Handel, Georg Frideric: Jeptha

Jeptha  by Georg Frideric Handel
Cast: Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Emma Kirkby, Margaret Marshall, Alfreda Hodgson, Paul Esswood and Christopher Keyte, with the Southend Boys' Choir, and the Academy and Chorus of St. Martin-in-the-Fields conducted by Neville Marriner
Libretto by  Rev. Thomas Morell, after the Book of Judges, Chapter XI
Label: Argo
Catalogue number: 414 183-1
Country of Issue: UK
Date: 1985 (recorded 1979)
Stereo
Analogue
Format: LP Boxed Set (3 discs plus booklet)
Label design: latest Argo silver (Decca group style)
Discs: Near Mint, unmarked
Outer box: Near Mint,  very tiny marks on bottom edge
Inner sleeves: original, polylined, fine
Booklet: full size 24pp, perfect. Full libretto and notes in English, French and German

This item appears as new throughout except as mentioned above. Acquired by us in 2007 as part of a large collection but never played since.

Jeptha  was the last large-scale work composed by Handel, with the libretto by Rev. Thomas Morell, based on Chapter XI of the Book of Judges. It is in three acts. Handel began composition in 1751 but had to leave his work frequently owing to loss of sight in his left eye. It was completed and premiered in 1752.  In the succeeding six years,  Handel made alterations all of which have been incorporated into this recording.