Oratorio could be produced much less expensively than opera: English singers were far less expensive than Italian divas costumes, sets, and stage machinery were not required and oratorio required far less rehearsal time, since they were neither staged nor memorized. Charles Jennens had been an admirer of Handel’s since at least 1725, when he had become a subscriber of Handel’s published operas, purchasing their scores as they were published. The two met in the mid 1730s, and Jennens soon after b

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