George Frideric Handel’s three-act oratorio Samson is considered one of his very best dramatic works. The arias from the work, “Let the bright Seraphim” and...

George Frideric Handel’s three-act oratorio Samson is considered one of his very best dramatic works. The arias from the work, “Let the bright Seraphim” and “Total eclipse” are often performed in concert separately from the rest of the work. Handel began the work immediately after finishing Messiah. The libretto is by Newburgh Hamilton, who based it on Milton’s Samson Agonistes, which in turn is based on the Biblical figure Samson from the Book of Judges. This album is a previously unreleased recording which was made on September 18, 1955, and features legendary vocalists like Ernst Haefliger, Maria Stader, Marga Hoffgen, Kim Borg, Heinz Rehfuss, and Maria Reith.