with a remarkable variety of music, ranging from an archaic setting of a German chorale to the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus, borrowed from Messiah.