![]() ![]() It is probably the most frequently performed work with chorus and orchestra in Western music. It was occasionally done around the Christmas holidays in Europe in the decades following that first performance, but it was in America that Messiah came to be more closely linked to the holiday season. Immediately popular, Messiahwas initially performed every Easter. He conducted or attended every concert until his death in 1759 and made the Hospital a beneficiary in his will. In 1749, Handel, a noted philanthropist, led the first benefit concert for the Foundling Hospital, Britain’s first home for abandoned and illegitimate babies. Voila! Another Messiahtradition was born and is still observed by some audiences today. It is said, but not proven, that during the “Hallelujah Chorus” performance, King George II, moved by the piece, rose to his feet – the audience mimicked their monarch. It was first performed in London the following year. Thus, a tradition of Messiah proceeds going to charity was born. The famous satirist Jonathan Swift insisted that, if their church choirs were to be used to sing the oratorio, ticket sales had to go to charity. Messiah debuted in April, 1742 in Dublin. There are no props, elaborate costumes or interactions between the characters. He never wrote another Italian opera.Īn oratorio is defined as a large-scale musical work for orchestra and voices, usually in the form of a narrative with a religious theme. His oratorios were tailor made for the English middle class. Poet John Byrom wrote about this partisanship in 1725:īy 1737, he had a physical breakdown (a stroke) which radically changed his creative direction from operas to oratorios. Handel was in direct competition with those who preferred conventional Italian operas by composer Giovanni Bononcini (1670 – 1747). They were designed to serve the London aristocracy who favored his operas. He came to write English oratorios because the three commercial Italian opera companies he had begun in 1719 began to fail. What is not so well known is that Handel took a huge risk creating an English “oratorio” as his salvation from penury (oppressive lack of money). He famously said, “Whether I was in the body or out of my body when I wrote it I know not.” For his text, he followed the libretto (or lyrics) collated by Charles Jennings, said to contain “profound thematic coherence and elevated musical structure.” It is a true masterpiece. It is well known that George Frideric Handel (1685 – 1759) wrote Messiah in 1741 in just 24 days. ![]()
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