GEORGE FRIDERIC HANDEL (1685-1759): Alceste, HWV 45.

Description: This was the only incidental music for a play which Handel ever wrote, in two weeks in Dec. 1749 and Jan. 1750, but the play, written by Tobias Smollett after Euripides, was never mounted. There are 20 numbers, seven of which are orchestral and seven choral. Handel made use of most of this unused music in his The Choice of Hercules (1751), one aria was adapted for a revival of Belshazzar while several unused Alceste numbers showed up in a revival of Alexander Balus. Texts included. Lucy Crowe (soprano), Benjamin Hulett (tenor), Andrew Foster-Williams (bass-baritone), Early Opera Company; Christian Curnyn.