1. From Pastorals: ‘Summer’, lines 73–6.

1. Although the libretto of Jephtha is by Thomas Morell, Handel borrowed freely from other sources, in particular from Milton and Pope. Most memorable of some dozen borrowings is the devastating final line of the chorus from the end of Act II from Pope’s An Essay on Man (Epistle 1, 289). Handel began the composition of Jephtha on 21 January 1751, but on 13 February he wrote in his score: ‘biss hierher kommen den 13 Febr. 1751 verhindert worden wegen relaxation des gesichts meines linken auges’ (‘reached here on 13 Feb. 1751, unable to continue due to weakening of the sight of my left eye’). Ten days later he resumed composition (on his sixty-sixth birthday), and wrote in the score: ‘den 23 dieses etwas besser worden wird angegangen’ (‘23rd of this month things have improved, began work again’). By the 27th he had reached the end of Act II, but was unable to continue since he had now completely lost the sight of his left eye. He wrote nothing for the next four months and did little more than travel to Bath and Cheltenham to take the waters. He resumed work on Jephtha on 18 June and finally finished on 30 August. Just as Morell quoted other authors, so Handel borrowed from several of his own works, including Agrippina, Ariodante, Acis and Galatea and Theodora.