William B. Bradbury (1816–68) is best remembered for his contributions to church music and music education. Among his choral compositions, the oratorio Esther, the Beautiful Queen was one of the most popular works during the latter half of the nineteenth century. The work is a rich smorgasbord of mid-nineteenth-century musical styles. In this oratorio, Bradbury combines serious religious idioms with the melodic formulas associated with popular song, as well as dances and operatic elements. As was typical for many works of the time, Bradbury provided only partially notated accompaniments or no accompaniments at all, and these have been realized using cue-sized notes. Based on the score published by the Mason Brothers in 1856, this is the first modern critical edition of Esther, the Beautiful Queen.