In the summer of 1741, Handel was a guest in Leicestershire at the country residence of his librettist, Charles Jennens. A Handel devotee since acquiring a copy of Rodalinda in 1725, Jennens had by then written texts for several large-scale works, including Saul (1738) and L’Allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato (1740). Their professional relationship was often intense: legend holds that while working on Messiah, Jennens pressed Handel so hard that the composer suffered a partial relapse of his “paralytick disorder.” Yet Jennens remained one of Handel’s strongest supporters. In July 1741, he wrote to a friend that Handel planned no new work for the coming winter but hoped he could persuade him to set “another Scripture Collection I have made for him … The Subject is Messiah.”
Inspired by this challenge, Handel embarked on what was to become one of the most enduring oratorios in Western music. Between August 22 and September 12, he completed a full draft of Messiah in just three weeks. According to one story, upon finishing the “Hallelujah” Chorus, Handel exclaimed, “I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself,” and subsequently reflected, “I think God has visited me.” The famous chorus even reuses material from one of Handel’s earlier operas, where the same tune accompanied a hymn to Bacchus.
Although Messiah was composed in England, its first performance took place in Dublin on April 13, 1742, at a charity concert. Handel, already a celebrated figure in the city, brought with him popular works like L’Allegro, Acis & Galatea, and Esther, and led the premiere of Messiah himself from the harpsichord. Initially, Dublin’s reception was enthusiastic, but London’s audience proved more skeptical: at its Covent Garden debut on March 23, 1743, some critics felt the work’s sacred subject unsuited to a theatre and even labelled it “sacrilegious” or “heretical.” A famous anecdote recounts King George II rising during the “Hallelujah” Chorus (whether from awe or simply numb feet remains debated); the moment became a longstanding tradition.
By 1750, Messiah’s reputation had changed decisively when Handel began offering benefit performances for the Foundling Hospital (a charitable home for abandoned children). On May 1, 1750, a benefit consisting solely of Messiah drew 1,387 ticket buyers for a space seating around 1,000; carriages blocked the street outside. A repeat performance on May 15 sold 599 tickets. From that point, the oratorio’s place in the canon was secure.
There is no fixed “authoritative” version of Messiah. Handel continuously revised the score, adapting movements to different performers and venues. For the Foundling Hospital performances, he rewrote “But who may abide the day of his coming” and “Thou art gone up on high” for the castrato Guadagni. In 1754, he transposed the first of those for a soprano solo. Because of this flexibility, modern conductors often compile hybrid editions in the spirit of Handel’s own adjustments. The size of performing forces likewise varied widely. The 1750 Foundling performance likely used six boy-choristers, twelve to fourteen men, and an orchestra of about thirty. A London theater production might have doubled or tripled those numbers. In 1787, a production advertised an ensemble of “Eight Hundred Performers.” On the Continent, editors such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Adam Hiller produced large-scale arrangements. One of Hiller’s versions used a choir of 259 and an orchestra of over 100. More recently, performances have returned to smaller-scale models closer to Handel’s original conception.
The lack of dramatic characters and conventional narrative sets Messiah apart from Handel’s other oratorios. Jennens selected passages from the Old Testament, Psalms, and the Book of Common Prayer to create a text that reads as a meditation on the Messiah—his prophecy, birth, suffering, resurrection, and glorification—rather than a staged story. According to scholars, Jennens’s goal was theological: to present Christ as the fulfilment of Old Testament promise and affirm orthodox doctrine in a climate of religious debate.
Messiah consists of three parts. Part I addresses the advent and birth of Christ; Part II turns to his passion, resurrection, and first proclamation; and Part III reflects on redemption, final judgment, and eternal triumph. Handel’s inspired and varied approach to the text is evident from the beginning. The oratorio opens with the intensely lyrical tenor arioso, “Comfort ye, my people,” its languid melody perfectly and intimately bringing the words to life as it builds to the energetic aria, “Every valley shall be exalted.” This sense of freedom continues throughout the oratorio, as Handel uses every musical style at his disposal to transform scripture into overt drama. Often, he blends various forms in creative ways, avoiding strict alternation between recitative (a speech-like song) and aria (a song), and moving freely into choral punctuations. In Part I, Scene 4—in which a Pifa, or pastoral serenade, sets the stage for the angels as they announce Christ’s birth to the shepherds—Handel alternates typical secco recitative (unaccompanied except for the chords that serve as punctuation) with soaring ariosos (a style in between recitative and aria), in which the orchestra mimics the fluttering of wings. The ensuing chorus, “Glory to God in the highest,” plays the part of the “multitude of the heavenly host praising God.”
From its miraculous composition to its evolving performance history, from its original intimacy to its eventual enormous scale, Messiah has become a cornerstone of Western choral literature. Its union of theological depth and radiant musical imagination invites listeners into an experience both profoundly personal and majestically communal.
