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".
Isaiah wrote in his Songs of the suffering servant in
the fourth song about the Man of Sorrows: "He was
despised, rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and
acquainted with grief" (Isaiah 53:3). Isaiah states in
his songs that "the Messiah will play a substitutionary
sacrificial role on behalf of his people". Handel gives
the pitiful description to the alto solo in the longest
movement of the oratorio in terms of duration. It is a
da capo aria, showing two contrasting moods, set in E
flat major in the first section, C minor in the middle
section. The vocal line begins with an ascending fourth
on "he was" and adds another one on "despi-sed", ending
as a sigh. The signal of a fourth has been observed by
musicologist Rudolf Steglich as a unifying motif of the
oratorio. Handel breaks the beginning of the text up to
a stammering "He was despised, – despised and
rejected, – rejected of men, ... – despi-sed –
rejected", the words interspersed with rests as long as
the words, as if exhausted. Soft sighing motifs of the
violins, an echo of the singing, drop into these rests.
Hogwood interprets the unaccompanied passages as
emphasizing "Christ's abandonment". The middle section
is also full of dramatic rests, but now the voice is
set on a ceaseless agitated pattern of fast dotted
notes in the instruments, illustrating the hits of the
smiters in text from the third song (Isaiah 50:6),
where the words appear in the first person: "He gave
his back – to the smiters – ... and His cheeks –
to them – that plucked off the hair. – He hid –
not his face – from shame – and spitting."
Although originally written for Vocal soloists (2
sopranos, alto, tenor, bass), Chorus, Orchestra and
Harpsichord, I created this arrangement for Solo Viola
& Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
SHEET MUSIC