Messiah (1741)
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

George Frideric Handel was the eldest child of George and Dorothea Handel to survive infancy. However, George senior had produced five children with Anna, his first wife. At the time of the great composer's birth, in the Prussian city of Halle, the child's barber-surgeon father was 63 years old. Nevertheless, there was life in the old boy yet, as two daughters were added to the family. That George Frideric was destined to become one of the world's greatest composers is astonishing, as not only did no other family member show any interest in music but, Dad abominated it.

How, where and when the boy first discovered his calling is still a matter of debate. Evidently, at a very early age he performed before Duke Adolf 1st of Weissenfels, on the organ. The Duke was so impressed that he persuaded Handel's father to allow the boy to study music. By the age of nine he was assistant organist at the Halle Parish Church, studying music with the organist Friedrich Zachow. Zachow had an extensive music library, which he happily shared with Handel, who was soon playing harpsichord, oboe and violin. George senior died when his son was 12. At 17, Handel graduated from Halle University and, although he was Lutheran, became organist of the local Calvinist Cathedral, a post he held for two years.

Although Handel may have visited Berlin earlier, he moved to Hamburg, where he played violin and harpsichord in the Opera Orchestra, when he turned 19. While there, he possibly met Ferdinando de' Medici. In any event, he went to Italy at 21, where he spent four years living mostly in Rome. While there, he composed both operas and sacred music.

The Elector of Saxony appointed Handel as his kapellmeister in 1710. However, the young composer had other ideas. He had just completed his opera "Rinaldo," which he took to London where it enjoyed enormous success and soon, he was the toast of the town. For Queen Anne, he wrote a Te Deum and Jubilate. She was so pleased that she awarded him an income of 200 pounds a year and soon he was living with the famous Anglo-Irish nobleman Lord Burlington.

Fate often takes unexpected turns as it did for Handel when he was 29. Queen Anne, the last of the Stewart monarchs, died without an heir and, guess what … the Elector of Saxony, who had been stood up by Handel, became George I of England!

Smoothing royal feathers can take some time. In Handel's case it took three years but, in 1717 he presented His Majesty with the "Water Music" suite. The King loved it and had it performed several times while he was being rowed by liveried lackeys, up and down the Thames, in the royal barge. King George never learned to speak English and few Englishmen spoke German, so Handel became a royal favorite.

For many years, Handel's operas enjoyed great success. At least 25 of them were written for the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket, London. Then, John Gay wrote "The Beggar's Opera" in 1728. It ran for 62 nights, breaking all records. Clearly, Italian opera was falling out of favor, but Handel had another card up his sleeve: Oratorios. He had been composing them, from time to time, for the past 20 years.

With the success of the oratorio "Alexander's Feast", in 1736, Handel began to transition away from opera into oratorio, which called for neither scenery nor costumes. He had also become friends with a wealthy gentleman by the name of Charles Jennens who, among his other talents, was a librettist.

In 1741, the Duke of Devonshire invited Handel to Dublin, Ireland, to present charity concerts in support of local hospitals. Charles Jennens supplied the libretto and Handel began composing "Messiah" on August 22nd of that year. He completed the score in 24 days and its first performance took place in Dublin on April 13, 1742. The 259-page manuscript score is now in the British Library. Instead of a signature, Handel wrote, "SDG," the abbreviation for "Soli Deo Gloria" which translates to, "To God alone the glory."

"Messiah" is written in three parts. Today we will hear part one, which predicts the coming of Jesus Christ. The performance will conclude with the “Hallelujah” chorus. When the work is performed in its entirety, the Hallelujah chorus comes at the end of part two. Why audiences stand for this chorus is a mystery. If indeed King George II stood up at that point, then the entire audience would be expected to follow suit. It's been suggested that he stood up because his hemorrhoids were giving him hell! Unfortunately, these legends are just that because there is no evidence that His Majesty ever attended a performance of Handel’s masterpiece.

Program Note by Ian Fraser