Messiah

  G.F.Handel

Excerpts 

 

Comfort Ye My People  - Andrew Bale

Ev’ry Valley shall be Exalted - Andrew Bale

And the Glory of the Lord - Choir

Behold, A Virgin Shall Conceive - Scarlet Brett

O Thou that Tellest Good Tidings to Zion - Scarlet Brett  & Choir

For Unto Us a Child is Born - Choir

Pastoral Symphony - John Wyatt

There were Shepherds Abiding in the Fields - Sarah Brameld

Glory to God - Choir

Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion - Julie Bale

Then Shall the Eyes of the Blind  - Scarlet Brett

He Shall Feed his Flock - Scarlet & Julie

He was Despised - Scarlet Brett

All we like sheep have gone astray - Choir

All they that see him laugh him to scorn - Andrew Bale

He trusted in God - Choir

 Thy Rebuke hath broken his heart/Behold and See - Andrew 

How Beautiful are the Feet - Lisa Cuschieri

Hallelujah - Choir 

I know that my Redeemer Liveth - Sarah Brameld

Since By Man Came Death - Choir

Behold, I tell you a mystery - Leo Hodes

The Trumpet Shall Sound - Tenors & Basses

Worthy is the Lamb that was Slain & Amen - Choir

 

Composed 1741

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Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel. The text was compiled from the King James Bible and the Coverdale Psalte by Charles Jennens. 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 as the Messiah called Christ. 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 of Jesus 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, such as Mozart's Der Messias. 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.

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