Messiah (HWV 56) is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the Coverdale Psalter, the version of the "Psalms" included with the "Book of Common Prayer". It 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, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music. Handel's reputation in England, where he had lived since 1712, had been established through his compositions of Italian opera.
Introduction
Messiah (Handel)
Messiah (Handel) | Introduction
George Frideric Handel George Frideric Handel George Frideric Handel George Frideric Handel, scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens
who wrote the hallelujah chorus from handel messiah
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According to the musicologist Donald Burrows, much of the text is so allusive as to be largely incomprehensible to those ignorant of the biblical accounts. For the benefit of his audiences Jennens printed and issued a pamphlet explaining the reasons for his choices of scriptural selections.
Messiah (Handel) | Synopsis
Allan Kozinn, "The New York Times" music critic, finds "a model marriage of music and text ... From the gentle falling melody assigned to the opening words ("Comfort ye") to the sheer ebullience of the "Hallelujah" chorus and the ornate celebratory counterpoint that supports the closing "Amen", hardly a line of text goes by that Handel does not amplify".
Messiah (Handel) | Overview
He turned to English oratorio in the 1730s in response to changes in public taste; "Messiah" was his sixth work in this genre. Although its structure resembles that of opera, it is not in dramatic form; there are no impersonations of characters and no direct speech. Instead, Jennens's text is an extended reflection on Jesus as the Messiah called Christ. The text begins in Part I with prophecies by Isaiah and others, and moves to the annunciation to the shepherds, the only "scene" taken from the Gospels. In Part II, Handel concentrates on the Passion and ends with the "Hallelujah" chorus.
Messiah (Handel) | Introduction
In an attempt to deflect such sensibilities, in London Handel had avoided the name "Messiah" and presented the work as the "New Sacred Oratorio". As was his custom, Handel rearranged the music to suit his singers. He wrote a new setting of "And lo, the angel of the Lord" for Clive, never used subsequently. He added a tenor song for Beard: "Their sound is gone out", which had appeared in Jennens's original libretto but had not been in the Dublin performances. The custom of standing for the "Hallelujah" chorus originates from a belief that, at the London premiere, King George II did so, which would have obliged all to stand.
Messiah (Handel) | London, 1743–59
The duet runs straight into the chorus "But thanks be to God". The reflective soprano solo "If God be for us" (originally written for alto) quotes Luther's chorale "". It ushers in the D major choral finale: "Worthy is the Lamb", leading to the apocalyptic "Amen" in which, says Hogwood, "the entry of the trumpets marks the final storming of heaven". Handel's first biographer, John Mainwaring, wrote in 1760 that this conclusion revealed the composer "rising still higher" than in "that vast effort of genius, the Hallelujah chorus". Young writes that the "Amen" should, in the manner of Palestrina, "be delivered as though through the aisles and ambulatories of some great church".
Messiah (Handel) | Part III
The libretto by Charles Jennens is drawn from the Bible: mostly from the Old Testament of the King James Bible, but with several psalms taken from the Book of Common Prayer. Regarding the text, Jennens commented: "...the Subject excells every other Subject. The Subject is Messiah ...". "Messiah" differs from Handel's other oratorios in that it does not contain an encompassing narrative, instead offering contemplation on different aspects of the Christian Messiah:
Structure of Handel's Messiah | Oratorio
For the 1754 Foundling Hospital performance Handel added two horns, which join in when the chorus unites towards the end of the number. After the celebratory tone of Christ's reception into heaven, marked by the choir's D major acclamation "Let all the angels of God worship him", the "Whitsun" section proceeds through a series of contrasting moods—serene and pastoral in "How beautiful are the feet", theatrically operatic in "Why do the nations so furiously rage"—towards the Part II culmination of "Hallelujah". This, as Young points out, is not the climactic chorus of the work, although one cannot escape its "contagious enthusiasm".
Messiah (Handel) | Part II
Handel's music for "Messiah" is distinguished from most of his other oratorios by an orchestral restraint—a quality which the musicologist Percy M. Young observes was not adopted by Mozart and other later arrangers of the music. The work begins quietly, with instrumental and solo movements preceding the first appearance of the chorus, whose entry in the low alto register is muted. A particular aspect of Handel's restraint is his limited use of trumpets throughout the work. After their introduction in the Part I chorus "Glory to God", apart from the solo in "The trumpet shall sound" they are heard only in "Hallelujah" and the final chorus "Worthy is the Lamb".
Messiah (Handel) | Overview
Messiah (HWV 56), the English-language oratorio composed by George Frideric Handel in 1741, is structured in three parts, listed here in tables for their musical setting and biblical sources.
Structure of Handel's Messiah | Introduction
The part is concluded by a scene called "God's Triumph" that culminates in the "Hallelujah Chorus". Part III of the oratorio concentrates on Paul's teaching of the and Christ's glorification in heaven.
Messiah Part II | Introduction
If God be for us, who can be against us The scene closes with the assurance "If God be for us, who can be against us". As a contrast to the following choral conclusion of the oratorio, it is sung by the soprano. Towards the end, Handel quotes the characteristic intervals beginning Martin Luther's chorale "Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir" several times, leading into the final chorus.
Messiah Part III | 52
Handel uses a cantus firmus on long repeated notes especially to illustrate God's speech and majesty, such as "King of Kings" in the "Hallelujah chorus".
Messiah Part II | Music
The autograph score's 259 pages show some signs of haste such as blots, scratchings-out, unfilled bars and other uncorrected errors, but according to the music scholar Richard Luckett the number of errors is remarkably small in a document of this length. The original manuscript for "Messiah" is now held in the British Library's music collection. It is scored for 2 trumpets, timpani, 2 oboes, 2 violins, viola, and basso continuo. At the end of his manuscript Handel wrote the letters "SDG"—', "To God alone the glory". This inscription, taken with the speed of composition, has encouraged belief in the apocryphal story that Handel wrote the music in a fervour of divine inspiration in which, as he wrote the "Hallelujah" chorus, "he saw all heaven before him".
