Samson, HWV 57: Overture

SAMSON, HWV 57, is an oratorio in three acts by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759). When he composed it in the autumn of 1741, he had just finished work on The Messiah. The libretto, based on John Milton's Samson Agonistes, was written by Newburgh Hamilton. The work premiered at Covent Garden in London on February 18, 1743. It achieved so much acclaim that six more performances were presented that season. The Overture remains popular still for concert programming. Instrumentation: 0.2.0.0: 2.0.0.0: Str (4-4-3-3-3 in set): Piano reduction included in score. The much improved score provided is from Friedrich Chrysander's edition published in 1861 as part of the Deutsche Handelgesellschaft, while the parts are from the Novello edition published ca. 1870.