Unusually, at the start this next chorus is accompanied only by woodwind and continuo, the brass and strings joining in later. This movement has two main musical ideas which jostle each other for supremacy; for the text “Egypt was glad when they departed” the mood of the music is gentle, but with the words “For the fear of them fell upon them” it changes; and this passage of text is set much more aggressively and is sung inégal˚.

This chorus begins with two bold statements, each answered by a more submissive and restrained phrase. The music then broadens into a fugue for double chorus. The subject starts in the basses and logically progresses up through the voice parts in turn, ending with the sopranos. The upper strings and upper woodwind are occupied with fast-running countersubjects˚, the figuration of which soon spreads into the upper voices. The music for this movement is partly parodied from Erba’s Magnificat, and partly from a keyboard canzona by Kerll.

This hugely dramatic chorus, which follows without a break, is characterised by dominating and oppressive rolls on the timpani – a common feature in Romantic music, but unusual for the Baroque. Far from being fugal, the voice parts are entirely homophonic and are accompanied by fast running triplets in the bass, the strings and the continuo.

This short chorus is quasi-recitative, and is a huge, bold statement. The text is delivered emphatically and as straightforwardly as possible, without embellishment or ornament. The final cadence˚ is highly unusual and convincingly evokes a sense of unease by colouring the words with an unfamiliar harmonic progression.

Another fugal chorus, this time with a very short subject of just six equal notes. Again the voices enter in ascending pitch order, starting with the basses and ascending, but then immediately repeat the passage in reverse, starting with the sopranos and descending. Each of the main cadential points is decorated with a hemiola˚ (a device much favoured by Handel, especially in his instrumental and dance music). The music for this movement is yet another parodied from Stradella’s wedding serenata “Qual prodigio è ch’io miri?”.

Interval

Part 2

This opening chorus is entirely homophonic and is quasi-recitative in style. The choirs are accompanied by repetitive dotted rhythms in the orchestra in the manner of a French Overture. The next chorus follows continuously.

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