Messiah (Handel) | Composition
Handel uses a cantus firmus on long repeated notes especially to illustrate God's speech and majesty, such as "King of Kings" in the Hallelujah chorus.
Messiah Part III | Music
The libretto by Jennens is drawn from the Bible: mostly from the Old Testament of the King James Bible, but with several psalms taken from the Book of Common Prayer. Regarding the text, Jennens commented: "...the Subject excells every other Subject. The Subject is Messiah ...". "Messiah" differs from Handel's other oratorios in that it does not contain an encompassing narrative, instead offering contemplation on different aspects of the Christian Messiah:
Messiah Part I | Messiah, the oratorio
In this section, Mendelssohn quotes the melody of "And he shall reign forever and ever" from the "Hallelujah Chorus" of Handel's "Messiah".
Octet (Mendelssohn) | Structure
Hallelujah Part II closes with the chorus "Hallelujah", in the key of D major with trumpets and timpani. The choir introduces in homophony a characteristic simple motif on the word, playing with the interval of a second, which re-appears throughout the piece. Several lines from the Book of Revelation (, ) are treated differently, as in a motet, but unified by "Hallelujah" as a conclusion or as a countersubject in a fugal section. The line "for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth" is sung by all voices, first in unison, then in imitation with Hallelujah-exclamations interspersed. The second line "The kingdom of this world is become" is sung in a four-part setting like a chorale.
Messiah Part II | 44
In Part III he covers the resurrection of the dead and Christ's glorification in heaven. Handel wrote "Messiah" for modest vocal and instrumental forces, with optional settings for many of the individual numbers. In the years after his death, the work was adapted for performance on a much larger scale, with giant orchestras and choirs. In other efforts to update it, its orchestration was revised and amplified by (among others) Mozart ("Der Messias"). In the late 20th and early 21st centuries the trend has been towards reproducing a greater fidelity to Handel's original intentions, although "big "Messiah"" productions continue to be mounted.
Messiah (Handel) | Introduction
It is a pastiche, reflecting pop, Welsh hymns, country and western, doo-wop, hip hop, Broadway, Greek chorus, and Bob Dylan (in his mumbling, electric guitar and harmonica phase, solo-ed by Idle). "Hail to the Shoe" is sung in the style of Handel's Hallelujah Chorus from the "Messiah" oratorio. The final song is the sing-along "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life", reflecting the British Music Hall tradition, but originally written for the "Life of Brian".
Not the Messiah (He's a Very Naughty Boy) | Production
Since by man came death The text for the chorus "Since by man came death" continues Paul's thoughts, juxtaposing death and resurrection twice. Consequently, Handel twice uses a Grave a cappella setting in A minor with chromatic lines, opposed to an Allegro with orchestra in C major in most simple harmony, switching back and forth between these extremes.
Messiah Part III | 46
It builds from a deceptively light orchestral opening, through a short, unison cantus firmus passage on the words "For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth", to the reappearance of the long-silent trumpets at "And He shall reign for ever and ever". Commentators have noted that the musical line for this third subject is based on "Wachet auf", Philipp Nicolai's popular Lutheran chorale.
Messiah (Handel) | Part II
Handel originally wrote the entire aria for soprano solo in B flat.
Messiah Part I | 20
The libretto by Charles Jennens is entirely drawn from the Bible, mostly from the King James Bible, whereas several psalms are taken from the Book of Common Prayer. The librettist commented: "... the Subject excells every other Subject. The Subject is Messiah ...". "Messiah" differs from Handel's other oratorios by telling no story, instead offering reflections on different aspects of the Christian Messiah. Christopher Hogwood comments:
Messiah Part III | Messiah, the oratorio
In his libretto, Jennens's intention was not to dramatise the life and teachings of Jesus, but to acclaim the "Mystery of Godliness", using a compilation of extracts from the Authorized (King James) Version of the Bible, and from the Psalms included in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. The three-part structure of the work approximates to that of Handel's three-act operas, with the "parts" subdivided by Jennens into "scenes". Each scene is a collection of individual numbers or "movements" which take the form of recitatives, arias and choruses. There are two instrumental numbers, the opening "Sinfony" in the style of a French overture, and the pastoral "Pifa", often called the "pastoral symphony", at the mid-point of Part I.
Messiah (Handel) | Synopsis
Lift up your heads "Lift up your heads" is a line from Psalm 24 (). Since the text has questions ("Who is the King of Glory?") and answers ("He is the King of Glory"), Handel divides the choir in the first section to a high, announcing group (sopranos I and II, alto) and a low, questioning group (alto, tenor, bass).
Messiah Part II | 33
Shaw describes the text as "a meditation of our Lord as Messiah in Christian thought and belief", and despite his reservations on Jennens's character, concedes that the finished wordbook "amounts to little short of a work of genius". There is no evidence that Handel played any active role in the selection or preparation of the text, such as he did in the case of "Saul"; it seems, rather, that he saw no need to make any significant amendment to Jennens's work.
Messiah (Handel) | Libretto
grievously out of place", though he concedes that the four-part choral conclusion is a stroke of genius that combines beauty with dignity.
Messiah (Handel) | Part I
"Messiah" (HWV 56), the English-language oratorio composed by George Frideric Handel in 1741, is structured in three parts. The wordbook (also called libretto or text) was supplied by Charles Jennens. This article covers Part I and describes the relation of the musical setting to the text. Part I begins with the prophecy of the Messiah and his virgin birth by several prophets, namely Isaiah. His birth is still rendered in words by Isaiah, followed by the annunciation to the shepherds as the only scene from a Gospel in the oratorio, and reflections on the Messiah's deeds. Part II covers the Passion, death, resurrection, ascension, and the later spreading of the Gospel.
