Monmouth Choral Society will present one of Handel's most glorious but less well-known works, Alexander's Feast, at Mary's Priory Church, Monmouth, at 7.30pm on Saturday (21 November). The conductor will be Steven Kings, the choir's director of music, with the Regency Sinfonia and soloists Sian Winstanley, soprano, Rhys Batt, tenor and William Drakett, baritone.

The libretto is based on John Dryden's ode of the same name,written in 1697. It describes a banquet held by Alexander the Great to celebrate his conquest in battle of the Persian King Darius and the capture of the city of Persepolis. Despite the war-like setting, Dryden wrote the poem to celebrate the feast day of Saint Cecilia, patron saint of music, and gave the work the sub-title The Power of Music. He cleverly, if implausibly, weaves Cecilia into Alexander's story. Handel himself added the line An Ode to St Cecilia to his title.

Steven Kings describes the work: “In Dryden's poem, Alexander the Great's conquest of Persepolis is celebrated with all the revelry that the god Bacchus can inspire: food and drink, dancing and, of course, music. It is music which, above all, can gladden or quieten the human heart, move it to love, sorrow or revenge, and honour the victorious leader. Handel's setting brings the poetry to life with huge energy and variety from start to finish.”

Handel was born in Germany in 1685 and spent much of his early life in Italy. He settled in London in 1712, where he initially wrote a series of operas in the Italian style. As an oratorio in English and without the need for elaborate staging, Alexander's Feat, composed in 1736, broke away from that world and firmly into the English choral tradition. The work was performed a total of 25 times during Handel's lifetime, making it one of the most frequently performed oratorios in his career. Its great success encouraged Handel to complete the transition from writing Italian operas to English choral works. And this in turn led to his most popular and frequently performed work in the current era, Messiah, which followed in 1736.

Tickets for the concert are £18 (under-18s free) and are available from the choir website, monmouthchoralsociety.co.uk/Alexander or on the door.