Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne

Among even the most extravagant of royal gifts, Handel’s Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne holds the power to take the breath away. The cantata, probably written for the monarch’s birthday in February 1713, sets inspired verse by the politician and poet Ambrose Philips. It opens with one of Handel’s finest arias, “Eternal Source of Light Divine”, a sublime duet for alto and trumpet, in which the solo voice and instrument intertwine to create a great arch of melody in praise of the monarch. It is unclear why Handel, on only his second visit to England, was chosen ahead of a native composer to write an ode for Britain’s queen, although he had already made his mark at court in 1712 with a Te Deum and Jubilate to celebrate the end of the War of the Spanish Succession and the Peace of Utrecht. He returned to the latter in his Ode, singing Anne’s praises for fixing “a lasting peace on earth” and repeating the sentiment in the chorus that ends each of Philips’ seven stanzas.