Messiah Part I | Introduction
The libretto by Charles Jennens is entirely drawn from the Bible, mostly from the King James Bible, whereas several psalms are taken from the Book of Common Prayer. The librettist commented: "... the Subject excells every other Subject. The Subject is Messiah ...". "Messiah" differs from Handel's other oratorios by telling no story, instead offering reflections on different aspects of the Christian Messiah. Christopher Hogwood comments:
Messiah Part II | Messiah, the oratorio
He trusted in God, that He would deliver Him What they say is given to the chorus as a strict fugue in C minor: "He trusted in God, that He would deliver Him, if He delight in Him." Jonathan Keates observes that Handel depicts the mocking, menacing crowd here, comparable to the turbae in Bach's Passions.
Messiah Part II | 28
The last verse also appears in Handel's "Messiah", turned in the third person: "Come unto Him, all ye that labour", in the soprano section of "He shall feed His flock like a shepherd".
Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut, BWV 113 | History and words
In Part I, the Messiah's coming and the virgin birth are predicted by the Old Testament prophets. The annunciation to the shepherds of the birth of the Christ is represented in the words of Luke's gospel. Part II covers Christ's passion and his death, his resurrection and ascension, the first spreading of the gospel through the world, and a definitive statement of God's glory summarised in the "Hallelujah". Part III begins with the promise of redemption, followed by a prediction of the day of judgment and the "general resurrection", ending with the final victory over sin and death and the acclamation of Christ.
Messiah (Handel) | Synopsis
The librettist arranged his compilation in "scenes", each concentrating on a topic.
Structure of Handel's Messiah | Scenes
"Hallelujah!" is a 1992 song from "", a Grammy award winning Reprise Records concept album. The song is a soulful re-interpretation of the "Hallelujah" chorus from "Messiah, "George Frideric Handel's well-known oratorio from 1741. It is performed by a choir of all-star gospel, contemporary Christian, R&B and jazz singers, along with several actors. The song was arranged and produced by Take 6 alumnus Mervyn Warren, and conducted by Quincy Jones. "Handel's Messiah: A Soulful Celebration" won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album in 1992, as well as a Dove Award for Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year.
Hallelujah! (gospel song) | Introduction
After two more instrumental measures, a four-part-setting develops to imitation and counterpoint of more and more independent voices, ending on a rest of a full measure. Finally, Amen is repeated two more times, Adagio. A contemporary critic, conditioned by John Brown who objected to operatic features in oratorios such as recitatives, long ritornellos, and ornamented vocal lines, commented on Handel's display of musical inventiveness and "contrapuntal skill": "The fugue too, on Amen, is entirely absurd, and without reason: at most, Amen is only a devout fiat, and ought never, therefore, to have been frittered, as it is, by endless divisions on A— and afterwards men." But Handel's first biographer, John Mainwaring, wrote in 1760 that this conclusion revealed the composer "rising still higher" than in "that vast effort of genius, the Hallelujah chorus".
Messiah Part III | 53
Handel set his music to a libretto that Charles Jennens had compiled from the Bible (mostly the Old Testament). Jennens commented that: "the Subject excells every other Subject. The Subject is Messiah ...". "Messiah" differs from Handel's other oratorios in that it does not contain an encompassing narrative, instead offering contemplation on different aspects of the Christian Messiah. The libretto follows the liturgical year: Part I corresponding to Advent, Christmas, and the life of Jesus; Part II to Lent, Easter, the Ascension, and Pentecost; and Part III to the end of the church year—dealing with the end of time. The birth and death of Jesus are told in the words of the prophet Isaiah, the most prominent source of the libretto.
Der Messias | Text
"Messiah" (HWV 56), the English-language oratorio composed by George Frideric Handel in 1741, is structured in three parts. This listing covers Part III in a table and comments on individual movements, reflecting the relation of the musical setting to the text. Part I begins with the prophecy of the Messiah and his birth, shows the annunciation to the shepherds as a scene from the Gospel of Luke, and reflects the Messiah's deeds on Earth. Part II covers the Passion, death, resurrection, ascension, and the later spreading of the Gospel. Part III concentrates on Paul's teaching of the and Christ's glorification in heaven.
Messiah Part III | Introduction
But thanks be to God The chorus answers in the same key and tempo "But thanks be to God".
Messiah Part III | 51
Messiah (HWV 56) is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the Coverdale Psalter, the version of the "Psalms" included with the "Book of Common Prayer". It 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, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music. Handel's reputation in England, where he had lived since 1712, had been established through his compositions of Italian opera.
Messiah (Handel) | Introduction
The final recitative of this section is in D major and heralds the affirmative chorus "Glory to God". The remainder of Part I is largely carried by the soprano in B flat, in what Burrows terms a rare instance of tonal stability. The aria "He shall feed his flock" underwent several transformations by Handel, appearing at different times as a recitative, an alto aria and a duet for alto and soprano before the original soprano version was restored in 1754. The appropriateness of the Italian source material for the setting of the solemn concluding chorus "His yoke is easy" has been questioned by the music scholar Sedley Taylor, who calls it "a piece of word-painting ...
Messiah (Handel) | Part I
In Christian theology, the Messiah is the saviour of humankind. The Messiah who is called Christ, is identified with the person of Jesus, known by his followers as the Christ or "Jesus Christ". Handel's "Messiah" has been described by the early-music scholar Richard Luckett as "a commentary on [Jesus Christ's] Nativity, Passion, Resurrection and Ascension", beginning with God's promises as spoken by the prophets and ending with Christ's glorification in heaven. In contrast with most of Handel's oratorios, the singers in "Messiah" do not assume dramatic roles; there is no single, dominant narrative voice; and very little use is made of quoted speech.
