Messiah (HWV 56) is an English-language oratorio
composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a
scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the
King James Bible, and from the version of the Psalms
included with the Book of Common Prayer. It was first
performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its
London premiere nearly a year later. After an initially
modest public reception, the oratorio gained in
popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known
and most frequently performe...(+)
Messiah (HWV 56) is an English-language oratorio
composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a
scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the
King James Bible, and from the version of the Psalms
included with the Book of Common Prayer. It was first
performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its
London premiere nearly a year later. After an initially
modest public reception, the oratorio gained in
popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known
and most frequently performed choral works in Western
music.
Handel's reputation in England, where he had lived
since 1712, had been established through his
compositions of Italian opera. He turned to English
oratorio in the 1730s in response to changes in public
taste; Messiah was his sixth work in this genre.
Although its structure resembles that of opera, it is
not in dramatic form; there are no impersonations of
characters and no direct speech. Instead, Jennens's
text is an extended reflection on Jesus Christ as
Messiah. The text begins in Part I with prophecies by
Isaiah and others, and moves to the annunciation to the
shepherds, the only "scene" taken from the Gospels. In
Part II, Handel concentrates on the Passion and ends
with the "Hallelujah" chorus. In Part III he covers the
resurrection of the dead and Christ's glorification in
heaven.
Handel wrote Messiah for modest vocal and instrumental
forces, with optional settings for many of the
individual numbers. In the years after his death, the
work was adapted for performance on a much larger
scale, with giant orchestras and choirs. In other
efforts to update it, its orchestration was revised and
amplified by (among others) Mozart. In the late 20th
and early 21st centuries the trend has been towards
reproducing a greater fidelity to Handel's original
intentions, although "big Messiah" productions continue
to be mounted. A near-complete version was issued on 78
rpm discs in 1928; since then the work has been
recorded many times.
From the gentle falling melody assigned to the opening
words ("Comfort ye") to the sheer ebullience of the
"Hallelujah" chorus and the ornate celebratory
counterpoint that supports the closing "Amen", hardly a
line of text goes by that Handel does not amplify".
Although the text "The people that walked in
darknesss" is taken from a different chapter of Isaiah
(Isaiah 9:2), Handel treats the aria as a continuation
of the accompagnato by similar motifs. The darkness is
illustrated by the bass and the celli in unison,
starting with the seconds of the movement before and
proceeding in uneven steps, carefully marked for
irregular phrasing. On "have seen a great light", the
melody begins to leap, and finally reaches on the word
"light" a long high note which the voice holds, while
the celli continue their movement. The next occurrence
of "darkness" is a broken downward melisma. In the
second verse of the text, the gloom of the beginning is
intensified by similar unsupported figures on "shadow
of death", but once more relieved by "upon them has the
light shined", again with the voice singing
independently. The aria is not da capo, but follows
exactly the two verses from the Old Testament poetry,
where the second verse typically parallels the thought
of the first.
Although originally written for Vocal soloists (2
sopranos, alto, tenor, bass), Chorus, Orchestra and
Harpsichord, I created this arrangement for Bassoon &
Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
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