‘Messiah’: The Story Behind Handel’s Masterpiece

Udiscovermusic ^ | December 21, 2024 | Andrew Mellor

[nickcarraway]

Discover the story behind Handel’s ‘Messiah’ which traces the life of Jesus Christ and is one of the greatest choral works of all time.

Handel composed Messiah, an English language oratorio that traces the story of Jesus Christ, in 1741. Messiah was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere nearly a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity and eventually became one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral pieces in Western music. The ‘Hallelujah’ chorus is one of the most famous pieces of Baroque choral music and the most widely known section of the work. Though it was originally written for Easter, Handel’s eminently singable Messiah has also become a mainstay of the festive season. Celebrate Easter by experiencing the story of Christ through one of the greatest choral works of all time – Handel’s Messiah.

Why the name?

First things first: Messiah or The Messiah? Not wanting to be pedantic, it’s absolutely the first – Messiah – without the definite article. That’s how Handel named this masterpiece for chorus, orchestra and vocal soloists, and the ‘floating’, abstract nature of the title says a thing or two about Handel’s equally floating, abstract concept. Messiah didn’t have anything like the kind of plot Handel’s audiences were used to in his operas or even his biblical oratorios. It pretty much coined a new genre – part German Passion, part English church anthem, part Italian opera. And for Handel, all that ambiguity proved rather convenient …

Need to know

Messiah was born when Handel’s experimental nature was confronted with the fickle, changing tastes of London audiences and the politics of the English church. Italian opera was losing popularity fast, but the public still loved a good biblical story. The Bishop of London had forbidden performances of works with religious overtones on London stages so Handel decided to write a work for concert performance in a church.

Handel deliberately kept the dramatic content of his Messiah understated – it was in church after all. He created a piece based on three concepts: the story of the nativity and its prophecy; that of the crucifixion and redemption of mankind; and a commentary on the Christian soul and its victory over death. In each of these three parts, the chorus is absolutely at the heart of the work, complemented by four vocal soloists and an orchestra.

Those forces deliver some of Handel’s most heart-stopping music – gobsmackingly dramatic and effective, profoundly touching and spiritual. He used all his old tricks and learned some new (pretty good) ones too.

Handel composed Messiah in just 24 days without getting much sleep and or eating much food. While writing the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus Handel’s servant discovered him with tears in his eyes, and he exclaimed, “I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself seated on His throne, with His company of Angels.”

Where have I heard it before?

You must have heard the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus, right? That’s the piece that ends Part II (the crucifixion/redemption chapter of Messiah) but it pops up everywhere from The X Factor to Bridget Jones’s Diary and Dumb And Dumber.

Handel: Messiah, HWV 56 / Pt. 2: XLII. "Hallelujah"

Click to load video You might also have heard bits of Handel’s Messiah ringing out from churches, concert halls or radios around Easter and Christmas, particularly the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus and ‘For Unto Us A Child Is Born’. Performing the piece around Yuletide became a national obsession in Britain in the Victorian era – although it actually contains more references to Easter than Christmas – and that obsession has never quite abated.

Can I play it?

You can almost certainly sing it! Amateur choirs and choral societies all over the world perform Handel’s Messiah at Easter and Christmas, sometimes with the help of professional orchestras and sometimes on a “scratch” basis, where you can turn up in the morning and sing the piece in the evening even if you’ve never opened the score before. Instrumental players tend to roll their eyes cynically when Messiah comes around each year, but if you’ve got some instrumental skills, it’s worth giving Messiah another go.

Watch Trevor Pinnock’s videoblog series on Handel’s Messiah

Trevor Pinnock explores Handel’s Messiah in his videoblog series ‘My Baroque’ and observes that “the music is as alive today as it was in 1742.” In this episode, ‘Work Of Faith And Drama’, he describes how, over the years, his own feeling about Messiah has changed. He first performed Messiah very much as a monumental religious work, and of course, it is deeply religious, but he now realizes so much more about the dramatic qualities.

Recommended Recording

Trevor Pinnock’s 1988 recording of Handel’s Messiah with the English Concert and Choir is one of the finest versions available to offer authentic instruments and lively, embellished singing that is idiomatic to the Baroque period. The soloists are soprano Arleen Augér, contralto Anne Sofie von Otter, countertenor Michael Chance, tenor Howard Crook, and bass John Tomlinson. BBC Music Magazine described Trevor Pinnock’s recording of Handel’s Messiah as, “One of the freshest and most exciting Messiahs on CD reconciling ‘authentic’ practice with the work’s undoubted scope for grandeur. Superb soloists.”