Messiah (Handel) | Synopsis
The numbering of the movements shown here is in accordance with the Novello vocal score (1959), edited by Watkins Shaw, which adapts the numbering earlier devised by Ebenezer Prout. Other editions count the movements slightly differently; the Bärenreiter edition of 1965, for example, does not number all the recitatives and runs from 1 to 47. The division into parts and scenes is based upon the 1743 word-book prepared for the first London performance. The scene headings are given as Burrows summarized the scene headings by Jennens. Scene 1: Isaiah's prophecy of salvation Scene 2: The coming judgment
Messiah (Handel) | Organization and numbering of movements
The statement returns a final time after a rest, marked Adagio, giving the soloist the opportunity to express it in a cadenza. A prestissimo postlude concludes the dramatic scene. Handel rewrote this dramatic scene in London in 1750 for the castrato Gaetano Guadagni, after he had initially set the text as a recitative for bass.
Messiah Part I | 6
The third idea "and he shall reign for ever and ever" starts as a fugue on a theme with bold leaps, reminiscent in sequence of Philipp Nicolai's Lutheran chorale "Wachet auf". As a countersubject, the words "for ever – and ever" assume the rhythm of the Hallelujah-motif. The final acclamation "King of Kings...and Lord of Lords" is sung on one note, energized by repeated calls "Hallelujah" and "for ever – and ever", raised higher and higher (the sopranos and the trumpets part), up to a rest full of tension and a final solemn "Hallelujah".
Messiah Part II | 44
The second Part begins in G minor, a key which, in Hogwood's phrase, brings a mood of "tragic presentiment" to the long sequence of Passion numbers which follows. The declamatory opening chorus "Behold the Lamb of God", in fugal form, is followed by the alto solo "He was despised" in E flat major, the longest single item in the oratorio, in which some phrases are sung unaccompanied to emphasise Christ's abandonment. Luckett records Burney's description of this number as "the highest idea of excellence in pathetic expression of any English song". The subsequent series of mainly short choral movements cover Christ's Passion, Crucifixion, Death and Resurrection, at first in F minor, with a brief F major respite in "All we like sheep".
Messiah (Handel) | Part II
The opening "Sinfony" is composed in E minor for strings, and is Handel's first use in oratorio of the French overture form. Jennens commented that the "Sinfony" contains "passages far unworthy of Handel, but much more unworthy of the Messiah"; Handel's early biographer Charles Burney merely found it "dry and uninteresting". A change of key to E major leads to the first prophecy, delivered by the tenor whose vocal line in the opening recitative "Comfort ye" is entirely independent of the strings accompaniment. The music proceeds through various key changes as the prophecies unfold, culminating in the G major chorus "For unto us a child is born", in which the choral exclamations (which include an ascending fourth in "the Mighty God") are imposed on material drawn from Handel's Italian cantata "Nò, di voi non-vo'fidarmi".
Messiah (Handel) | Part I
Such passages, says the music historian Donald Jay Grout, "reveal Handel the dramatist, the unerring master of dramatic effect". The pastoral interlude that follows begins with the short instrumental movement, the "Pifa", which takes its name from the shepherd-bagpipers, or "pifferari", who played their pipes in the streets of Rome at Christmas time. Handel wrote the movement in both 11-bar and extended 32-bar forms; according to Burrows, either will work in performance. The group of four short recitatives which follow it introduce the soprano soloist—although often the earlier aria "But who may abide" is sung by the soprano in its transposed G minor form.
Messiah (Handel) | Part I
With the English oratorios Handel had the opportunity to mix operatic arias in English for the soloists with large choruses of the type that he used in the Coronation anthems. Jennens provided a text with well-rounded characters and dramatic effects. The collaboration with Jennens was not without tension; Jennens referred in a letter to the "maggots" in Handel's head and complained that Handel wanted to end the work with a chorus of "Hallelujahs" that the librettist did not feel was appropriate as at the end of the piece Israel has been defeated in battle and the King and Crown Prince both killed, whereas the Hallelujahs would be suited to the celebrations at the opening of the work when David has killed Goliath.
Saul (Handel) | Composition and instrumentation
Many admirers of Handel believed that the composer would have made such additions, had the appropriate instruments been available in his day. Shaw argued, largely unheeded, that "the composer may be spared from his friends, and the function of writing or selecting 'additional orchestral accompaniments' exercised with due discretion." One reason for the popularity of huge-scale performances was the ubiquity of amateur choral societies. The conductor Sir Thomas Beecham wrote that for 200 years the chorus was "the national medium of musical utterance" in Britain. However, after the heyday of Victorian choral societies, he noted a "rapid and violent reaction against monumental performances ...
Messiah (Handel) | 19th century
Handel revised the work several times for specific performances. The alternative movements are part of the Bärenreiter edition, the Novello numbers are given in parentheses.
Structure of Handel's Messiah | Alternative movements
By the time Handel composed "Messiah" in London he was already a successful and experienced composer of Italian operas, and had created sacred works based on English texts, such as the 1713 "Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate", and numerous oratorios on English libretti. For "Messiah", Handel used the same musical technique as for those works, namely a structure based on chorus and solo singing. The orchestra scoring is simple: oboes, strings and basso continuo of harpsichord, violoncello, violone and bassoon. Two trumpets and timpani highlight selected movements, in Part I the song of the angels, "Glory to God in the highest", and with timpani the closing movements of both Part II, "Hallelujah", and of Part III, "Worthy is the Lamb".
