Music and Masons: King Solomon Oratorios by Handel, Boyce and Broadway

Music and Masons

We recently came across a Doctoral Thesis on The Musical Culture of Freemasonry In Early Eighteenth Century London which suggests that Oratorios on King Solomon composed in the 1740’s by Georg Friedrich Handel, William Boyce and Richard Broadway were linked to Masonic lodges, and members of Masonic lodges, in 18th century London.

In the online abstract for The Musical Culture of Freemasonry In Early Eighteenth Century London, it states:

“The figure of King Solomon looms large in masonic traditions. The cluster of three Solomon oratorios by Boyce, Broadway and Handel, all written in London in the 1740’s, are here linked together not only by their masonic rhetoric but also by their associations with the political struggle between George II and Frederick, Prince of Wales, himself a Freemason. The thesis proposes a masonic author for the hitherto anonymous librettist of Handel’s Solomon.”

Here are videos of performances of these works by Georg Friedrich Handel and William Boyce. We have not been able to find a YouTube video of Richard Broadway’s Solomon’s Temple, composed circa 1753.

First, the Solomon oratorio by Georg Friedrich Handel.

Here are highlights of Handel’s Solomon oratorio, performed by the Gabrieli Consort and Players, conducted by Paul McCreesh:

Here is the complete Solomon oratorio by Georg Friedrich Handel, composed in 1748. Performed by the Gabrieli Consort and Players, conducted by Paul McCreesh. We have included two separate YouTube video posts in case one is removed:

We have not been able to find a YouTube video of the complete Solomon oratorio by William Boyce but here are some excerpts.

First, Tell Me, Lovely Shepherd

Softly Rise, Oh Southern Breeze, from Solomon by William Boyce

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