Dixit Dominus, HWV 232

Dixit Dominus is a psalm setting by George Frideric Handel. Catalogued as HWV 232, it uses the Latin text of Psalm 110 (Vulgate 109), starting with the words “Dixit Dominus,” which means “The Lord Said.”

In 1795, the 20 years old George Frideric Handel had just begun to establish himself as an opera composer in Hamburg after he presented his first two operas that year. However, the pope briefly banned operatic performances in 1707, meaning he could no longer publicly perform most of his composition. Hence, Handel took on writing religious music, went onto a trip to Italy, and completed Dixit Dominus in April 1707. This became a strategy that would serve him well in later years, composing the Messiah. 

Dixit Dominus was written in baroque style, and it is scored for five vocal soloists (SSATB), five-part chorus, strings and continuo. It is thought that the work was first performed on 16 July 1707 in the Church of Santa Maria in Montesanto, under the patronage of the Cardinal Carlo Colonna. The psalm text seems well-suited to impress a patron from a powerful Roman family like the Colonnas, as it speaks of a ruler’s triumph over his enemies. 

Dixit Dominus Translations

George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) is a prominent figure from the Baroque era. He is well-known for his operas, oratorios, and instrumental works, heavily influenced by Italian opera and English choral traditions. Some of his most famous compositions are Dixit Dominus (1707), Water Music (1717), Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749), and Messiah (1741).

Born in Halle, Germany, Handel did not grow up in a musical family, but his gifts were so obvious that his father allowed him to take lessons. Handel became an accomplished organist, harpsichordist, and studied violin and oboe, and learnt composition through copying scores of other composers (which was honored at the time). At the age of 18, rather than become a church cantor, Handel went to Hamburg, the center of German opera, and composed his first opera Amira. 

Despite being known for his imperious nature and quick temper, Handel was also recognized for his humor, generosity, integrity, and piety. During the last seven years of his life, Handel was blind but continued to conduct and revise his works with the assistance of his loyal friend, J.S. Schmidt. By the time of his death in London in 1759, Handel had become a cherished figure in English culture. 

J.S. Bach

Born in Eisenach, Germany, Bach spent most of his life in his homeland, working in various capacities as an organist, composer, and music director.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was born into a prolific musical family in Eisenach, Germany. Orphaned at the age of 10, he was raised by his elder brother, Johann Christoph, who taught him to play the organ and klavier, and introduced him the works of prominent composers of the time.

Bach was famous as an organ virtuoso. As a composer, his reputation in his lifetime was restricted to a fairly narrow circle and his music was regarded by many as old-fashioned. His fame wasn’t any close to Telemann, and only very few of his compositions were printed, contracting to his reputation today. For half a century after his death, this position was only slightly improved until in 1801 the Well-Tempered Klavier was issued. 

The revival of interest in Bach’s music was led by German composer and pianist Felix Mendelssohn. The 15 years old young composer was given a copy manuscript score of the St Matthew Passion by his grandmother Bella Salomon. Bach’s work wasn’t favoured at the time because of its complexity and the unfamiliarity of its language. Others have attempted to mount a performance of the Passion, but the work required significant effort by a genius with vision to complete it. Mendelssohn put his mind to work and five years later, an abridged version of the work was rehearsed and conducted by him in a performance at the Singakademie on March 11, 1829. For the first time in a century, the beauty of the St. Matthew Passion was revealed to the German public, eliciting a response not unlike that experienced by young Felix on seeing the work’s score for the first time. This historic performance, due in large part to Mendelssohn’s vision (he was only fifteen when he first saw the score of the Passion, and twenty when his efforts to perform the work were realized), resulted in a full-scale revival and reevaluation of Bach’s works throughout Germany and beyond, and a universal recognition of their genius and significance.