50 Fun Facts About Handel's Messiah

In which year did Handel compose Messiah?

He wrote it in about three and a half weeks that summer; 1685 is his birth year and 1759 the year he died.

On what date was Messiah first performed?

The premiere was in Dublin; the London premiere followed a year later at Covent Garden, to a much cooler reception.

Who compiled the libretto of Messiah from the King James Bible and the Coverdale Psalter?

A wealthy landowner and devout Anglican, Jennens had earlier supplied the text for Saul.

Handel became a naturalised subject of which country in 1727?

He had lived in London since 1712; Messiah was his sixth work in the English oratorio genre he took up in the 1730s.

The Hebrew word 'Messiah' means what?

In New Testament Greek the equivalent is 'Christ', the title given to Jesus of Nazareth.

Handel was born in 1685 in which German town?

He settled in London in 1712 and became a naturalised British subject in 1727.

Which unusual honour had Handel received in London by 1741, most unusual for a living person?

He also held a court pension from George II and the office of Composer of Musick for the Chapel Royal.

Which 1728 hit by John Gay and Pepusch mocked Handel's Italian stage works and signalled London's changing taste?

It heralded a spate of English-language ballad operas and pushed Handel towards oratorio.

What was Handel's first English oratorio, written around 1718 and revived in London in 1732?

Its success at the King's Theatre led to Deborah and Athalia; Oxford undergraduates reportedly sold furniture to afford tickets in 1733.

What was Handel's last Italian opera, performed three times in early 1741 before he abandoned the genre?

Rinaldo had been the opera with which he introduced Italian opera to London 30 years earlier, in 1711.

How many days did Handel take to compose the music of Messiah?

He began on 22 August 1741 and finished on 14 September, then started his next oratorio, Samson, within a week.

What did Handel write at the end of his manuscript of Messiah?

The letters mean 'To God alone the glory' and helped feed the legend that he wrote it in a fever of divine inspiration.

How did the librettist regard the speed with which Handel composed Messiah?

Relations remained strained: Jennens urged improvements and Handel stubbornly refused.

Which institution holds Handel's autograph manuscript of Messiah?

Its 259 pages show blots and scratchings-out, but remarkably few errors for a document of that length.

For which instruments, besides strings and continuo, is Handel's original Messiah scored?

Later arrangers, from Mozart onwards, added flutes, clarinets, horns and trombones.

The choruses "For unto us a child is born" and "All we like sheep" were adapted from what?

Nò, di voi non vo' fidarmi had been written only weeks earlier, in July 1741; recycling was standard practice for Handel.

How many parts is Messiah divided into?

Their structure approximates Handel's three-act operas, with Jennens subdividing each part into 'scenes'.

Which is the only 'scene' in Messiah taken from the Gospels?

Part I otherwise consists of Old Testament prophecies, mostly from Isaiah, in words from Luke's gospel for the shepherds.

Part II of Messiah concentrates on which subject and ends with which chorus?

Part III then covers Paul's teaching on the resurrection of the dead and Christ's glorification in heaven.

What is the pastoral instrumental interlude at the mid-point of Part I called?

It takes its name from the pifferari, shepherd-bagpipers who played in the streets of Rome at Christmas.

The opening Sinfony of Messiah is written in what style?

It is in E minor for strings alone, and the librettist thought it contained passages 'far unworthy of Handel'.

Which key, associated with light and glory, does Anthony Hicks say Messiah 'aspires towards'?

It is the key of the trumpet movements and of the triumphant ending.

Besides "Glory to God", the Hallelujah and the finale, which Messiah movement uses trumpets?

Percy Young argues that this rarity is exactly what makes the brass entries so thrilling.

The Hallelujah chorus passage 'For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth' borrows from a fugue by whom?

The third subject is based on the Lutheran chorale 'Wachet auf' by Philipp Nicolai.

What is the oratorio's longest single item, an alto aria partly sung unaccompanied?

At the Dublin premiere a clergyman reportedly leapt up after Susannah Cibber sang it and cried, 'Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven thee!'

Which soprano solo opens Part III and is one of the few numbers Handel never revised?

