The Symphonies of the operas and oratorios of Handel are extremely varied. Still, the Lully form predominates.[423] This form consists, as is well known, of a first slow movement, grave, pompous, and majestic, followed by a second (quick) movement, full of life, and usually in fugal style, with a return to the slow movement for conclusion. It appears in the _Almira_ of 1705, and Handel uses it with variations in all the most celebrated works of his maturity, such as in the _Messiah_, and _Judas Maccabæus_, and even has recourse to it again in his last work of all, _The Triumph of Time_ (1757), but he does not confine himself entirely to this form alone. The _Symphonia of Roderigo_ (1707) adds to the Lully-like overture a _Balletto_ in the Italian style, a veritable Suite of Dances: Jig, Sarabande, Matelot, Minuet, Bourrée, Minuet, Grand Passacaille. The Overture to _The Triumph of Time_ of 1708 is a brilliant Concerto, where the _Concertino_ and the _Grosso_ converse in a most entertaining and graceful fashion. The Overture to _Il Pastor Fido_, 1712, is a Suite in eight movements. That of _Teseo_, 1713, contains two Largos, each followed by a playful movement of imitation. That of the _Passion after Brockes_, 1716, consists of a single fugued allegro,[424] which is joined to the first chorus by the link of a declamatory solo on the oboe.[425] The Overture to _Acis and Galatea_, 1720, is also a single movement. The Overture to _Giulio Cesare_, 1724, is joined on to the first chorus, which is in the form of the third movement, the Minuet. The Overture to _Atalanta_, 1736, has a charming sprightliness, similar to an instrumental suite for a _fête_, like the Firework Music, of which we shall speak later. The Overture to _Saul_, 1738, is a veritable Concerto for organ and orchestra, and the sonata form is adopted in the first movement.--We see then a very marked effort on the part of Handel, particularly in his youth, to vary the form of his Overture from one work to another. Even when he uses the Lully type of Overture (and he seems to turn towards it more and more in his maturity) he transforms it by the spirit which animates it. He never allows its character to be purely decorative. He introduces therein always expressive and dramatic ideas.[426] If one cannot exactly call the splendid Overture to _Agrippina_, 1709, a Concert Overture of programme music, one cannot deny its dramatic power. The second movement bubbles with life. It is no longer an erudite _divertissement_, a movement foreign to the action, but it has a tragic character, and the response of the fugue is apparent in the severe and slightly restless subject of the first piece. For conclusion the slow movement is recalled by a solo on the oboe, which announces it out in the pathetic manner made so well known in certain _recitatives_ of J. S. Bach. [Illustration: _Adagio_]