A sign on the wall. This expression, referring to a threatening warning, originated from a passage from the Bible (Daniel 5: 5). Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin are the words written by an invisible hand on the wall, when the Babylonian king Belshazzar drank wine from the stolen cups of the holy Jewish temple. The days of Belshazzar and his empire were numbered. Handel impressively set this dramatic
… scene to music in his oratorio Belshazzar. They are only a few sizes, but they are very effective. Belshazzar was composed in 1744 on a good text by Carl Jennens, who also wrote the words for Saul and Messiah. Conductor Peter Neumann made a particularly beautiful recording of the oratorio together with the Kölner Kammerchor and the Collegium Cartusianum. All soloists deliver an excellent performance. The tenor Markus Brutscher and the soprano Simone Kermes in particular make a big impression. (CP) _more
