Handel - Laudate pueri, Dominum

In Rome Handel had three patrons, all cardinals. It is interesting to speculate how they viewed him: he must have seemed somewhat foreign. Known as 'Il Sassone' (the Saxon), he was the son of a most devout Lutheran mother. Strange to find him in the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church. These Vesper Psalms were his first major compositions for the Church, and they show great virtuosity on the part of the composer, and also require it from the performers. In Laudate pueri this is most evident in the solo soprano part. The better-known Dixit Dominus seems to have proved too difficult to perform at the time. Handel appears to have been 'learning on the job'.