It is in E major and its first two notes form the 'ascending fourth' some scholars hear throughout the work.

Which chorus actually closes Messiah?

Percy Young points out that Hallelujah, for all its 'contagious enthusiasm', is not the climax of the work.

At which Dublin venue was Messiah first performed?

The hall had been built in 1741 for a charity that released imprisoned debtors.

Whose invitation brought Handel to Dublin for the 1741–42 season?

The duke was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland; Handel's violinist friend Matthew Dubourg, his bandmaster, looked after the orchestra.

Where did the choir for the Dublin premiere come from?

The forces were sixteen men and sixteen boys, several of the men taking solo parts.

What were ladies asked not to wear to the Dublin premiere, so more people could squeeze in?

Gentlemen were asked to leave their swords at home; about 700 people attended.

The Dublin premiere raised around £400 for three charities. How many imprisoned debtors did it free?

The other beneficiaries were Mercer's Hospital and the Charitable Infirmary, each receiving about £127.

Which established stage actress sang the contralto solos at the Dublin premiere?

Handel transposed two numbers down to F major to suit her range.

At which London theatre was Messiah introduced on 23 March 1743?

Critics objected that so exalted a subject should not be sung in a playhouse by secular singer-actresses.

Under what title did Handel present the work in London in 1743, to avoid religious offence?

It was not billed as Messiah in London until the 1749 revival.

Which monarch supposedly stood at the London premiere, starting the custom of standing for the Hallelujah chorus?

There is no convincing evidence the king was even present; the first reference to standing dates from 1756.

From 1750, annual charity performances of Messiah were given at which London institution?

Founded by Thomas Coram in 1739, it was one of London's most fashionable charities; the 1754 performance is the first with fully documented forces.

For which male alto did Handel write new versions of 'But who may abide' in 1750?

Beard was the tenor who had sung in the London premiere; Frasi and Galli were the sopranos of the 1749 revival.

What affliction led Handel to hand the direction of the 1755 charity Messiah to his pupil J. C. Smith?

He apparently resumed his duties in 1757; his last Messiah was at Covent Garden on 6 April 1759, eight days before he died.

Where was Handel given a state funeral after his death in April 1759?

He died a respected and rich man aged 74.

How many performers did the 1784 Handel Commemoration concerts have, according to a plaque at the venue?

By 1787 advertisements promised a band of 800; the Crystal Palace festival of 1857 used a chorus of 2,000.

Which composer reorchestrated Messiah in 1789 as Der Messias, adding clarinets and trombones?

He was commissioned by Baron van Swieten; the scholar Moritz Hauptmann called the additions 'stucco ornaments on a marble temple'.

In 1786 Johann Adam Hiller presented Messiah with updated scoring in the cathedral of which city?

His 1788 performance used a choir of 259 and an orchestra with 87 strings, 11 oboes, 8 flutes and 7 trumpets.

Which playwright, as a music critic, mocked Victorian Handel festivals and asked for a Messiah with a chorus of twenty?

He said most people would be glad to hear the work 'seriously performed once before we die'.

Which conductor made the first near-complete recording of Messiah, in 1928, with modest forces?

Sargent kept the big tradition alive in four HMV recordings with the Huddersfield Choral Society.

Whose 1965 edition of Messiah, 'now in universal use' by 1996, advanced the cause of authentic performance?

Prout's 1902 edition had kept the added flutes, clarinets and trombones but restored Handel's high trumpet parts.

What was the librettist's aim in assembling the Messiah text, as a devout Anglican?

Deists rejected divine intervention in human affairs; Jennens even printed a pamphlet explaining his choice of scriptures.

Why was the librettist of Messiah barred from a degree at Oxford and any public career?

A non-juror loyal to the Stuart line, he lived a life of leisure at Gopsall and financed the publication of every Handel score from 1725.

Although Messiah covers Christ's whole story, in which season is it most often performed?

Alex Ross counted 21 performances in New York in December 1993 alone and called it 'numbing repetition'.

In which key is the opening Sinfony of Messiah written?

The Sinfony is in E minor for strings; a shift to E major then leads into the tenor's 'Comfort ye'.