The Beauty of "The Messiah"
I am listening to Handel’s Messiah and enjoying the magnitude of it. How God blessed when He gave this supreme gift to mankind to enjoy. Here is a short history. If you want to read a more extensive and wonder-giving account go to this site. http://www.messiahcd.com/Information/about_The_Messiah/about_the_messiah.html
The Beauty of The Messiah
He had known what it was to be popular! For 30 years he had entertained Lords and Ladies with his operas. But those days seemed long past. Creditors were at his door. He was depressed. He could not sleep and he was plagued by rheumatism. If he did not come up with a musical success soon the 56 year old composer feared he would finish out his days in a London debtors prison.
But, two letters arrived that fateful summer of 1741 that would change all that for George Frideric Handel. The first letter was an invitation from the Duke of Devonshire inviting him to the Irish Capital, Dublin, to produce a series of benefit concerts "For the relief of the prisoners in the several gaols (jails), and for the support of Mercer's Hospital in Stephen Street, and of the Charitable Infirmary on the Inn's Quay." Handel thought the change might do him good and besides, he was eager to be out from under the persistent dun of his creditors. He accepted the invitation.
Shortly thereafter a second letter arrived from a wealthy but somewhat eccentric English Land owner named Charles Jennens. He quickly opened the let-ter. Jennens had written some lyrics for him in the past. To his amazement the letter was a compilation of Old Testament and New Testament scripture passages.
George read the words again and again. He was greatly moved and felt impressed to put them to music in oratorio form. An oratorio is a sort of spiritual opera. Handel locked himself in his study and within 7 days he had completed Part I -- the Christmas section or the oratorio. He presses on to Part II that focused on the Redemption and 9 days later that was finished. Then, in less than a week he completed Part III - The Resurrection and Future Reign of Christ portion.
He took his new oratorio to Dublin with him. The new oration first came to the public's attention on April 8th, 1742 at the public rehearsal. The first official presentation was on April 13th. It was a tremendous success. Handel lived for another 17 years and lead many performances of this great work. In fact, he conducted the last one only eight days before his death. Charles Burney, 18th century music historian, remarked that Handel's Messiah "fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and fostered the orphan."
Sir Newman Flower, one of Handel’s many biographers, summed up the consensus of history: Considering the immensity of the world, and the short time involved, it will remain, perhaps forever, the greatest feat in the whole history of music composition.” Handel’s title for the commissioned work was simply Messiah.
Handel never left his house for those three weeks. A friend who visited him as he composed found him sobbing with intense emotions. Later, as Handel groped for words to describe what he had experienced, he quoted St. Paul, saying “whether I was in the body or out of my body when I wrote it I know not”
One final note. Contrary to what a present-day music lover might think, "The Messiah" was originally associated with Easter rather than Christmas.
Applications:
• How often Handel must have felt like giving up! What fits of depression his many failures would have caused an average composer. To a man who knew he had but one great talent, seeing that talent go unrewarded so often must have been profoundly perplexing. And to see other London composers, whom he knew to have less genius, enjoying the success that eluded him for so many years—must have driven Handel to extreme exasperation. Yet through all the frustrating years before his final successes, Handel simply refused to quit.
•And, as if blows inflicted by his competitors were not painful enough, Handel suffered from an onslaught of attacks within his own camp. For a devoted Christian to have come under censure by the principal church of his time must have been bitterly distressing. Even after Messiah was be-coming well known, as great a religious figure as John Newton (composer of the hymn “Amazing Grace”), preached every Sunday for over a year against the “secular” performances of this biblical oratorio. Yet Handel did not respond by counterattacking his Anglican brothers. Though he remained a Lutheran, he “would often speak of it as one of the great felicities of his life that he was settled in a country where no man suffers any molestation or inconvenience on account of his religious principles.”
The Beauty of The Messiah
He had known what it was to be popular! For 30 years he had entertained Lords and Ladies with his operas. But those days seemed long past. Creditors were at his door. He was depressed. He could not sleep and he was plagued by rheumatism. If he did not come up with a musical success soon the 56 year old composer feared he would finish out his days in a London debtors prison.
But, two letters arrived that fateful summer of 1741 that would change all that for George Frideric Handel. The first letter was an invitation from the Duke of Devonshire inviting him to the Irish Capital, Dublin, to produce a series of benefit concerts "For the relief of the prisoners in the several gaols (jails), and for the support of Mercer's Hospital in Stephen Street, and of the Charitable Infirmary on the Inn's Quay." Handel thought the change might do him good and besides, he was eager to be out from under the persistent dun of his creditors. He accepted the invitation.
Shortly thereafter a second letter arrived from a wealthy but somewhat eccentric English Land owner named Charles Jennens. He quickly opened the let-ter. Jennens had written some lyrics for him in the past. To his amazement the letter was a compilation of Old Testament and New Testament scripture passages.
George read the words again and again. He was greatly moved and felt impressed to put them to music in oratorio form. An oratorio is a sort of spiritual opera. Handel locked himself in his study and within 7 days he had completed Part I -- the Christmas section or the oratorio. He presses on to Part II that focused on the Redemption and 9 days later that was finished. Then, in less than a week he completed Part III - The Resurrection and Future Reign of Christ portion.
He took his new oratorio to Dublin with him. The new oration first came to the public's attention on April 8th, 1742 at the public rehearsal. The first official presentation was on April 13th. It was a tremendous success. Handel lived for another 17 years and lead many performances of this great work. In fact, he conducted the last one only eight days before his death. Charles Burney, 18th century music historian, remarked that Handel's Messiah "fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and fostered the orphan."
Sir Newman Flower, one of Handel’s many biographers, summed up the consensus of history: Considering the immensity of the world, and the short time involved, it will remain, perhaps forever, the greatest feat in the whole history of music composition.” Handel’s title for the commissioned work was simply Messiah.
Handel never left his house for those three weeks. A friend who visited him as he composed found him sobbing with intense emotions. Later, as Handel groped for words to describe what he had experienced, he quoted St. Paul, saying “whether I was in the body or out of my body when I wrote it I know not”
One final note. Contrary to what a present-day music lover might think, "The Messiah" was originally associated with Easter rather than Christmas.
Applications:
• How often Handel must have felt like giving up! What fits of depression his many failures would have caused an average composer. To a man who knew he had but one great talent, seeing that talent go unrewarded so often must have been profoundly perplexing. And to see other London composers, whom he knew to have less genius, enjoying the success that eluded him for so many years—must have driven Handel to extreme exasperation. Yet through all the frustrating years before his final successes, Handel simply refused to quit.
•And, as if blows inflicted by his competitors were not painful enough, Handel suffered from an onslaught of attacks within his own camp. For a devoted Christian to have come under censure by the principal church of his time must have been bitterly distressing. Even after Messiah was be-coming well known, as great a religious figure as John Newton (composer of the hymn “Amazing Grace”), preached every Sunday for over a year against the “secular” performances of this biblical oratorio. Yet Handel did not respond by counterattacking his Anglican brothers. Though he remained a Lutheran, he “would often speak of it as one of the great felicities of his life that he was settled in a country where no man suffers any molestation or inconvenience on account of his religious principles.”
posted by ipastorwill at 4:32 PM
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