Structure of Handel's Messiah | Music
He was certainly devoted to Handel's music, having helped to finance the publication of every Handel score since "Rodelinda" in 1725. By 1741, after their collaboration on "Saul", a warm friendship had developed between the two, and Handel was a frequent visitor to the Jennens family estate at Gopsall. Jennens's letter to Holdsworth of 10 July 1741, in which he first mentions "Messiah", suggests that the text was a recent work, probably assembled earlier that summer. As a devout Anglican and believer in scriptural authority, Jennens intended to challenge advocates of Deism, who rejected the doctrine of divine intervention in human affairs.
Messiah (Handel) | Libretto
A near-complete version was issued on 78 rpm discs in 1928; since then the work has been recorded many times.
Messiah (Handel) | Introduction
The opening soprano solo in E major, "I know that my Redeemer liveth" is one of the few numbers in the oratorio that has remained unrevised from its original form. Its simple unison violin accompaniment and its consoling rhythms apparently brought tears to Burney's eyes. It is followed by a quiet chorus that leads to the bass's declamation in D major: "Behold, I tell you a mystery", then the long aria "The trumpet shall sound", marked ' ("dignified but not fast"). Handel originally wrote this in da capo form, but shortened it to dal segno, probably before the first performance.
Messiah (Handel) | Part III
Charles Jennens was born around 1700, into a prosperous landowning family whose lands and properties in Warwickshire and Leicestershire he eventually inherited. His religious and political views—he opposed the Act of Settlement of 1701 which secured the accession to the British throne for the House of Hanover—prevented him from receiving his degree from Balliol College, Oxford, or from pursuing any form of public career. His family's wealth enabled him to live a life of leisure while devoting himself to his literary and musical interests. Although the musicologist Watkins Shaw dismisses Jennens as "a conceited figure of no special ability", Donald Burrows has written: "of Jennens's musical literacy there can be no doubt".
Messiah (Handel) | Libretto
הַלְלוּיָהּ is found in 24 verses in the Book of Psalms (, , , ), but twice in Psalm 150:6. It starts and concludes a number of Psalms. The Greek transliteration ἀλληλούϊα ("allēlouia") appears in the Septuagint version of these Psalms, in and , and four times in , the great song of praise to God for his triumph over the Whore of Babylon. It is this usage that Charles Jennens extracted for the Hallelujah Chorus in Handel's "Messiah". This transliteration is the basis of the alternative English transliteration of "Alleluia" that is also used by Christians.
Hallelujah | In the Bible
Several countersubjects add life and texture, gradually more instruments take part in the development on "for ever – and ever". These words are rendered in short downward runs, but then also in the same rhythm as in the Hallelujah chorus, and finally broadened to Adagio. The "Amen" begins again simply in the bass and continuo. An intricate melody rises in four measures and one octave. Every other voice, tenor, alto, soprano, also sings the theme once. Rather unexpectedly, a solo violin plays the theme, first unsupported, then assisted by a continuo entrance of the theme, interrupted by a choral four-part setting with the theme in the bass.
Messiah Part III | 53
Here, Handel's use of "Nò, di voi non-vo'fidarmi" has Sedley Taylor's unqualified approval: "[Handel] bids the voices enter in solemn canonical sequence, and his chorus ends with a combination of grandeur and depth of feeling such as is at the command of consummate genius only". The sense of desolation returns, in what Hogwood calls the "remote and barbarous" key of B flat minor, for the tenor recitative "All they that see him". The sombre sequence finally ends with the Ascension chorus "Lift up your heads", which Handel initially divides between two choral groups, the altos serving both as the bass line to a soprano choir and the treble line to the tenors and basses.
Messiah (Handel) | Part II
"Messiah" (HWV 56), the English-language oratorio composed by George Frideric Handel in 1741, is structured in three parts. This listing covers Part II in a table and comments on individual movements, reflecting the relation of the musical setting to the text. Part I begins with the prophecy of the Messiah and his birth, shows the annunciation to the shepherds and reflects the Messiah's deeds on earth. Part II covers the Passion in nine movements including the oratorio's longest movement, an air for alto "He was despised", then mentions death, resurrection, ascension, and reflects the spreading of the Gospel and its rejection.
Messiah Part II | Introduction
The most famous collaboration is Jennens' libretto for "Messiah", drawn entirely from the Bible, about 60 per cent from the Old Testament (with occasional small alterations). Musicologist Watkins Shaw describes it as "a meditation of our Lord as Messiah in Christian thought and belief", and which "amounts to little short of a work of genius". Some attribute "Messiah"'s emphasis on the Old Testament – and choice of the Old Testament title "Messiah" – to Jennens' theological beliefs. Jennens was less than wholly approving of the musical setting, writing to Edward Holdsworth: "I shall show you a collection I gave Handel, called "Messiah", which I value highly.
Charles Jennens | Collaboration with Handel
The center of Part III is a sequence of six movements based on a passage from Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians on the resurrection of the dead, a passage that Brahms also chose for "Ein deutsches Requiem".
Structure of Handel's Messiah | Music
Handel's second-most-famous chorus, "See the Conq'ring Hero Comes" was first penned for "Joshua". It was an immensely popular number and Handel soon added it to "Judas Maccabaeus", which had premiered the season before. The chorus is more often thought of in connection with "Judas" because of its relatively greater fame. When a friend said to Handel that in his opinion the composer had written better things than "See the Conq'ring Hero Comes", Handel replied "You will live to see it a greater favourite with the people than my other fine things."
Joshua (Handel) | Introduction
Stewart was a founding member of the American Guild of Organists, and was an honorary lifetime member of the Bohemian Club. In the pages of "The American Organist", Stewart wrote in March 1919 about what he called the "Messiah Fallacy", a critical analysis uncomplimentary to Handel's "Messiah". Stewart described how the music of the "Messiah" was completely incompatible to the sacred nature of the text, except for the "Hallelujah" chorus, of which he was non-committal, preferring Beethoven's "Hallelujah". A flurry of letters to the editor resulted, some critical of Stewart, some supportive of his stance.
