During the 1740s Handel composed more accompanied recitatives for his première productions than at any other time in his career (see Table 13.1). With the sole exception of ‘Miratela che arriva’ in Act III, scene 8, of Imeneo – composed in 1738 but not performed until 1740 – all these accompanied recitatives were settings of English texts: there is no accompanied recitative in his last Italian opera, Deidamia (1741). This of course reflects the composer's abandonment of Italian-language works during this period. It is true that, for the benefit of Italian singers who were unable to sing comfortably in English, Handel inserted a few Italian-language accompanied recitatives into his English-language works, but these insertions appeared only in revivals. For example, during preparations for the revival of L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato in 1741 he composed the new accompanied recitatives ‘Alte montagne nel cui steril grembo’ and ‘L'insaziabil’ fantasia’ for the mezzo-soprano castrato Giovanni Battista Andreoni.

In the twelve years between 1740 and 1752 Handel included accompanied recitative in twelve oratorios, four unacted dramas, one ode, one anthem, one setting of the Te Deum, one opera and one set of incidental music for a play. During these years he also continued to experiment with structure in relation to accompanied recitatives, with notable examples occurring in Hercules (Act III, scene 3: Dejanira's ‘mad’ scene), in Semele (Act III, scene 7: the scene of Semele's death), in L'Allegro (especially the extensive section beginning with Il Penseroso's air ‘Come, and trip it as you go’ and ending with the chorus ‘Join with thee’) and in several other scenes in oratorio (such as the first scene of Belshazzar).

It seems that Handel had more freedom to include accompanied recitative in his English-language works than in his Italian operas. This was due to several factors, ranging from the composer's increased use of accompanied recitative in conjunction with choruses and descriptive orchestral music, the lack of staging and acting (which made the exit aria redundant and the need to include representative music more likely) and the supernatural nature of many of the oratorio (and other English-language) librettos. Indeed, between 1735 and 1745 Handel composed a variety of English vocal works that included substantial numbers of accompanied recitatives, for instance: L'Allegro (ten), Messiah (nine), Samson (eight), Semele (twelve), Joseph and his Brethren (nine), Hercules (nine) and Belshazzar (eleven).