page_title: Occasional Oratorio
section_title: List of musical numbers
hierarchical_section_title: Occasional Oratorio / List of musical numbers
caption_attribution_description: Covent-Garden Theatre: This engraving was published as Plate 27 of Microcosm of London (1808) (see File:Microcosm of London Plate 027 - Covent Garden Theatre.jpg).
context_page_description: An Occasional Oratorio is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel, based upon a libretto by Newburgh Hamilton after the poetry of John Milton and Edmund Spenser. The work was written in the midst of the Jacobite rising of 1745–1746, the attempt to overthrow Handel's patrons the Hanoverian monarchy under George II and replace them with a Stuart restoration under Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie". The Occasional Oratorio is unique among Handel's works which he labelled "oratorio" in that it does not tell a story or contain elements of a drama, but was intended as a defiant and patriotic rallying piece. The Stuart armies, based in Scotland, had invaded England and got as far as Derby when the King's armies under the command of the King's son Prince William, Duke of Cumberland had driven them back to Scotland in December 1745. The fighting was at a hiatus due to winter weather and the Duke of Cumberland was in London in February 1746.
context_section_description: Overture
  1.1. Arioso: Why do the gentiles tumult?
  1.2. Chorus: Let us break off by strength of hand
  1.3. Aria: O Lord, how many are my foes!
  1.4. Chorus: Him or his God we not fear!
  1.5. Aria: Jehovah, to my words give ear
  1.6. Chorus: Him or his God we scorn to fear!
  1.7. Recitative: The Highest who in Heaven doth dwell
  1.8. Aria: O, who shall pour into my swollen eyes
  1.9. Aria: Fly from the threat'ning vengeance, fly!
  1.10. Accompagnato: Humbled with fear
  1.11. Aria: His sceptre is the rod of righteousness
  1.12. Aria: Be wise, be wise at length
  1.13. Chorus: Be wise, be wise at length
  1.14. Recitative: Of many millions the populous rout
  1.15. Aria: Jehovah is my shield, my glory
  1.16. Recitative: Fools or madmen stand not within
  1.17. Chorus: God found them guilty
  PART II
  2.1. Aria: O liberty, thou choicest treasure
  2.2. Recitative: Who trusts in God should ne'er despair
  2.3. Aria: Prophetic visions strike my eye
  2.4. Chorus mit Solo (alto): May God, from whom all mercies
  2.5. Recitative: The Lord hath heard my pray'r
  2.6. Aria: Then will I Jehovah's praise
  2.7. Chorus: All his mercies shall endure
  2.8. Aria: How great and many perils do enfold
  2.9. Duett (soprano, alto): After long storms and tempests overblown
  2.10. Aria, Chorus: To God, our strength, sing loud
  2.11. Aria: He has his mansion fix'd on high
  2.12. Chorus: Hallelujah, your voices raise
  PART III
  3.1. Sinfonia
  3.2. Chorus: I will sing unto the Lord
  3.3. Chorus: Who is like unto thee, O Lord?
  3.4. Aria: When warlike ensigns wave on high
  3.5. Recitative: The enemy said, I will pursue
  3.6. Aria: The enemy said, I will pursue
  3.7. Aria: The sword that's drawn in virtue's cause
  3.8. Chorus: Millions unborn shall bless the hand
  3.9. Recitative: When Israel, like the bounteous Nile
  3.10. Aria: When Israel, like the bounteous Nile
  3.11. Aria: Tyrants, whom no cov'nants bind
  3.12. Accompagnato: May balmy peace, and wreath'd renown
  3.13. Aria: May balmy peace, and wreath'd renown
  3.14. Chorus: Blessed are all they that fear the Lord
caption: A picture of the theatre at Covent Garden where the  Occasional Oratorio was first performed
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