GF Händel Esther HWV 50a (earliest reconstructible version, 1720)
Handel’s Esther is considered to be the first English oratorio, but the grand London version of 1732 had its roots in a much earlier masque performed in the late 1710s at Cannons.
The body of musicians of Handel’s earlier employer, James Brydges, was more modest, and this early version suits Solomon’s Knot’s chamber performance style perfectly. 10 singers will deliver the work by heart, together with 18 instrumentalists, in a dramatised concert performance.