The title of this celebrated composition gives some indication of its basic difference from most of Handel’s other sacred stories in sound: Messiah, not The Messiah. He did not write a narrative drama about the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ (the latter parts the subject of musical settings of the Passion, such as those by Bach), but rather offered a mediation on the idea of a Messiah, for which reason some of the text is derived not from the New Testament but from the Old, as well as from the Psalms. Later parts of the oratorio then offer episodes dealing with Christ’s birth, sufferings, death, and resurrection.

While Handel’s oratorios usually had characters and a clear narrative, Messiah does not. Soloists are still used, but for their vocal qualities rather than to represent specific individuals or the relationships, conflicts, and confrontations among them. This change in approach was commented upon by Handel’s contemporaries, one of whom noted that Messiah “although called an Oratorio, yet it is not dramatic but properly a Collection of Hymns or Anthems drawn from the sacred Scriptures.”

Various legends, registering differing degrees of reality, inevitably surround such a famous and long-lived composition. It is known that Handel wrote most of the work in some three weeks time, secluding himself beginning on August 22, 1741. Such speed was typical of the composer, who after finishing Messiah immediately turned to writing the oratorio Samson. Another legend attached to the work relates to his inspiration, which casts the frenzied composition as a sort of divine dictation. Handel is said to have emerged at some point (usually, it is noted, after finishing the “Hallelujah” chorus,) and proclaimed: “I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God himself!”

A practical reason that Handel could compose this work and others so quickly was that he often drew upon music composed earlier. While self-borrowing was far more common in the 18th century than it became once the cult of originality emerged in the 19th, Handel took it to new extremes, not to mention borrowing a large degree from other composers as well. His practices aroused attention in his own day, even from his collaborator Charles Jennens, who deftly compiled the libretto for Messiah.

The borrowings in Messiah, which for the most part come from Handel’s own works, are fascinating as they invite us to reconsider the “inspired” relation between the words and music. The music for the joyous chorus “For unto us a Child is born,” for example, which seems so perfectly to capture the celebratory words from Isaiah, was originally written for a profane, indeed frivolous, duet for two sopranos castigating “blind Cupid” and “cruel beauty.” There are other such examples from Messiah, which in no way diminishes the glory of the music, but does help to explain how Handel could compose so rapidly. It should make us somewhat cautious in talking about the sources of the composer’s inspiration.

The first performance of Messiah took place not in London, but rather in Dublin, on April 13, 1742. Handel gave the London premiere less than a year later at Covent Garden. It was not well received, in part because of objections to presenting a sacred work in that most profane of buildings—a theater! (Handel had advertised the oratorio as a “musical entertainment.”) It was only in 1750, when Messiah began to be presented in annual performances for a London charity at the local Foundling Hospital, that the public embraced the work.
Handel performed it some three dozen times—every time, it should be noted, around Easter, not Christmas, as later became the custom. Over the years he revised Messiah to accommodate new surroundings, performing forces, and audiences. Such adaptations have continued ever since: Mozart re-orchestrated the work in 1789 to bring it up to the dimensions of a Classical period orchestra, and more “heavy metal” versions would come in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many of these later arrangements helped to make the work viable for large choral festivals with many hundreds of singers, sometimes even more than a thousand.
Messiah is divided into three sections. The first is concerned with the prophesy of the coming of a Messiah and then with Christ’s Nativity. Part II deals with Christ’s suffering and death.
– Christopher H. Gibbs

The Sanctuary Choir of Holy Trinity Catholic Church has been under the direction of J. C. Terpstra for the past 20 years.  The thirty-five-member choir sings choral music from a variety of periods and styles and has worked continuously to spread God’s Word through their gift of music.  They are the principal choir for the parish and are responsible for leading the congregation in song and providing special choral music for weekly masses and holy days. In addition to the regular music liturgy for the mass, the Sanctuary Choir presents a Christmas Concert during Advent, performs an annual Memorial Concert near the feast of All Soul’s Day, and most recently performed Dubois’ Seven Last Words of Christ during Lent. The choir, soloists, and orchestra have most recently performed Handel’s Dettingen Te Deumand Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem,Missa Solemnis in C minor, and several of his smaller choral works, Rutter’s Requiem, Faure’s Requiem, Cherubini’s Requem Mass in C minor, and Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna.