Description

Handel and “The Messiah”

Georg was born on a winter day in February 1685, welcomed by his parents Dorothea and Georg, and five siblings from his father’s first marriage. The family lived in Halle, Germany. His father had a prominent position serving a local duke as a barber-surgeon, providing not only grooming services, but also dental extractions, bloodletting, and minor surgeries. This secured a very comfortable living for his family.

Georg’s father was 63 years old when he was born and had definite plans for his son. He wanted him to be a lawyer, studying civil law. However, from an early age, young Georg longed to study music. His father objected, doubting that the pursuit of music would be a good source of income. So definite was his father’s opinion that the boy was not permitted to even own a musical instrument or take part in any musical pursuit.

This did not deter the determined youngster or his supportive mother. Unknown to his father, the child was given a small clavichord which was stealthily placed in the tiny, top room of the house. While the rest of the family slept at night, Georg would creep into the room and quietly play the instrument.

When he was eight years old, he surprised his family and friends at the end of a church meeting when he climbed onto the organ bench and began to play a song. The listeners had no idea that he was so talented. However, his father stood firm as he reminded his son that he needed a career more practical than music. When he was barely eleven, the Duke of Weissenfels heard Georg play the organ, and recognizing the boy’s genius, helped persuade his father to allow his son to study music. He became a pupil in Halle of the composer Friedrich Zachow, learning the principles of keyboard performance and composition from him.

Georg’s father died shortly before his twelfth birthday, but his education was provided for, and in addition to his musical learning and accepting a position as a church organist, he enrolled as a law student at the University of Halle. Before this training was completed, the allure of a musical career led him to Hamburg where greater musical opportunities were available. He played several instruments in an orchestra and began to compose music in earnest.

We know this child prodigy today as Georg Frederic Handel. By the age of eighteen, he had composed his first opera. After working as a musician and composer for several royal courts in Europe, he moved to England, where he lived for most of his life. As the popularity of Italian operas, which he had been writing, began to decrease, Handel turned his attention to writing oratorios. In July of 1741, he received the text for the oratorio from Charles Jennens, with the understanding that it would be performed for Easter the following year. Charles Jennens wrote to a friend that he hoped Handel would lay out his whole genius and skill to make it his best composition yet.

Jennen’s text was a narrative in three parts: the first prophesied the birth of Jesus Christ; the second told of the Savior’s sacrifice for humankind, and the final section heralded the Lord’s resurrection. Handel set to work and poured his soul into composing the 259-page oratorio in 24 days in August and September of 1741. It was said that he locked himself in a room and began writing in a burst of inspiration, going for long periods without food or sleep.

“The Messiah” was first performed in the Musick Hall in Dublin on April 13, 1742. Seven hundred people attended the premiere. The ladies were asked to not wear their hooped skirts to make more seating in the room. The Dublin News-Letter described the oratorio as “… far surpassing anything of that nature which has been performed in this or any other kingdom.” Handel donated the proceeds of one of the concerts to three charities, including 142 people who had their debts paid and were released from debtor’s prison.

In March of 1743, “The Messiah” premiered in London, with equally positive reviews. It became the custom for audiences to stand for the “Hallelujah” chorus. One story claimed that King George II was in attendance and was so moved by the music that he stood up – and if the king stood, then everyone else in the room were obliged to stand as well. There is no fact checker to prove if the king attended one of the performances or not, but there is documentation that many audience members were so moved that they spontaneously stood. Whether royal example, religious devotion, repeated ritual, or wonderful musicality is the cause, audiences continue to stand during this song today.

It is clear that Handel himself knew the Hallelujah chorus was exceptional. After completing the work, the story goes that he exclaimed, “I did think I saw heaven open, and saw the very face of God.” At the end of his manuscript, Handel wrote the letters “SDG”— Soli Deo Gloria – “To God alone the glory.”

“The Messiah,” the world’s most famous musical oratorio, is performed every holiday season by hundreds, if not thousands, of amateur and professional groups around the world. It is no wonder that audiences all over the world are moved to stand in worshipful praise as they hear the chorus of Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. And He shall reign forever and ever. King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Hallelujah!