| ANALYSIS |
An Enduring
Legacy
Messiah achieved the status of
cultural icon during Handel’s lifetime and
its impact has not diminished since the
composer’s death. With a history so rich and
far-reaching, it is hard to imagine that the
oratorio caused a scandal in London. Even in
Dublin there were obstacles to the first
performance.
In a letter to a friend dated July 10, 1741,
Charles Jennens, who had supplied Handel
with texts for other oratorios, explains
that he sent this collection of scriptural
passages to Handel in the hope that the
composer would set it. Jennens’ assembled
text, from the Old and New
Testaments, does not tell a continuous
story; rather, the text refers to the
prophecy and birth of Christ (part 1), his
death and resurrection (part 2), and the
redemption and response of the believer
(part 3).
Although Italy was the birthplace of the
oratorio, Messiah and other Handel oratorios
ensured the genre’s place in the history of
music. The term oratorio originally referred
to the building in Rome in which the
faithful observed spiritual devotions, and
then was used to describe the music
performed as part of these services. Handel
composed his first oratorio, La Resurrezione,
while in Rome in 1708. In England, Handel
returned to oratorio composition in the
1730s and 1740s. This time, however, he did
not write in the Italian style, but fused
the dramatic writing he had perfected in his
operas with the English tradition of choral
anthems.
In London in the early 1740s, Handel’s
popularity as an opera composer was waning.
It was during this time that two fortuitous
events occurred: Jennens sent Handel the
word book for Messiah and William Cavendish,
the Duke of Devonshire and Lord Lieutenant
of Ireland, invited Handel to Dublin to
participate in a season of oratorio concerts
to benefit local
charities. Handel seized the opportunity to
present his works and set Jennens’ text in
just 24 days. Dublin was a major cultural
center at this time and received Handel with
open arms. Anticipation for Handel’s new
oratorio ran so high that an announcement in
the Dublin Journal requested that ladies
“would be pleased to come without hoops [in
their skirts] …
making room for more company.”
In January 1742, the deans of St. Patrick’s
Church and Christ Church, Dublin, were asked
to allow their choir members to participate
in what would be the premiere performance of
Messiah. Christ Church agreed and at first it
seemed that St. Patrick’s Church concurred.
However, the dean of St. Patrick’s, Jonathan
Swift, then revoked permission, claiming
never to have granted it in the first place.
This turn of events was potentially
disastrous because both churches had to
agree in order for the performance to
proceed. Eventually, Swift did agree and the
work was premiered in Dublin at the Music
Hall on Fishamble Street on April 13, 1742.
Handel returned to London and, in 1743, gave
that city’s premiere of A Sacred Oratorio;
he refrained from titling the work Messiah
because of objections to the use of Biblical
texts in a concert setting. Some of these
complaints were voiced in the press on the
same day the
work was advertised. An anonymous letter to
the Universal Spectator raised concerns
about the use of Biblical texts and the
propriety of theater performers, whose
morals were assumed to be questionable,
singing these sacred texts: “I ask if the
Playhouse is a fit Temple to perform it [A
Sacred Oratorio] in, or a Company of Players
fit Ministers of God’s Word.”
These first London performances were not as
successful as those in Ireland; however,
beginning with a 1750 concert to benefit the
Foundling Hospital, Messiah
Hallelujah: To stand or not to stand?
The story goes that at one of the first
performances of Messiah in London in 1743,
King George II was so moved by the
“Hallelujah” chorus that he sprung to his
feet. In deference
to their sovereign, the crowd was obliged to
rise along with the king, and all remained
standing through the end of the chorus. This
sparked a tradition of standing for the
“Hallelujah” chorus. It is a tradition that
has survived centuries. Joseph Haydn is said
to
have participated during a visit to London.
Throughout the world, audiences regularly
take to their feet at the opening bars of
the “Hallelujah” chorus.
As it often goes with traditions, however,
the true story remains unclear. There is not
much evidence that anything like that
actually happened in 1743. The first mention
of the tradition came in 1780, nearly 40
years after it was said to have started.
There are a great deal of
first-hand accounts of Messiah performances
from Handel’s lifetime, but none refers to
the audience rising en masse for the
“Hallelujah”of conductors—including Robert
Shaw and Christopher Hogwood—have argued
against the tradition, suggesting it is a
distraction from
Handel’s powerful opening to the chorus.
Both practices remain very common among
Boston’s music lovers. We invite you to make
your own choice on how to honor Handel’s
outstanding musical legacy chorus. In recent
decades, a number of performances became
annual events in London. Objections to
Handel’s sacred oratorio had subsided and
were replaced with descriptions similar to
that written by Miss Catherine Talbot in
1756: “The only public place I have been to
this winter was to hear the Messiah, nor can
there be a nobler entertainment.”
Soon, performances of the oratorio were
mounted in the Old and New Worlds.
For the 1742 premiere of Messiah in Dublin,
it is estimated that Handel had a combined
ensemble of about 50 performers, with almost
the same number of vocalists as
instrumentalists. Experienced singers
from the better church choirs made up the
chorus, and two di!erent soloists shared the
roles for each voice part. While the chorus
had no female singers, the soprano and alto
solo parts were sung by women. For
this performance, Handel may have reworked
several soprano solos for Mrs. Susanna
Cibber, a well-known actress and alto. One
story relates that Mrs. Cibber’s performance
of “He was despised” was so moving that one
person in the audience shouted, “For this
thy sins be forgiven!”
For the London performances, Handel had more
singers available to him. He continued to
divide the solo numbers between two soloists
who would have sung the choruses. After
Handel’s death, Messiah performances
generally followed a similar pattern. In
1771, at one of the regular performances to
benefit the Foundling Hospital, the
professional chorus of 30 was augmented by
26 volunteer singers. This is the first known
performance of Messiah with a volunteer
chorus and the first time the chorus was
significantly larger than the orchestra.
