4.45pm Proms Intro
Join tonight's conductor Harry Bicket and musicologist Dr Berta Joncus for an introduction to Handel's oratorio
Samson
, with Catherine Bott.
Edited version broadcast on Radio 3 during tonight's first interval.
This programme is no longer available.
Your Reviews
Mark Padmore © Marco Borggreve
Based on Milton and miraculously composed within a month of Messiah ( Prom 68 ), Handel's Samson opens with Israel's former champion blinded and imprisoned but ends in triumph as he topples the temple of Dagon down upon the feasting Philistines and, through his suicide, sets his people free.
In the 250th anniversary of the composer's death, the hero's heartbreaking lament over his lost sight, 'Total eclipse! No sun, no moon, all dark amidst the blaze of noon!' – gains added poignancy from the knowledge that Handel himself would soon go blind. Baroque specialist Harry Bicket makes his Proms debut conducting a starry line-up of British singers, several making their second appearance this season.
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