From Milton to Hamilton and Handel

Abstract

In Handel’s oratorio Samson (1742), the aria “Total eclipse” compares Samson’s blindness, inflicted by the enemy’s gouging out of his eyes, to darkness during the total solar eclipse. The librettist Newburgh Hamilton drew the astronomical metaphor as well as the majority of his text for the oratorio from John Milton’s closet drama Samson Agonistes (1671). With respect to scientific knowledge on the eclipses, however, the two works are from very different eras. Examining changing perspectives on eclipses in Britain from the seventeenth to the eighteenth century provides a hitherto unexplored historical context for recognizing the difference in their metaphorical treatments of the phenomenon. It brings to the fore Hamilton’s portrayal of Samson’s sense of divine judgment in his blindness and presents a new textual basis for understanding Handel’s musical setting. The aria reveals the composer’s careful consideration in his choice of key and use of enharmonicism to convey Samson’s apprehension. Studying Handel’s musical language in the context of eighteenth-century music theory and in comparison to other movements in Samson and his earlier works offers deeper insight into his dramatic purpose. This article explores the history of eclipse science, the literary and biblical background to the libretto, and Handel’s compositional technique. It shows their deep interconnection in depicting Samson’s pathos, offering a new perspective not only on the aria and its impact on the rest of the oratorio but also on the contribution of Samson to mid-eighteenth-century musico-dramatic style.