English oratorios, which were customarily performed by enormous choruses of amateur singers on solemn occasions. These include Esther (1720); Saul (1739); Israel in Egypt (1739); Messiah (1742); Samson (1743); Judas Maccabaeus ( 1747 ); and Jephthah (1752). Since the 1960s , with the revival of interest in baroque music and original