George Frideric Handel’s anthem “Blessed are they that consider the poor” was first performed in 1749 at a benefit concert for the Foundling Hospital orphanage and has since been known by this name. The vocal texts of the original four movements are taken from the Old and New Testaments (Book of Psalms, Prophets, Epistles of Paul). As is often the case with occasional works, the composer drew on music from earlier compositions in all movements – the fourth chorus, for example, is identical to the “Hallelujah” chorus from the “Messiah”. For a later performance in 1753, Handel substantially expanded the work by three movements and revised parts of the first version. This later version constitutes an independent and arguably more appealing version of the anthem.

This Urtext edition based on the “Halle Handel Edition” offers the first scholarly-critical edition of the musical text of the 1753 version.