The masque Comus, or There in the Blissful Shades (HWV * 44) is a short version of John Milton's Comus, based on a libretto earlier made by John Dalton for composer Thomas Arne's own Comus. The sixty-year-old Handel composed the setting in 1745 for the pleasure of other guests during his summer recuperation at the country seat of the Earl of Gainsborough.Marian Van Til George Frideric Handel: A Music Lover's Guide to His Life Page 209 2007 -"... turned The piece that Handel composed for their entertainment was There in the Blissful Shades (HWV * 44), a short version of Milton's Comus, based on a libretto by John Dalton for composer Thomas Arne (Burrows, Handel, p. 285, n1)." Some of the music was later recycled by Handel, for example as the tenor aria Then will I Jehovah's praise from the Occasional Oratorio.http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk Handel: The Occasional Oratorio - CDA66961/2 libretto notes "The tenor aria 'Then will I Jehovah's praise' also has its origins in another work, the Masque Comus: during his recuperation in the summer of 1745 at the seat of the Earl of Gainsborough Handel contributed a handful of movements to the.."
Recordings Alceste & Comus, Academy of Ancient Music, Christopher Hogwood. (L'Oiseau-Lyre, 1989) Handel at Vauxhall Vol. 2, London Early Opera, Bridget Cunningham (Signum Records, 2017)
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