ABSTRACT
So thoroughly and carefully has Winton Dean explored the works covered in his great study Handel's Dramatic Oratorios and Masques that few additions–and fewer corrections–ares required even after the lapse of nearly thirty years? We still do not know for certain when Handel first received the libretto of Saul from Jennens or the precise form in which it was presented to him. Handel's first extant letter to Jennens acknowledges the receipt of an 'Oratorio' which gave the composer 'a great deal of Satisfaction' on first reading, but the letter gives no clue to the subject of the work. Jennens's letter, reporting a visit to Handel, deals with the placing of the 'Hallelujah'. The 'Hallelujah' was moved to the end of the opening chorus of Act 1, where Jennens had intended it to be, and it was no doubt this action that loosened the first and last pages of this portion of the autograph and caused their subsequent loss.
