Esther

In the Old Testament, the wife of the Persian king Ahasuerus (Xerxes I), who prevented the extermination of her people by the king's vizier Haman. Their deliverance is celebrated in the Jewish festival of Purim. Her story is told in the Old Testament book of Esther.

Esther

Oratorio by Handel. It was first performed as a masque entitled Haman and Mordecai (libretto probably by Pope and Arbuthnot, after Racine) at Canons, near Edgware, London, England, about 1720. It was subsequently recast, with additional words by Samuel Humphreys, and performed as an oratorio in London, at first privately to celebrate Handel's birthday and then at King's Theatre, Haymarket, on 2 May 1732.

The oratorio of the same title by Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf (libretto by S I Pintus) was first performed in Vienna, Austria, on 21 December 1773. During the interval of a revival of the work, on 16 December 1785, Mozart's piano concerto no. 22, K482, received its first performance.