The Apollo Academy, a musical club founded in 1731 by Maurice Greene and
his friend Michael Christian Festing, was the performance location of
various oratorios, odes and masques produced by composers in Greene's
circle of friends, colleagues and pupils. Many of the works performed
both in and outside the academy meetings are based on subjects such as
Jephtha, Deborah and the choice of Hercules which were well-known in
eighteenth-century England and also attracted the attention of Handel.
This long-overdue study explores these works in terms of their
intellectual contexts (political, religious, social and cultural),
comparing them to Handel's compositions on the same or similar subjects.
Additionally, detailed source information and musical analysis of the
works is included as well as a discussion of the competition between
Handel and his English contemporaries in order to provide a fuller
picture of the diverse musical and cultural life in London during the
first half of the eighteenth century.