Handel's two oratorios of 1744 were Hercules, based on a classical story, and Belshazzar, a scintillating work about the fall of Babylon. Musically rich, dramatically riveting, they are both masterpieces of the genre that demonstrate his thorough commitment to, and mastery of, the new form. They were not huge successes, however. They were meant to appeal to opera-goers, who understandably missed the spectacle and glitz of their Italian operas. However, neither was anything like an opera, and rather than embrace a new genre that could speak to them in a non dramatic context as opera could, they rejected it. They missed the virtuosic castrati of the opera, the costumes, scenery, and elaborate special effects. Instead of confirmation that the English oratorio was here to stay, Handel experienced a severe financial disaster, and he never again attempted to put on an entire season of oratorio concerts.

The libretto to Belshazzar was by Charles Jennens, a friend of Handel, a learned man, and an amateur musician. He also wrote the librettos for Saul, the Messiah, and others. His texts inspired Handel, and were very sympathetic to the strengths of the English oratorio. However, he also had his own agenda. Jennens was a Jacobite, an English political faction that sought to restore the Roman Catholic Stuarts to the throne of England. They viewed the Hanoverian George I as a usurper, and thought the Hanoverian government corrupt and immoral. Jennens used as his sources for his text the Book of Daniel, the Greek historian Heroditus, and "The Education of Cyrus" by Xenophon. He also worked in passages from "The idea of a Patriot King", a text sympathetic to the Jacobite cause written in 1738, in an attempt to create the impression of an allegory. The result was a text that was far too unwieldy for Handel to set dramatically, and that took far too long to write. Handel refused to wait for the finished product, and began setting it as soon as the first act was complete. He also took the liberty of cutting textual portions and abbreviating parts of the music in an effort to create a work that was dramatically effective. He complained in a letter to Jennens that, as it stood, the work would take over four hours to perform if left uncut. The positive result of this conflict is, that, Handel having more of a dramatic flair than Jennens, the resultant text is very good. However, Jennens and Handel were both strong minded men. Jennens was committed to his idea, and Handel had no patience with diplomacy. The two were barely on speaking terms by the time that they finished. A compromise was reached, however, and Jennens was allowed to publish all of his original text in the livret, which satisfied him that the public would still be able to read the story as he envisioned it for their time.

One of the strengths in Belshazzar, and in Handel's oratorio writing, is his ability to characterize his choruses, or masses of people. The Jews, Babylonians, and Persian soldiers all have music specific to them, and turn into active characters influencing the drama. The drama that is begun in dramatic recitatives and reflected arias of the main actors of the story is complemented by dramatic impulses carried through in the choruses. Sequences of contrasting numbers are linked to create units of dramatic momentum.

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