Dixit Dominus is a psalm

Psalms

The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...

 setting by George Friederic Handel (catalogued as HWV 232). It uses the Latin text of Psalm 110

Psalm 110

Psalm 110 is the 110th psalm of the Book of Psalms.-Melchisedek:Psalm 110:4 in the Authorized King James Version reads Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek, which has become traditional in English translations, but the Hebrew contains ambiguities...

 (Vulgate 109), which begins with the words Dixit Dominus ("The Lord Said").

The work was completed in April 1707 while Handel was living in Italy. It is Handel's earliest surviving autograph

Autograph

An autograph is a document transcribed entirely in the handwriting of its author, as opposed to a typeset document or one written by an amanuensis or a copyist; the meaning overlaps with that of the word holograph.Autograph also refers to a person's artistic signature...

. The work was written in the baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 style and is scored for five vocal soloists (SSATB), chorus, strings and continuo. It is most likely that the work was first performed on 16 July 1707 in the Church of Santa Maria in Montesanto

Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria in Montesanto

Santa Maria dei Miracoli and Santa Maria di Montesanto are two churches in Rome.They are located on the Piazza del Popolo, facing the northern gate of the Aurelian Walls, at the entrance of Via del Corso on the square...

, under the patronage of the Colonna family

Colonna family

The Colonna family is an Italian noble family; it was powerful in medieval and Renaissance Rome, supplying one Pope and many other Church and political leaders...

.

The score was published in 1867. A typical performance lasts a little over 30 minutes.

Movements

The work has the following movements

Movement (music)

A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...

:

Movement	Type and Voice	Text (English)	Text (Latin)
1	Chorus	The Lord said unto my Lord: Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy foot-stool.	Dixit Dominus Domino meo: Sede a dextris meis, donec ponam inimicos tuos scabellum pedum tuorum.
2	Aria (Countertenor solo)	The Lord shall send the rod of thy power out of Sion: be thou ruler, even in the midst among thine enemies.	Virgam virtutis tuae emittet Dominus ex Sion: dominare in medio inimicorum tuorum.
3	Aria (Soprano solo)	In the day of thy power shall the people offer thee free-will offerings with an holy worship. The dew of thy birth is of the womb of the morning.	Tecum principatus in die virtutis tuae, in splendoribus sanctis. Ex utero ante luciferum genui te.
4	Chorus	The Lord sware, and will not repent:	Iuravit Dominus et non paenitebit eum:
5	Chorus	Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech.	Tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchisedech.
6	Soloists and Chorus	The Lord upon thy right hand, shall wound even kings in the day of his wrath.	Dominus a dextris tuis, confregit in die irae suae reges.
7	Soloists and Chorus	He shall judge among the heathen: he shall fill the places with the dead bodies: and smite in sunder the heads over diverse countries.	Iudicabit in nationibus: Implebit ruinas, conquassabit capita in terra multorum.
8	Soprano and Chorus	He shall drink of the brook in the way, therefore shall he lift up his head.	De torrente in via bibet, propterea exaltabit caput.
9	Chorus	Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, As it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.	Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto, Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper, et in saecula saeculorum. Amen.