Intret in conspectu tuo. Intorno a un mottetto di Giovanni Legrenzi in una fonte autografa di Händel

Intret in conspectu tuo. Intorno a un mottetto di Giovanni Legrenzi in una fonte autografa di Händel
Giovanni Legrenzi’s motet Intret in conspectu tuo is transmitted only in a manuscript copied by George Frideric Handel. An important documentary source (the Venetian journal «Pallade veneta») suggests that the motet was composed for the celebrations of military victories against the Ottomans, promoted by the Venetian Doge in January 1687. Palaeographical evidence, however, suggests that Handel copied the motet in London around 1749. The use of a section of this motet in a chorus of Samson suggests that the composer knew it before 1741, when the oratorio was performed for the first time. This fact raises interesting questions about Handel’s re-utilization of Italian musical sources.