Who composed the oratorio 'Belshazzar's Feast'?
Belshazzar's Feast (Walton) Belshazzar's Feast (Walton) Belshazzar's Feast is a cantata by the English composer William Walton. It was first performed at the Leeds Festival on 8 October 1931, with the baritone Dennis Noble, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Leeds Festival Chorus, conducted by Malcolm Sargent. The work has remained one of Walton's most celebrated compositions. Osbert Sitwell selected the text from the Bible, primarily the Book of Daniel, and Psalm 137. The work is dedicated to Walton's friend and benefactor Lord Berners. In the story of Belshazzar's Feast, the Jews are in exile in Babylon. After a feast at which Belshazzar,
Belshazzar (Handel) Belshazzar (Handel) Belshazzar (HWV 61) is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel. The libretto was by Charles Jennens, and Handel abridged it considerably. Jennens' libretto was based on the Biblical account of the fall of Babylon at the hands of Cyrus the Great and the subsequent freeing of the Jewish nation, as found in the Book of Daniel. Handel composed "Belshazzar" in the late Summer of 1744 concurrently with "Hercules", during a time that Winton Dean calls "the peak of Handel's creative life". The work premiered the following Lenten season on 27 March 1745 at the King's Theatre, London. The