Zadok the Priest

Alongside The King Shall Rejoice, My Heart is Inditing, and Let Thy Hand Be Strengthened, Zadok the Priest is one of Handel's coronation anthems.

[3] The text is a translation of the traditional antiphon, Unxerunt Salomonem,[4] itself derived from the biblical account of the anointing of Solomon by the priest Zadok (1 Kings 1:38-40).

[8] At the coronation itself on 11 October 1727, the choir of Westminster Abbey sang Zadok the Priest in the wrong part of the service; they had earlier entirely forgotten to sing one anthem and another ended "in confusion".

[10] Zadok the Priest is written for SS-AA-T-BB chorus and orchestra (two oboes, two bassoons, three trumpets, timpani, strings with three violin parts rather than the usual two, and continuo), in the key of D major.

The music prepares a surprise in its orchestral introduction through the use of static layering of soft string textures followed by a sudden rousing forte tutti entrance, augmented by three trumpets.