Humphrey John Stewart | Introduction
Burrows points out that many of Handel's operas, of comparable length and structure to "Messiah", were composed within similar timescales between theatrical seasons. The effort of writing so much music in so short a time was not unusual for Handel and his contemporaries; Handel commenced his next oratorio, "Samson", within a week of finishing "Messiah", and completed his draft of this new work in a month. In accordance with his frequent practice when writing new works, Handel adapted existing compositions for use in "Messiah", in this case drawing on two recently completed Italian duets and one written twenty years previously.
Messiah (Handel) | Composition
Part III concentrates on Paul's teaching of the and Christ's glorification in heaven. The popular Part I of "Messiah" is sometimes called the "Christmas" portion as it is frequently performed during Advent in concert, sing-along, or as a Scratch Messiah. When performed in this way, it usually concludes with "Hallelujah" (chorus) from Part II as the finale.
Messiah Part I | Introduction
Between 1742 and 1754 he continued to revise and recompose individual movements, sometimes to suit the requirements of particular singers. The first published score of "Messiah" was issued in 1767, eight years after Handel's death, though this was based on relatively early manuscripts and included none of Handel's later revisions.
Messiah (Handel) | Composition
The first half of the book outlines his thesis that Handel and his librettist showed an unattractive and morally questionable anti-Judaism that manifested itself in "triumphalism," a caustic celebration of the defeat of the Jews at the hands of the Romans (in AD 70, with the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple). The second half of the book contains an annotated libretto of "The Messiah," illuminating the many often obscure passages that rely on an extensive understanding of typology as a technique for understanding Christianity and the New Testament.
Michael Marissen | Introduction
At the performance of the revised score, the soloists were John Beard (tenor), Gaetano Guadagni (castrato), and two boy trebles from the Chapel Royal. It is not known why Handel chose to conclude this work with the "Hallelujah" chorus; the subject matter of the anthem is concerned with reward for the charitable, and Handel he may have intended to draw a theological connection with "the Kingdom of this world" becoming "the kingdom of our Lord", as illustrated in Christ's Parable of The Sheep and the Goats (). Equally, Handel may simply have wanted a rousing conclusion to the anthem.
Foundling Hospital Anthem | Composition
Many early recordings of individual choruses and arias from "Messiah" reflect the performance styles then fashionable—large forces, slow tempi and liberal reorchestration. Typical examples are choruses conducted by Sir Henry Wood, recorded in 1926 for Columbia with the 3,500-strong choir and orchestra of the Crystal Palace Handel Festival, and a contemporary rival disc from HMV featuring the Royal Choral Society under Malcolm Sargent, recorded at the Royal Albert Hall. The first near-complete recording of the whole work (with the cuts then customary) was conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1928. It represented an effort by Beecham to "provide an interpretation which, in his opinion, was nearer the composer's intentions", with smaller forces and faster tempi than had become traditional.
Messiah (Handel) | Recordings
By the time Handel composed "Messiah" in London he was already a successful and experienced composer of Italian operas, and had created sacred works based on English texts, such as the 1713 "Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate", and numerous oratorios on English libretti. For "Messiah", Handel used the same musical technique as for those works, namely a structure based on chorus and solo singing. Only two movements in "Messiah" are purely instrumental: the overture (written as "Sinfony" in Handel's autograph) and the Pifa (a pastorale introducing the shepherds in Bethlehem); and only a few movements are a duet or a combination of solo and chorus.
Messiah Part I | Music
When Handel composed "Messiah" in London, he was already a successful and experienced composer of Italian operas. He had started in 1713 to also compose sacred music on English texts, such as the "Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate". He set many oratorios on English libretti. In "Messiah" he used practically the same musical means as for those works, namely a structure based on chorus and solo singing. Only a few movements are a duet or a combination of solo and chorus. The solos are typically a combination of recitative and aria. The arias are called Air or Song, some of them have da capo form, but rarely in a strict sense, repeating a first section after a sometimes contrasting middle section.
Messiah Part III | Music
He has made a fine entertainment of it, though not near so good as he might and ought to have done. I have with great difficulty made him correct some of the grossest faults in the composition; but he retained his overture obstinately, in which there are some passages far unworthy of Handel, but much more unworthy of the "Messiah.""
Charles Jennens | Collaboration with Handel
There were shepherds abiding in the field In a short recitative, the soprano tells "There were shepherds abiding in the field". Handel saved the soprano solo voice until this point in the narration, exactly as Bach had done in his "Christmas Oratorio".
Messiah Part I | 14
Its success encouraged Handel to write two more oratorios ("Deborah" and "Athalia"). All three oratorios were performed to large and appreciative audiences at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford in mid-1733. Undergraduates reportedly sold their furniture to raise the money for the five-shilling tickets.
Messiah (Handel) | Background
Among recordings of older-style performances are Beecham's 1959 recording with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with orchestration commissioned from Sir Eugene Goossens and completed by the English composer Leonard Salzedo, Karl Richter's 1973 version for DG, and David Willcocks's 1995 performance based on Prout's 1902 edition of the score, with a 325-voice choir and 90-piece orchestra.
Messiah (Handel) | Recordings
A chorus in the key of G minor, developed contrapuntally, ends the act as the chorus pray that God will protect David.
Saul (Handel) | Act One
Handel's "Messiah". I doubt if that congregation was ever so serious at a sermon as they were during this performance. In many places, especially several of the choruses, it exceeded my expectation."
