CD 1
Part 1: The Ninevites 43:32
1-1 Ouverture 5:04
Scene 1: A Ninevite And Chorus Of Ninevites
1-2 Recitative: Happy Assyria (A Ninevite) 0:15
1-3 Chorus: Hear Us, O Baal 1:53
Scene 2: Tobit And Chorus Of Israelites
1-4 Recitative: How Soon Eclips'd Is Human Joy (Tobit) 0:51
1-5 Solo & Chorus: Hear From Thy Mercies Seat (Tobit) 4:59
Scene 3: Anna, Tobit, Tobias And Chorus Of Israelites
1-6 Recitative: The Lord Hath Heard My Pray'r (Tobit) 0:27
1-7 Air: Will God, Whose Mercies Ever Flow (Tobias) 2:18
1-8 Recitative: But Say, My Rightous Lord (Anna, Tobit) 0:43
1-9 Duet: To Steal A Grave (Anna, Tobit) 4:42
1-10 Recitative: Your Pardon (Tobias) 0:26
1-11 Air: Boistrous Winds And Billows Rolling (Tobias) 7:40
1-12 Chorus: Tyrants May A While Presume 2:51
Scene 4: Sarah And Raguel
1-13 Sinfonia 0:49
1-14 Accompagnato: Ah, Wretched Sarah! (Sarah) 1:18
1-15 Air: Paid Be My Adoration (Sarah) 2:36
1-16 Recitative: Be Comforted, My Daughter (Raguel) 0:38
1-17 Air: The Lord Sends His Thunders (Raguel) 3:11
1-18 Chorus: All Pow'r In Heav'n Above Or Earth Beneath 2:51
Part 2 32:49
Scene 1: Tobit
1-19 Sinfonia 0:44
1-20 Accompagnato: Alas! To What Variety Of Ills (Tobit) 1:55
1-21 Air: In Great Jehovah (Tobit) 1:25
Scene 2: Tobit, Tobias And Azarias (Raphael)
1-22 Recitative: Happy In Thee, My Son (Tobit) 0:39
1-23 Air: Descend Kind Pity (Azarias) 8:57
1-24 Chorus: Impartial Heav'n 3:04
Scene 3: A Ninevite And Chorus Of Ninevites
1-25 Recitative: If Blindness, Scorn, Contempt And Misery (A Ninevite) 0:45
1-26 Chorus: O Baal, Monarch Of The Skies! 1:51
1-27 Ritornello 0:32
Scene 4: Anna And Tobit
1-28 Recitative: Pain'd As I Am (Tobit, Anna) 0:51
1-29 Air: Thy Pleasing Face (Anna) 7:42
1-30 Recitative: O, Though Bright Sun (Anna) 0:33
1-31 Air: With Darkness Deep, As Is My Woe (Anna) 2:38
Scene 5: Tobias And Azarias
1-32 Sinfonia 0:21
1-33 Recitative: What Caution Is Too Great (Tobit, Azarias) 0:52
CD 2
Part 2 (Cont.) 34:39
2-1 Air: Thou, God Most High (Azarias) 5:00
2-2 Duet: Cease Thy Anguish (Azarias, Tobias) 5:43
2-3 Chorus: The Clouded Scene Begins To Clear 3:49
Scene 6: Sarah And Raguel
2-4 Sinfonia 3:09
2-5 Recitative: How Happy, Daughter (Raguel, Sarah) 0:56
2-6 Air: No Nobler Joys Aspiring (Sarah) 4:54
Scene 7: Tobias And Azarias
2-7 Recitative: O Azarias, I Must Freely Own (Tobias, Azarias) 0:40
Scene 8: Raguel, Sarah, Tobias, Azarias And Chorus Of Israelites
2-8 Recitative: The Gratefull Tribute Of Our Thanks (Raguel) 0:20
2-9 Air: Let Songs Of Varied Measure (Raguel) 4:26
2-10 Chorus: Now Love, That Everlasting Joy 2:28
2-11 Chorus: Happy, Happy Shall They Be 3:14
Part 3 45:21
Scene 1: Tobit And Chorus Of Isralites
2-12 Sinfonia 0:44
2-13 Accompagnato: Still Am I Persecuted (Tobit) 0:37
2-14 Air: Cease Your Pride, Deluded Mortals (Tobit) 2:20
2-15 Chorus: Tremble, Guilt, For Though Shalt Find 2:42
Scene 2: Tobit And Anna
1-16 Sinfonia 1:40
2-17 Recitative: Hail, Tobit! (Raphael, Tobit) 0:18
2-18 Accompagnato: Henceforth Through All Changing Scenes Of Life (Anna) 0:32
2-19 Air: Ma Son, How Happy In Thy Sweet Return (Anna) 4:03
2-20 Chorus: Let None Despair 3:29
Scene 3: Tobit, Anna, Tobias, Raphael, Raguel, Sarah And Chorus Of Israelites
2-21 Accompagnato And Recitative: Blest Be The God Of Heav'n (Tobit, Raguel) 1:25
2-22 Air: May True Joy (Raguel) 4:06
2-23 Terzetto: More Cheerful Appearing (Anna, Tobias, Sarah) 5:03
2-24 Air: Watchfull Angels (Sarah) 1:32
2-25 Recitative: O King Of Kings (Sarah) 0:29
2-26 Air: Allelujah (Sarah) 3:21
2-27 Chorus: Swift Our Numbers 2:39
2-28 Recitative: 'Tis Well (Raphael) 0:21
2-29 Accompagnato: O Niniveh! (Raphael) 1:25
2-30 Air: In Jehovah's Awful Sight (Raphael) 2:02
2-31 Symphony 2:38
2-32 Recitative: Saw Ye The Radiant Streams Of Light (Tobit) 0:39
2-33 Chorus And Solo: Ye Servants Of Th'eternal King 3:17
The big "Handel" at the top of the front cover may occasion confusion in the mind of the listener who can't remember any Handel oratorio called Tobit (or Tobias). That's because the work is a pastiche of Handel's music, fitted with new words and arranged into a facsimile of a coherent story drawn from the Book of Tobias in the Bible. The creator was John Christopher Smith, the son of a German copyist and longtime associate of Handel born Johann Christoph Schmidt who anglicized his name when he went to work for Handel in London. The tunes are drawn from a variety of lesser Handel oratorios (none is from Messiah or Judas Maccabeus), with recitatives written by Smith himself and various holes filled in with new music by the conductor of the present recording, Joachim Carlos Martini. The Junge Kantorei shows itself to be one of the profusion of regional German choirs with a startlingly warm sound and well-honed ensemble, and the Frankfurt Baroque Orchestra is smooth and ingratiating. The singers, especially tenor Knut Schoch as Tobit, betray little in the way of non-English accents and have a fine mastery of the bright, public Handelian oratorio style. The only fly in the ointment is the work itself, which is certainly of interest to those fascinated by the question of how Handel got from King George to your local bunch of Christian teens who put synthesized beats to Messiah every Christmas. But the work is a footnote to Handel, not Handel undiluted. "It will be seen," writes annotator Keith Anderson, "that the oratorio expects some previous knowledge of the story, as a number of elements in the original narrative are omitted." Which is another way of saying that this large work doesn't really hang together. Texts are available on the Naxos website, and the singers involved offer decent intelligibility. -- James Manheim
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