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".
The "Amen" begins again simply in the bass and
continuo. An intricate melody rises in four measures
and one octave. Every other voice, tenor, alto,
soprano, also sings the theme once. Rather
unexpectedly, a solo violin plays the theme, first
unsupported, then assisted by a continuo entrance of
the theme, interrupted by a choral four-part setting
with the theme in the bass. After two more instrumental
measures, a four part-setting develops to imitation and
counterpoint of more and more independent voices,
ending on a rest of a full measure. Finally, Amen is
repeated two more times, Adagio.
A contemporary critic, conditioned by John Brown who
objected to operatic features in oratorios such as
recitatives, long ritornellos, and ornamented vocal
lines, commented on Handel's display of musical
inventiveness and "contrapuntal skill": "The fugue too,
on Amen, is entirely absurd, and without reason: at
most, Amen is only a devout fiat, and ought never,
therefore, to have been frittered, as it is, by endless
divisions on A— and afterwards men." But Handel's first
biographer, John Mainwaring, wrote in 1760 that this
conclusion revealed the composer "rising still higher"
than in "that vast effort of genius, the Hallelujah
chorus". Christopher Hogwood comments: "the entry of
the trumpets marks the final storming of heaven".
Daniel I. Block summarized in 1997: "... in this piece
we see the remarkable confluence of Hebrew theology and
biblical truth, Italian operatic genius, English class,
and German piety".
Although originally written for Vocal soloists (2
sopranos, alto, tenor, bass), Chorus, Orchestra and
Harpsichord, I created this arrangement for 2 Oboes &
Strings (2 Violins, Viola & Cello). |
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