John Wesley | Personality and activities
V. There Began to Be Some Disputings - Bass () VI. Now the Cause of This Iniquity - Bass () VII. And the People Were Divided - Chorus ()
Messiah in America | Part Two: Declination & Destruction
Jennens wrote to Holdsworth on 30 August 1745: "[Handel] has made a fine Entertainment of it, though not near so good as he might & ought to have done. I have with great difficulty made him correct some of the grosser faults in the composition ..." Handel directed two performances at Covent Garden in 1745, on 9 and 11 April, and then set the work aside for four years.
Messiah (Handel) | London, 1743–59
In May 1749, the composer George Frederic Handel held a benefit concert in the Hospital chapel to raise funds for the charity, performing his specially composed choral piece, the "Foundling Hospital Anthem". The work included the "Hallelujah" chorus from recently composed oratorio, "Messiah", which had premiered in Dublin in 1742. On 1 May 1750 Handel directed a performance of "Messiah" to mark the presentation of the organ to the chapel. That first performance was a great success and Handel was elected a Governor of the Hospital on the following day. Handel subsequently put on an annual performance of "Messiah" there, which helped to popularise the piece among British audiences.
Foundling Hospital | Music
When Handel composed "Messiah" in London, he was already a successful and experienced composer of Italian operas. He had started in 1713 to also compose sacred music on English texts, such as the "Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate". He set many oratorios on English libretti. In "Messiah" he used practically the same musical means as for those works, namely a structure based on chorus and solo singing. Only a few movements are a duet or a combination of solo and chorus. The solos are typically a combination of recitative and aria. The arias are called Air or Song, some of them have da capo form, but rarely in a strict sense, repeating a first section after a sometimes contrasting middle section.
Messiah Part II | Music
Another KAOS cheer is performing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah".
Mighty Sound of Maryland | Stands
The solos are typically a combination of recitative and aria. The arias are called Airs or Songs, and some of them are in da capo form, but rarely in a strict sense (repeating the first section after a sometimes contrasting middle section). Handel found various ways to use the format freely to convey the meaning of the text. Occasionally verses from different biblical sources are combined into one movement, however more often a coherent text section is set in consecutive movements, for example the first "scene" of the work, the annunciation of Salvation, is set as a sequence of three movements: recitative, aria and chorus.
Messiah Part I | Music
Glory to God Handel waited until the angels' song "Glory to God" to introduce the trumpets. He marked them as "da lontano e un poco piano" (from afar and somewhat quietly) and originally planned to place them offstage (in disparte), to create the effect of distance. In this initial appearance the trumpets appear without the regular timpani. Handel's setting of the famous words is strikingly simple and effective: "Glory to God, glory to God in the highest" is sung by the high voices (soprano, alto and tenor), whereas "and peace on earth" is given to the low voices of tenor and bass in unison, with the bass dropping an octave for "on earth".
Messiah Part I | 17
Handel finds various ways to use the format freely, in order to convey the text. The movements marked "Recitative" (Rec.) are "secco", only accompanied by the basso continuo. Recitatives marked "Accompagnato" (Acc.) are accompanied by additional string instruments. Handel uses four voice parts in both solo and chorus, soprano (S), alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B). Only once is the chorus divided in an upper chorus and a lower chorus, it is SATB otherwise. The orchestra scoring is simple: oboes, strings and basso continuo of harpsichord, violoncello, violone and bassoon. Two trumpets and timpani highlight selected movements, such as the closing movements of Part II, "Hallelujah".
Messiah Part III | Music
It is possible that it was at this performance that royalty first stood for the "Hallelujah" chorus, establishing a long tradition, rather than at the 1743 London premiere of "Messiah" attended by King George II, as is popularly assumed. The concert was a huge success for both Handel and the Hospital. Handel's fundraising concert began a long association with the Foundling Hospital in Bloomsbury. He later donated a pipe organ for the new chapel. In 1750, he conducted a second benefit concert in the chapel; this was a performance of "Messiah", and it was so oversubscribed that Handel had to put on a repeat performance two weeks later.
Foundling Hospital Anthem | First performance
In the 19th century, approaches to Handel in German and English-speaking countries diverged further. In Leipzig in 1856, the musicologist Friedrich Chrysander and the literary historian Georg Gottfried Gervinus founded the Deutsche Händel-Gesellschaft with the aim of publishing authentic editions of all Handel's works. At the same time, performances in Britain and the United States moved away from Handel's performance practice with increasingly grandiose renditions. "Messiah" was presented in New York in 1853 with a chorus of 300 and in Boston in 1865 with more than 600. In the 1860s and 1870s ever larger forces were assembled. Bernard Shaw, in his role as a music critic, commented, "The stale wonderment which the great chorus never fails to elicit has already been exhausted"; he later wrote, "Why, instead of wasting huge sums on the multitudinous dullness of a Handel Festival does not somebody set up a thoroughly rehearsed and exhaustively studied performance of the Messiah in St James's Hall with a chorus of twenty capable artists? Most of us would be glad to hear the work seriously performed once before we die." The employment of huge forces necessitated considerable augmentation of the orchestral parts.
Messiah (Handel) | 19th century
The signal of a fourth has been observed by musicologist Rudolf Steglich as a unifying motif of the oratorio. Handel breaks the beginning of the text up to a stammering "He was despised, – despised and rejected, – rejected of men, ... – despi-sed – rejected", the words interspersed with rests as long as the words, as if exhausted. Soft sighing motifs of the violins, an echo of the singing, drop into these rests. Hogwood interprets the unaccompanied passages as emphasizing "Christ's abandonment". The middle section is also full of dramatic rests, but now the voice is set on a ceaseless agitated pattern of fast dotted notes in the instruments, illustrating the hits of the smiters in text from the third song (), where the words appear in the first person: "He gave his back – to the smiters – ...
