Universally recognized as one of Handel’s finest masterpieces, Solomon is the most sensuous of his biblical oratorios. Magnificent, intricate choruses, seven of which are in eight voice parts, alternate with rapturous, intimate love music, as when Solomon, on the completion of his Temple, at the end of Part I, beckons his Queen towards the cedar grove where ‘amorous turtles… love beneath the pleasing gloom’. Part II deals with Solomon’s wisdom in deciding who is the mother of the new-born baby. Part III, which opens with the ever popular Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, portrays the visit of the Queen and her amazement at the splendour of Solomon’s court, yet another instance of Handel paying astute homage to his patron, George II.