HANDEL'S MESSIAH - When the Hallelujah chorus began to play in the performance the King attended, he abruptly stood up, apparently as a way of indicating he recognized that Christ was the King of Kings. Now it was normal protocol that if the King stood at any time, no one in his presence sat. And so the entire audience stood for the performance of the Hallelujah Chorus. This tradition has been maintained even until today.

Handel’s Messiah

The Story Behind the Classic

Ben Witherington

Without question, one of the most famous pieces of music ever written or performed is Handel’s Messiah. 

Note that the title of this work is not ‘The Messiah,’ but simply ‘Messiah.’ 

Handel was a German born in Halle in 1685. When he was old enough, because he wanted to compose opera, he moved to Italy at the invitation of the D’Medici family.

But unfortunately for him, the Pope had banned opera at that time, and he found himself scrambling to compose occasion pieces. Eventually the ban was lifted and Handel had a successful opera entitled Agrippina.

But by then he had become more famous for composing sacred music, for example his Dixit Dominus (‘Thus says the Lord’) composed in 1707 became a very famous composition in due course.

In the beginnings of the 18th century there was much ferment and furor over what counted as sacred music and what counted as secular music. Handel got caught in the crossfire to some extent. 

Discouraged with the musical situation in Italy, Handel moved first to Germany and then to England in 1712 and by 1727 had become a naturalized citizen of the British realm.

His timing here was better than in Italy because England came to have a King from Hanover in Germany, namely King George – the one the American colonists had so much trouble with. 

In fact, Handel had returned to Germany and had become the Kapellmeister for George the Elector of Hanover before he ever became King of England. This augured well for his future and indeed, Handel.

In fact, Handel’s relationship with King George was an up and down affair. In 1717 he composed the famous Water Music which was well liked, but it only brought Handel some temporary recognition and remuneration.

In 1725 Handel moved into a newly built flat on Brook Street in London where he was to live the rest of his life, dying in 1759.

This house is today the well known Handel House museum. The building has a shop on the first floor called Regina Rubens.   

In April of 1737, at the age of 52, Handel seems to have suffered from a stroke which incapacitated him, making it impossible for him to perform (he played the spinet or keyboard) or conduct, because it had paralyzed his right arm. He was right handed.

He also complained of blurred vision. The truth was as well, that falling in and out of favor with royalty left him alternately in and out of money.

Because he was not a wise businessman he in fact, lost a fortune in the opera business and, depressed and in debt, gave it up in 1740.

It was only shortly after these calamities in Handel’s life that he came across a libretto composed by Charles Jennens.

Composed entirely of Scripture portions, mainly from the OT, Handel was deeply affected when he read this libretto. 

It was divided into three parts:

1) prophecies about the coming messiah (largely drawing on Isaiah);

2) the birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection of Christ;

3) the End times with Christ’s final victory over sin and death, largely based in the book of Revelation.

Inspired, Handel decided he must compose an oratorio based on this libretto. The story of the composition of this most famous of all Christian musical works has been told variously.

What we can say with certainty is that he composed the work in a short period of time during the summer of 1741.

When he got to the Hallelujah chorus, his assistant found him in tears saying “I did think I saw heaven open, and saw the very face of God”. 

Today, of course, it is the first two parts of this work that mostly get performed. 

The Hallelujah chorus is in fact the conclusion of part two, but in performances today it regularly is used to climax and conclude the Christmas performance of the first part of the oratorio.

The work first premiered during the Easter season in April 1742, and interestingly enough John Wesley was one of the ones who saw an early performance of this work.

In his Journal he commented “there were some parts that were affecting, but I doubt it has staying power.”

It was a good thing he did not go into the music business. His brother Charles actually got to know Handel a bit before Handel died, and visited him in his London home on more than one occasion.

Charles of course composed two well known Christmas hymns— “Lo He Comes with Clouds Descending,” and the more familiar “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” 

Unlike Handel, he was a writer of lyrics, not primarily a composer of music, which was Handel’s forte.

While it would certainly be too much to call it an overnight sensation, it is clear that this work quickly became very popular and was soon to be seen as a classic. 

What is interesting is that Handel kept tinkering with it and changing it.

As one source says “Handel conducted Messiah many times and often altered the music to suit the needs of the singers and orchestra he had available to him for each performance.”

In consequence, no single version can be regarded as the “authentic” one. Many more variations and rearrangements were added in subsequent centuries – a notable arrangement was one by Mozart, translated into German.

In the Mozart version a French horn replaces the trumpet on ‘The Trumpets shall sound,’ even though Luther’s Bible translation speaks of a last trombone.

In fact, of course, the libretto was based on the Authorized or King James Version, except the portions from the Psalms which were extracted from the Great Bible as it was found in the readings in the BCP, the Book of Common Prayer.

Fortunately for Handel, King George decided that this work was worthy of being attended and supported, and this in turn led to one of the most interesting traditions connected to this masterpiece.

When the Hallelujah chorus began to play in the performance the King attended, he abruptly stood up, apparently as a way of indicating he recognized that Christ was the King of Kings.

Now it was normal protocol that if the King stood at any time, no one in his presence sat. And so the entire audience stood for the performance of the Hallelujah Chorus. 

This tradition has been maintained even until today. 

Handel could never have anticipated that this work would become perhaps the most performed piece of classical music in all of history, all to the glory of Christ. 

And he certainly could not have anticipated the many and various versions of the performance of Messiah. 

My hope for you is that you will have the blessing of hearing some or all of this oratorio.

Even if you are not a classical music buff, you can Handel it once and a while.

Ben Witherington. Bible scholar Ben Witherington is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University in Scotland. A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies.
Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt.
Witherington has written over thirty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website.
Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.

http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/bibleandculture/2009/12/handels-messiah-the-story-behind-the-classic.html