The anthem “How beautiful are the feet”, also known as “Anthem on the Peace”, was first performed by the London Chapel Royal in 1749 at a thanksgiving service marking the Peace of Aachen, which ended the War of the Austrian Succession. At the subsequent festive ceremony Handel’s “Music for the Royal Fireworks” also received its premiere. As was often the case with occasional works, the composer drew on texts and music from earlier compositions for all four movements. Thus the “Anthem on the Peace” contains several parts from the “Messiah”, but also from other anthems and the “Occasional Oratorio”. Handel therefore did not prepare a separate autograph for this work.

This Urtext edition based on the “Halle Handel Edition” offers the first scholarly-critical edition of the musical text of the version probably performed at the premiere, supplemented by two variant movements.