A. Scarlatti: La Santissima Annunziata, Oratorio

In the Bible account of the Annunciation, Mary is told by the archangel Gabriel that she will bear God’s son. Alessandro Scarlatti devoted one of his numerous sacred oratorios to this episode from St. Luke’s Gospel: this is the sumptuous sound of the Italian establishment at the time the young Handel came to Rome. It made a lasting impression on him, but also provoked his contradictory spirit: in La Resurrezione, Handel went on to do things quite...