Harmonium

(Reed Organ)

   A keyboard instrument, popular from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries, that produces tones by forcing air over freely vibrating metal tongues (reeds). There are two general types, compression and suction, describing how the bellows, operated by treadles, draw air. Pitch range is five octaves and ranks, usually eight, are typically divided into bass and treble. Gabriel Joseph Grenié (1756–1837) is credited with the construction of the first working instrument, which he called "orgue expressif." "Harmonium" comes from the instrument of four ranks of Alexandre François Debain (1809–1877) patented in 1842. Harmoniums were common domestic instruments and an inexpensive substitute for the pipe organ in small churches in Europe. César Franck, Louis Vierne, Max Reger, and many other composers for pipe organ composed serious music specifically for the harmonium in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The colonial powers exported it in large numbers to Africa and especially India, where it came to be used commonly in Hindu bhajan.

   Handel’s English Oratorios

   {}English Oratorio First Performance Librettists and Sources{}

   Acis and Galatea May 1718 John Gay et al. after Ovid

   Esther 1718? Alexander Pope and John

   Arbuthnot after Racine after the

   Book of Esther

   Deborah 17 March 1733 Samuel Humphreys after Judges 5

   Athalia 10 July 1733 Humphreys after Racine after 2

   Kings and 2 Chronicles

   Alexander’s Feast 19 February 1736 After John Dryden

   Saul 16 January 1739 Charles Jennens after 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel

   Israel in Egypt 4 April 1739 Exodus

   Messiah 13 April 1742 Compiled by Jennens from Old and New Testament

   Samson 18 Feburary 1743 Newburgh Hamilton after Milton after Judges 14–16

   Semele 10 February 1744 William Congreve after Ovid

   Joseph and his Brethren 2 March 1744 James Miller after Genesis 41–44

   Hercules 5 January 1745 Thomas Broughton after Ovid, Metamorphoses 9, and Sophocles Trachiniae{}

   Belshazzar 27 March 1745 Jennens after Daniel 5, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Herodotus, and Xenophon

   Occasional Oratorio 14 February 1746 Hamilton after Milton and Spenser

   Judas Maccabaeus 1 April 1747 Thomas Morell after 1 Maccabees and Josephus

   Joshua 9 March 1748 Morell?

   Alexander Balus 23 March 1748 Morell after 1 Maccabees

   Susanna 10 February 1749 Anonymous after Apocrypha

   Solomon 17 March 1749 Anonymous after 2 Chronicles, 1 Kings 5, and Josephus

   Theodora 16 March 1750 Morell after Robert Boyle: The {}Martyrdom of Theodora and Didymus{}

   The Choice of Hercules 1 March 1751 Robert Lowth: The Judgment of Hercules (adapted)

   Jephtha 26 February 1752 Morell after Judges 11 and George Buchanan: Jephtes sive Votum{}

   The Triumph of Time 11 March 1757 Morell after Pamphili Il trionfo del and Truth Tempo{}