Dettingen Te Deum HWV 283 (Handel)
Composer: George Frideric Handel
Words: Traditionally attributed to St. Ambrose, St Augustine or Nicetas of Remesiana
The Te Deum for the Victory at the Battle of Dettingen in D major, HWV 283, is the fifth and last setting by George Frideric Handel of the 4th-century Ambrosian hymn, Te Deum, or We Praise Thee, O God. He wrote it in 1743, only a month after the battle itself, during which Britain and its allies Hannover and Austria soundly routed the French.
The hymn is in regular use in the Catholic Church in the Office of Readings found in the Liturgy of the Hours, and in thanksgiving to God for a special blessing in this case of secular nature: the victory in a battle.
On 27 June 1743, the British army and its allies, under the command of King George II and Lord Stair, won a victory at the Battle of Dettingen, over the French army, commanded by the Maréchal de Noailles and the Duc de Grammont.
At the end of the 1730s Europe was at war, and Great Britain was involved in a colonial war with Spain, the so-called “War of Jenkins’ Ear”. The problems intensified in 1740 when Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria, and sovereign of the other Habsburg crown lands, died without a male heir, and Frederick II of Prussia invaded Silesia, thereby triggering the War of the Austrian Succession. The Battle of Dettingen on the River Main was fought between Great Britain in alliance with the Electorate of Hanover and mercenary troops of the Landgrave of Hesse on one side, and the opposing French army under the Duke of Noailles on the other. King George II fought in the Battle of Dettingen on 27 June 1743 as the Elector of Hanover and was an ally of Austria-Hungary. Advised by his minister Lord John Carteret, the King led his army in battle against the French, whose army withdrew in considerable disorder to the opposite bank of the River Main. George II was the last British monarch to personally lead his troops into battle.
The King set off from Hanover on 9 November 1743 and was back in London on 15 November, but the service of celebration was postponed, because the date could not be too close to the death day of the Queen (20 November). Handel may have expected a splendid state service in an imposing setting, such as St. Paul’s Cathedral for example, but the festivities finally took place instead in the Chapel Royal in St. James’s Palace. The first performance was also the first occasion when an orchestral work was heard there with three trumpets; they play in eight of the fifteen movements
On the King's return a day of public thanksgiving was appointed, and Handel, at that time "Composer of the Musick to the Chapel Royal," was commissioned to write a Te Deum and an anthem ("The King Shall Rejoice") for the occasion. The work was composed between 17 and 29 July 1743 and was first performed on 27 November 1743 in the Chapel Royal of St James's Palace, London in the presence of George II.
The Dettingen Te Deum is not a Te Deum in the strict sense, but a grand martial panegyric. It contains eighteen short solos and choruses, mostly of a brilliant, martial character, the solos being divided between the alto, baritone, and bass. After a brief instrumental prelude, the work opens with the triumphant, jubilant chorus with trumpets and drums ("We praise Thee, O God"), written for the five parts, the sopranos being divided into first and seconds, containing also a short alto solo leading to a closing fugue.
Text:
We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud; the Heavens, and all the powers therein.
To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty of thy Glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets praise thee.
The noble army of Martyrs praise thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world doth acknowledge thee;
The Father of an infinite Majesty;
Thine adorable, true, and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost, the Comforter.
Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man, thou didst humble thyself to be born of a Virgin.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the Glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants, whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints, in glory everlasting.
O Lord, save thy people, and bless thine heritage.
Govern them, and lift them up for ever.
Day by day we magnify thee;
And we worship thy Name ever, world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us, have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let thy mercy be upon us, as our trust is in thee.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted; let me never be confounded