The trend of larger choruses, and eventually
a larger orchestra to match it, reached new
heights with a Westminster Abbey performance
of Messiah in 1784. The organizers of this
Handel tribute, a five-day festival, wanted
to mount performances “on such a scale of
magnificence, as could not be equaled in any
part of the world.” They achieved this goal
by assembling over 250 singers and a
matching number of instrumentalists.
The accuracy of playing impressed music
chronicler Charles Burney, who wrote, “When
all the wheels of that huge machine, the
Orchestra, were in motion, the e!ect
resembled a clock-work in everything, but
want of feeling and expression.” The
excitement generated by Messiah at the 1784
Handel Commemoration inspired other
responses as well. Reverend John
Newton, Rector of St. Mary, Woolnorth in
London, based a series of 50 sermons on the
texts of the oratorio, collectively titled
Expository Discourses on the Series of
Scriptural
Passages which form the subject of the
Celebrated Oratorio of Handel. Newton, who
was no lover of Handel’s music and who felt
that the oratorio trivialized scripture to a
certain extent, concluded his sermons by
suggesting “that the next time you hear the
Messiah, God may bring something that you
have heard in the course of these sermons …
to your remembrance.” Still others held a
di!erent view, such as Abigail Adams, in
reaction to a performance of Messiah in 1785
(see “Lasting Impressions of
Messiah”).
The enduring appeal of Messiah lies in the
sum of its parts; each solo or chorus is
beautiful on its own, but together the
numbers create a whole that speaks to each
individual in a unique way. Although
Jennens, too, expressed disappointment with
Handel’s setting of his Scripture
collection, posterity has determined that
Handel did indeed fulfill Jennens’ wish that
the composer “lay his whole Genius and Skill
upon it, … as the Subject excels every other
Subject. The Subject is Messiah.”
The First 100 Years of Messiah
1741 Charles Jennens sends Handel the
word book for Messiah. Handel composes the
oratorio between Saturday, August 22 and
Monday, September 14. Some music is adapted
from other works.
1742 Dublin premiere with a combined
ensemble of about 50 singers and players.
The concert benefits three charities (Relief
of the Prisoners in several Gaols, the
Support of Mercer’s Hospital in Stephen’s
Street, and the Charitable Infirmary on the
Inns Quay). The oratorio continues to be
performed in Dublin, often during the
Christmas season.
1743 First London performance, at
Covent Garden. Handel titles the work A
Sacred
Oratorio to quell objections from the
clerical community.
1745 First London performance using
the title Messiah.
1750 First performance to benefit the
Foundling Hospital for the Maintenance and
Education of Exposed and Deserted Young
Children, founded in 1740 by Captain Thomas
Coram, known today as The Thomas Coram
Foundation. Handel conducts Messiah annually
at the
Foundling Hospital for the remainder of his
life. Handel conducts from the organ and
performs organ concertos during the
intermissions.
1770 Overture and 16 numbers
performed in New York.
1773 Portions performed at Boston’s
Faneuil Hall in honor of King George III.
1784 First Handel commemoration at
Westminster Abbey, including two
performances of Messiah. With about 600
performers, this is the beginning of
large-scale Messiah
performances.
1786 Selections sung at concerts in
Philadelphia, Boston, New York, and
Charleston.
1789 Mozart creates an updated
version for performance in Vienna by the
Gesellschaft der Associierten Cavaliere.
1803 First performance in Halle,
Handel’s birthplace.
1815 Handel and Haydn Society
performs selections from Messiah in its first
public
performance at King’s Chapel in Boston.
1818 Handel and Haydn Society gives
the first performance of the complete Messiah
in
the United States on December 25.
1857 Jenny Lind, the Swedish
Nightingale, sings Messiah in Halle.
Lasting Impressions of
Messiah
In 1784, the first Handel Commemoration was
held at Westminster Abbey. One year later,
Abigail Adams and her husband, John, now
Ambassador to England, moved to London.
Abigail, a prolific correspondent, wrote her
impressions upon hearing Messiah in 1785:
“... The most powerfull [sic] e!ects of
Musick which I ever experienced, was at
Westminster Abbey. The place itself is well
calculated to excite solemnity, not only
from its ancient and venerable appearance,
but from the dignified Dust, Marble and
Monuments it contains. Last year it was
fitted up with seats and an organ loft
su"ciently large to contain six hundred
Musicians, which were collected from this
and other Countries. This Year the Musick
was repeated. It is call’d the celebration
of Handles [sic] Musick. The sums collected
are deposited and the income is appropriated
to the supported of decayed Musicians. There
were 5 days set apart for the di!erent
performances. I was at the piece call’d the
Messiah, and tho a Guinea a ticket, I am
sure I never spent one with more
satisfaction. It is impossible
to describe to you the Solemnity and dignity
of the Scene. When it came to the part, the
Hallelujah, the whole assembly rose and all
the Musicians, every person uncoverd. Only
conceive six hundred voices and instruments
perfectly chording in one word and one
sound! I could scarcely believe myself an
inhabitant of Earth. I was one continued
shudder from the beginning to the end of the
performance.”
–Abigail Adams to Elizabeth Cranch
London, September 2, 1785
Grosvenor Square
CITATION
"An
Enduring Legacy'" Teresa M. Neff, PhD,
Handel and Haydn Society. 2012.
http://www.wgbh.org/. 2012.
<http://www.wgbh.org/UserFiles/File/H_H_Messiah_2012_program_notes.pdf>. |
|
|
