Except for Water Music, the oratorio of Messiah is Handel’s one universally known work. Fortuitously, the clergyman and writer Charles Jennens lured Handel to the idea of English oratorio. At much the same time, the composer received an offer from William Cavendish, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to participate in the following oratorio performance in Dublin. Jennens offered the libretto, called Messiah and based on the birth and Passion of Christ, to Handel. Handel set to work on the music on August 22, 1741, completing the score on September 12.

Jennens divided his text into three parts, which deals with the Prophecy of the Messiah and its fulfillment. The second part takes us from the Passion to the triumph of the Resurrection. The final part deals with the role of the Messiah in life after death. Handel’s composition consists of a juxtaposition of recitatives, arias, and choruses. Jennens’s libretto draws from a broad spectrum of Old and New Testament sources, but there are no named characters.

The first performance took place at the New Music Hall in Dublin on April 13, 1742. The public received it with massive acclaim, the Dublin Journal proclaiming that “Messiah was allowed by the greatest judges to be the finest Composition of Music that ever was heard.” The following year the triumph was repeated at Convent Gardens when Handel added two more solos. Further, revisions took place in 1745 at the famous Foundling Hospital performances, leaving all subsequent conductors with editorial problems regarding Handel’s final intentions. By the time of the composer’s death in 1759, Messiah had already attained an iconic status that it has never relinquished.

The DPO last performed this work on Wednesday, December 18, 2019, at the Westminster Presbyterian Church with Neal Gittleman conducting.

Composition Description by Brian Robins; edited from All Music Guide.