page_title: Athalia (Handel)
section_title: Synopsis
hierarchical_section_title: Athalia (Handel) / Synopsis
caption_attribution_description: English: The Sheldonian Theatre viewed from the opposite side of Broad Street, Oxford.
context_page_description: Athalia is an English-language oratorio composed by George Frideric Handel to a libretto by Samuel Humphreys based on the play Athalie by Jean Racine. The work was commissioned in 1733 for the Publick Act in Oxford – a commencement ceremony of the local colleges, one of which had offered Handel an honorary doctorate. The story is based on that of the Biblical queen Athaliah.
  Athalia, Handel's third oratorio in English, was completed on 7 June 1733, and first performed on 10 July 1733 at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford. The Bee reported that the performance was "performed with the utmost Applause, and is esteemed equal to the most celebrated of that Gentleman's Performances: there were 3700 Persons present".
  Athaliah was first given in London on 1 April 1735 at Covent Garden theatre.
context_section_description: Athalia, daughter of King Ahab of Israel and Queen Jezebel, had been married to Jehoram, King of Judah. After her husband's death, Athalia was determined to stamp out the Jewish line of kings descended from David. She caused, so she believed, all the heirs to the throne to be murdered. She took the throne and ruled Judah herself, and began to devote the country to the idolatrous worship of Baal instead of the God of Israel. However, the child Joas, rightful heir to the throne, had been saved from death by Joad the High Priest and his wife Josabeth and raised as their own son under the name "Eliakim".
caption: Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, where Athalia was first performed
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