The list of these works begins with Caldara's "Giuseppe" in 1722.

Metastasio's "Giuseppe riconosciuto" was set by half a dozen composers between 1733 and 1788.
Handel wrote his English oratorio in 1743; G.A.Macfarren's was performed at the Leeds festival of 1877.

Lormian thought it necessary to introduce a love episode into his tragedy, but Alexander Duval, who wrote the book for Mehul's opera, was of the opinion that the diversion only enfeebled the beautiful if austere picture of patriarchal domestic life delineated in the Bible.

He therefore adhered to tradition and created a series of scenes full of beauty, dignity, and pathos, simple and strong in spite of the bombast prevalent in the literary style of the period.

Mehul's music is marked by grandeur, simplicity, lofty sentiment, and consistent severity of manner.