Handel: Chandos Anthems (Hymns for Cannons)

In the summer of 1717, following the premiere of his Water Music on the occasion of a royal barge outing on the Thames, Handel began composing for James Brydges (1674-1744), the later first Duke of Chandos. This man had founded the Cannons Concert at his estate in Cannons near Edgware, a group of ten instrumentalists and three singers. For him, Handel composed eleven anthems and a Te Deum starting in August 1717, and also transposed and revised "As pants the hart" (HWV 251b). "O sing unto the Lord a new song" (HWV 249b) is an arrangement of a hymn written three years earlier for the Chapel Royal. The hymn of praise "Have mercy upon me, O God" (HWV 248) was composed in 1717 and is a paraphrase of the Miserere. The Alleluia from "Let God arise" (HWV 256a) anticipates the famous Hallelujah chorus from the Messiah (1741). The ensemble Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen now revive these four Chandos anthems composed for the Duke and his ensemble with eight singers and eleven outstanding instrumentalists.