Handel’s four anthems were all composed during his London period in the Chapel Royal .

“As pants the hart”, his fifth setting of this Psalm text, was written in March 1738 for performance at a benefit concert for the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket.

Until just before Handel’s first visit to England , the only instrument permitted to accompany the service in the Chapel Royal was the organ. These four works (O sing unto the Lord HWV 249a, I will magnify thee HWV 250b, As pants the hart HWV 2...