Messiah
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

THE STORY

After emigrating from Germany to England, George Frideric Handel achieved immense success with operas in Italian. When the popularity of Italian opera waned, he transitioned to the oratorio—a genre that featured singers and an orchestra and expounded on sacred or mythological themes, written for concert performance rather than dramatic presentation.

Handel had been the first composer to gain success with oratorios sung in English; for Messiah he used a text compiled from early English translations of the Bible. The oratorio premiered in April 1742, in Dublin, as a benefit performance for charity hospitals and indebted prisoners.

The piece’s subject matter makes the work appropriate to Easter, and no evidence suggests Handel thought of it as a Christmas event. The holiday tradition originated in the United States on Christmas Day of 1818, when the Handel and Haydn Society, a Boston-based ensemble which continues to operate to this day, gave the first full performance of the oratorio in North America. Ensembles across the country began to follow suit, starting a tradition that is now emulated around the world.

LISTEN FOR

• The skipping rhythmic pattern in the opening instrumental Sinfonia, followed by a faster, sprightlier second section
• The first tenor aria, “Comfort ye, my people”—significantly, beginning the oratorio with a message of comfort and forgiveness
• Spectacular coloratura singing—characterized by virtuosic passages, trills, and a high register—in the soprano aria “Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion,” which serves as the ending of Part 1 in these concerts
• The famous “Hallelujah” Chorus, which ends Part 2 of the oratorio; the story that King George II leapt to his feet when he heard the iconic music for the first time is apocryphal, but audiences often stand for this majestic culmination

INSTRUMENTATION

Two oboes, bassoon, two trumpets, timpani, continuo, strings