Messiah Part II | 23
• Messiah ("Handel") • Requiem ("Mozart") • Christmas Oratorio ("Camille Saint-Saëns") • Die Geburt Christi ("Herzogenberg") • Voices of Light ("Einhorn")
Michele Detwiler | In Concert
There is no convincing evidence that the king was present, or that he attended any subsequent performance of "Messiah"; the first reference to the practice of standing appears in a letter dated 1756, three years prior to Handel's death. London's initially cool reception of "Messiah" led Handel to reduce the season's planned six performances to three, and not to present the work at all in 1744—to the considerable annoyance of Jennens, whose relations with the composer temporarily soured. At Jennens's request, Handel made several changes in the music for the 1745 revival: "Their sound is gone out" became a choral piece, the soprano song "Rejoice greatly" was recomposed in shortened form, and the transpositions for Cibber's voice were restored to their original soprano range.
Messiah (Handel) | London, 1743–59
S. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos" (Princeton, 1995), "Lutheranism, Anti-Judaism, and Bach's St. John Passion: With an Annotated Literal Translation of the Libretto" (Oxford, 1998), "An Introduction to Bach Studies" (Oxford, 1998) with Daniel R. Melamed, and "Bach's Oratorios: The Parallel German-English Texts with Annotations" (Oxford, 2008), and "Bach & God" (Oxford 2016). Marissen's most controversial work began as an essay published in The New York Times on Easter Sunday, 8 April 2007, entitled “Unsettling History of That Joyous ‘Hallelujah’", which is the basis for his recently published monograph entitled, "Tainted Glory in Handel's Messiah: The Unsettling History of the World's Most Beloved Choral Work" (Yale University Press, 2014).
Michael Marissen | Introduction
the places in which he performed the 'Messiah' were mere drawing-rooms when compared with the Albert Hall, the Queen's Hall and the Crystal Palace. In Australia, "The Register" protested at the prospect of performances by "trumpery little church choirs of 20 voices or so". In Germany, "Messiah" was not so often performed as in Britain; when it was given, medium-sized forces were the norm. At the Handel Festival held in 1922 in Handel's native town, Halle, his choral works were given by a choir of 163 and an orchestra of 64. In Britain, innovative broadcasting and recording contributed to reconsideration of Handelian performance.
Messiah (Handel) | 20th century and beyond
XXXI. Verily, Verily, I Say Unto You - Bass () XXXII. Thy Watchmen Shall Lift Up The Voice - Quartet and Chorus (, ) XXXIII. And the Holy One of Israel Must Reign - Chorus (, )
Messiah in America | Part Seven: Meditation & Postlude
The performance took place on 6 March 1789 in the rooms of Count Johann Esterházy, with four soloists and a choir of 12. Mozart's arrangement, with minor amendments from Hiller, was published in 1803, after his death. The musical scholar Moritz Hauptmann described the Mozart additions as "stucco ornaments on a marble temple". Mozart himself was reportedly circumspect about his changes, insisting that any alterations to Handel's score should not be interpreted as an effort to improve the music. Elements of this version later became familiar to British audiences, incorporated into editions of the score by editors including Ebenezer Prout.
Messiah (Handel) | 18th century
The composer George Frideric Handel, born in Halle, Germany in 1685, took up permanent residence in London in 1712, and became a naturalised British subject in 1727. By 1741 his pre-eminence in British music was evident from the honours he had accumulated, including a pension from the court of King George II, the office of Composer of Musick for the Chapel Royal, and—most unusually for a living person—a statue erected in his honour in Vauxhall Gardens. Within a large and varied musical output, Handel was a vigorous champion of Italian opera, which he had introduced to London in 1711 with "Rinaldo".
Messiah (Handel) | Background
Handel finds various ways to use the format freely, in order to convey the text. The movements marked "Recitative" (Rec.) are "secco", only accompanied by the basso continuo. Recitatives marked "Accompagnato" (Acc.) are accompanied by additional string instruments. Handel uses four voice parts in both solo and chorus, soprano (S), alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B). Only once is the chorus divided in an upper chorus and a lower chorus, it is SATB otherwise. The orchestra scoring is simple: oboes, strings and basso continuo of harpsichord, violoncello, violone and bassoon. Two trumpets and timpani highlight selected movements, such as the closing movements of Part II, "Hallelujah".
Messiah Part II | Music
A pinnacle of baroque choral music, (particularly oratorio), may be found in George Frideric Handel's works, notably "Messiah" and "Israel in Egypt". While the modern chorus of hundreds had to await the growth of Choral Societies and his centennial commemoration concert, we find Handel already using a variety of performing forces, from the soloists of the "Chandos Anthems" to larger groups (whose proportions are still quite different from modern orchestra choruses):
Choir | Baroque music
Handel often stresses a word by extended coloraturas, especially in several movements which are a parody of music composed earlier on Italian texts. He uses a cantus firmus on long repeated notes especially to illustrate God's speech and majesty, for example "for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it" in movement 4.
Messiah Part I | Music
Scene 1 tells in an aria and a chorus of the resurrection, based on the Messianic anticipation in the Book of Job () and Paul's teaching in his first epistle to the ().
Messiah Part III | Scene 1
The third act chorus "See, the Conqu'ring Hero Comes!" has been adapted several times. Ludwig van Beethoven composed twelve variations on the for piano and cello in 1796 (WoO 45). The German Advent song "" by Friedrich Heinrich Ranke, published in 1826, uses the tune. In 1884 the Swiss writer Edmond Louis Budry wrote new French words to the tune, creating the Easter hymn "", which was later translated into English as "Thine Be the Glory".
Judas Maccabaeus (Handel) | "See, the Conqu'ring Hero Comes!"