Athalia (Handel)
Athalia (HWV 52) is an English-language oratorio composed by George Frideric Handel to a libretto probably 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 (an honour he refused). The story is based on that of the Biblical queen Athaliah.
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