George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

No musicians in his family. He became an accomplished organist and harpischordist, studied violin and oboe. He gave up a career in a church to go to Hamburg (center of German opera) for opera. Composed his first opera at age of nineteen.

Handel enjoyed some early success in the field of opera, but it was the oratorio that made him famous. He composed "Messiah" in 1741.

"Messiah" is a great work for orchestra, chorus and soloists. The text is taken from the Bible and forms a dramatic commentary on the whole prophecy and fullfillment of the redemption of man. It is in three parts: 1) the prophecy and coming of the Messiah, 2) the redemption of mankind through the sacrifice of Jesus, 3) thanksgiving for the ultimate defeat of death through faith in the kingdom of God.

Messiah

Handel composed Messiah in approximately three weeks in August and September 1741. It is an oratorio of arias, recitatives and choruses without the usual narrative of other oratorios. It is more choral than other oratorios--the choir plays a major role in this work. The text is a juxtaposition of passages from both the Old and New Testament as assembled by Charles Jennens, a poet and wealthy patron of the arts. Messiah is in three parts: part one brings various texts concerning Advent and Christmas, revealing the expectation of the birth of the Saviour, and his actual coming; part two deals with His Passion, not directly as in Bach's St. Matthew Passion, but in a contemplative kind of way, ending with the triumphant Resurrection, and the Hallelujah chorus; part three deals with the resurrection and extends it to all mankind, ending with the Amen chorus.

The premiere of Messiah took place in Dublin on April 13, 1742. Messiah was a hit from that first performance in Dublin (actually from a public rehearsal on April 9, 1974). Messiah was written for a charity and the performers in the premiere performed for free. The audience numbered 700 in a hall planned for 600. Messiah was not as successful in London performances until 1749 when Handel organised a concert for the Floundling Hospital, a hospital for desserted young children. Handel conducted performances of Messiah at Covent Garden in March of 1749 and years later after he began going blind. He conducted three performances there in the year of his death in 1759.

Handel rarely performed Messiah in the same way twice. He made changes at almost every new performance to suit a new singer. His autograph of the Dublin Messiah is then but one version in a series of revisions. In performances today you are likely to hear some from each of the three parts mixed and matched to the conductor's own preferences. One thing we might find strange about the original versions is that all the choral parts were sung by male singers, with boy choristers singing the soprano parts and male altos or counter-tenors sing the alto parts. Following the precedent of Italian opera, Handel wrote two kinds of recitative, secco and accompanied, and used da capo arias.