[nickcarraway]

Handel: Messiah, HWV 56 / Pt. 2: XLII. "Hallelujah"

[SunkenCiv]

On Saturday, October 30, 2010, the Opera Company of Philadelphia brought together over 650 choristers from 28 participating organizations to perform one of the Knight Foundation's "Random Acts of Culture" at Macy's in Center City Philadelphia. Accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ - the world's largest pipe organ - the OCP Chorus and throngs of singers from the community infiltrated the store as shoppers, and burst into a pop-up rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah" at 12 noon, to the delight of surprised shoppers. This event is one of 1,000 "Random Acts of Culture" to be funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation over the next three years.

Opera Company of Philadelphia "Hallelujah!" Random Act of Culture | 5:58
Opera Philadelphia | 11.3K subscribers | 9,638,168 views | November 1, 2010

[freepertoo]

One of my very first dates was to see Messiah at Wolf Trap in Maryland. I will never, ever forget the awe of it, and I, too, had tears in my eyes when everyone stood up at the Hallelujah Chorus.

[kosciusko51]

BFL

[556x45]

Handel wrote the music but Charles Jennings wrote the words.

[SunkenCiv]

An early `80's performance by The Roches of the Handel classic.

"The Hallelujah Chorus" performed by The Roches | 3:41
boomer647 | 1K subscribers | 111,436 views | January 4, 2017

[Romulus]

Jennings would be the first to say that selected them; he certainly didn’t write them.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

Thanks for posting this. One of the most inspiring musical works of all time.

[nickcarraway]

YW. Yes, it is.

[Track9]

Love it! Thanks

[healy61]

In 9th grade (1966) we had a Christmas assembly just before break. Several Christmas songs were sung ending with a recording of the Hallelujah Chorus. Mrs. Trebilcock, very proper in her own person, stood alone for the chorus. All the students caught on immediately and stood. Our choir performed it in our senior year with help of many college music majors. I can still sing my part.

[BenLurkin]

Q. Do you know why everyone stands for the Hallelujah Chorus?

A. They’re digging for their car keys.

[mairdie]

Stained Glass - Hallelujah Chorus - Congregational Stained Glass Windows - Handel
https://youtu.be/RRmDO-qt8z4

Castle - Hallelujah Chorus - Handel
https://youtu.be/BGSRhkHpmZ8

[mairdie]

>>I can still sing my part.

Me, too. Always infinitely grateful to be a soprano and not have to do harmony. So impressed by the rest of the voice parts. Actually awestruck.

[chajin]

The First Great Awakening ruined the taste for over the top opera, which is what Handel excelled at. Like Rembrandt when the tulip bulb mania crashed 100 years earlier, Handel suddenly found himself with a pile of operas with no place to sell them, and lots of bills with no one to pay them. So he switched to oratorios which he could sell to all the awakened believers, sometimes using music from his operas--which wasn't stealing, because they were his operas--and he got his bills paid and pleased God simultaneously.

As a mid-level musicologist, I have heard the Hallelujah Chorus a thousand times, and I recognize its greatness, but it's lost its sheen for me. It is the finale, Worthy is the Lamb, that brings me to tears of love for my Lord.

[freepertoo]

What a wonderful memory.

[daniel1212]

A gospel message production exemplar. Glory to God in the highest.

[duckbutt]

In 9th grade (1966) we had a Christmas assembly just before break. Several Christmas songs were sung ending with a recording of the Hallelujah Chorus.

---

same for me —only I was a sophmore in HS and won a spot in the choir. Mr. Byers was the choir director. An absolute dictator who had more than one student crying. But we performed beyond our expectations. We started practicing Messiah in the summer before starting school and sang it at a special Christmas assembly for the students during the day and sang it two nights for the local community. What a rush! Yes, I always stop and listen when I hear it and when I see these “flash mobs” on videos, I sing along at the top of my lungs to the annoyance of my hubby. I don’t sing as much now and voice is rusty :-)

But....truly, truly a God-inspired piece of music. Near perfection.

[Arlis]

One piece of music we now sing on earth that I think we will be singing forever!

[Does so]

“It is the finale...”
.
.
For me, it’s,

“I know my Saviour liveth”.