Ouverture
(keine Tempoangabe) – Allegro – Lentement – Allegro

Teil I

Israelitische Männer und Frauen wehklagen über den Tod von Mattathias, Vater des Judas Maccabäus.

CHORUS Israelites
Mourn, ye afflicted children, the remains
of captive Judah, mourn in solemn strains; your sanguine hopes of liberty give over;
your hero, friend, and father is no more.

RECITATIVE Israelitish man
Well may your sorrows, brethren, flow in all the expressive signs of woe: Your softer garments tear, and squalid sackcloth wear, your drooping heads with ashes strew, and with the flowing tear your cheeks bedew.

RECITATIVE Israealitish woman
Daughters, let your distressful cries and loud lament ascend the skies; your tender bosoms beat, and tear, with hands remorseless, your dishevelled hair; for pale and breathless, Mattathias lies, sad emblem of his country’s miseries!

DUETT Israelitish man and woman
From this dread scene, these adverse powers. Ah! whither shall we fly? Oh Solyma! thy boasted towers in smoky ruins lie.

CHORUS Israelites
For Sion lamentation make, with words that weep, and tears that speak.

RECITATIVE Simon
Not vain is all this storm of grief; to vent our sorrows, gives relief. Wretched indeed! But let not Judah’s race their ruin, with desponding arms embrace. Distractful doubt and desperation ill become the chosen nation. Chosen by the great I AM, the Lord of Hosts, who, still the same, we trust, will give attentive ear to the sincerity of prayer.

AIR Israelitish man
Pious orgies, pious airs, decent sorrow, decent prayers, will to the Lord ascend, and move his pity, and regain his love.

CHORUS Israelites
Oh Father,whose Almighty power the heavens, and earth and seas adore; the hearts of Judah, thy delight, in one defensive band unite. And grant a leader bold, and brave, if not to conquer, born to save.

ACCOMPANIED RECITATIVE Simon
I feel, I feel the Deity within, who, the bright Cherubim between, his radiant glory erst displayed; To Isreal’s distressful prayer he hath vouchsafed a gracious ear, and points out Maccabaeus to their aid:
Judas shall set the captive free, and lead us to the victory.

AIR Simon
Arm, arm, ye brave! a noble cause, the cause of Heaven your zeal demands. In defence of your nation, religion, and laws, the Almighty Jehovah will streng-then your hands.

CHORUS Israelites
We come, we come, in bright array, Judah, thy sceptre to obey.

RECITATIVE Judas Maccabaeus
'Tis well, my friends; with transport I behold the spirit of our fathers, famed of old for their exploits in war. Oh, may their fire with active courage you, their sons, inspire: As when the mighty Joshua fought, and those amazing wonders wrought, stood still, obedient to his voice, the sun, till kings he had destroyed, and kingdoms won.

AIR Judas Maccabaeus
Call forth thy powers, my soul, and dare the conflict of unequal war. Great is the glory of the conquering sword, that triumphs in sweet liberty restored. Call forth thy powers, my soul, and dare the conflict of unequal war.

RECITATIVE Israelitish man
To Heaven’s Almighty King we kneel,
for blessings on this exemplary zeal. Bless him, Jehovah, bless him, and once more to thy own Israel liberty restore.

AIR Israelitish man
Oh liberty, thou choicest treasure, seat of virtue, source of pleasure! Life, without thee, knows no blessing, no endearment worth caressing.

AIR Israelitish woman
Come, ever-smiling liberty, and with thee bring thy jocund train. For thee we pant, and sigh for thee, with whom eternal pleasures reign.

AIR
'Tis liberty, dear liberty alone, that gives fresh beauty to the sun; that bids all nature look more gay, and lovely life with pleasure steal away.

DUET Israelitish woman and man
Come, ever-smiling liberty, and with thee bring thy jocund train. For thee we pant, and sigh for thee, with whom eternal pleasures reign.

CHORUS Israelites
Lead on, lead on! Judah disdains the galling load of hostile chains.

RECITATIVE Judas Maccabaeus
So willed my father, now at rest in the eternal mansions of the blest: „Can ye behold", said he, „the miseries, in which the long-insulted Judah lies? Can ye behold their dire distress, and not, at least, attempt redress?" Then , faintly, with expiring breath, „Resolve, my sons, on liberty or death!" We come! oh see, thy sons prepare the rough habiliments of war; with hearts intrepid, and revengeful hands, to execute, oh sire, thy dread commands.

CHORUS Israelites
Disdainful of danger, we’ll rush on the foe, that Thy power, oh Jehovah, all nations may know.

RECITATIVE Judas Maccabaeus
Ambition! if ever honour was thine aim, challenge it here: The glorious cause gives sanction to thy claim.

AIR
No unhallowed desire our beasts shall inspire, nor lust of unbounded power! But peace to obtain: Free peace let us gain, and conquest shall ask no more.

RECITATIVE Israelitish man
Haste we, my brethren, haste we to the field, dependant on the Lord, our strength and shield.

CHORUS Israelites
Hear us, oh Lord, on Thee we call, resolved on conquest, or a glorious fall.