Handel: Utrecht Jubilate, HWV279 - CD

The Treaty of Utrecht, which established the Peace of Utrecht, comprises a series of individual peace treaties, rather than a single document, signed in the Dutch city of Utrecht in March and April 1713. The treaties among several European states, including Great Britain, France, Spain, Savoy, and the Dutch Republic, helped end the War of the Spanish Succession. The treaties were concluded between the representatives of Louis XIV of France and Philip V of Spain on the one hand, and representatives of Queen Anne of Great Britain, the Duke of Savoy, the King of Portugal and the United Provinces on the other.

This was the first peace achieved through diplomacy, with thanks to the hospitality of Utrecht. The Peace of Utrecht was celebrated in 1713 with music, festive fireworks and specially commissioned compositions such as the Utrecht Te Deum and Utrecht Jubilate by George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) and the Ode for the Peace of Utrecht by William Croft (1678-1727).

In 2013, Utrecht once again will be the host, stage and partner of festivities, arts and culture. Founded in 1921, The Netherlands Bach Society is the oldest Early Music ensemble in the Netherlands, and possibly in the whole world. Yet along with the musicians, its artistic director Jos van Veldhoven is still continually in search of contemporary ways of presenting this music, whether it be the traditional performances of the St. Matthew Passion in Naarden, other works by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) or music by his predecessors, successors, contemporaries and fellow spirits.

This recording was made to mark the tercentenary of the formal opening in 1697 of St Paul's, rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London. It consists of four notable pieces written for the cathedral between 1697 and 1755.

John Blow wrote a new anthem for the opening ceremony. I was glad when they said unto me is a setting of the text which Bishop Compton took for his sermon during the service. Handel's Te Deum and Jubilate, written for the Peace of Utrecht, was first heard in the Cathedral on 5 March 1713. William Boyce's anthem Lord, thou hast been our refuge was written in 1755 for the Festival of the Sons of the Clergy, the charity that raised (and still raises) funds for needy clergymen and their families. Like all the pieces recorded here, it is music that demands to be heard in the spacious acoustic of the building for which it was written.