A choral fugue by Handel

Given the strong conventions enforced by Italian style in the eighteenth century, it always feels like a surprise to find an obvious ascending gesture in a structural cadence in music from this period. But here is one: from Handel’s oratorio Solomon (1748), no. 6 “Throughout the land Jehovah’s praise.” This number holds to conventional formulas for a choral fugue but at the same time manages an especially striking ending. In the examples below, I have shown the opening of the chorus with the first three entries of the subject, then the ending, soprano part only with Dr. John Clarke’s keyboard reduction. Note the cadenza perfetta (6-8), the grand pause (boxed), and the final cadence with rising line in the soprano (also boxed).

Beginning:

Ending (soprano and keyboard reduction only):