Handel's Messiah

Written by Michael Schaf

Never heard of Messiah? Well, I bet you've heard of the "Hallelujah Chorus". Maybe the Windsor bells of Big Ben? These are part of or based on materials from Messiah, an epic work for chorus and orchestra about the birth and life of Jesus Christ.

"It is well known that Handel composed Messiah in a very short period of time—24 days. The swiftness of the project, or the sacred nature of the text, may have contributed to Handel’s somewhat simple treatment of the orchestra. Four-part strings and continuo (bass instruments plus harpsichord harmony) was Handel’s foundation. Two oboes were added only in the overture and choruses, always doubling the violins or sopranos (sometimes altos), with no independent parts, and a pair of trumpets strengthened three D-major choruses, two of which included timpani. But even given this rather basic orchestral pretext—indeed, perhaps because of it—Handel’s talent for pulling the dramatic nuances of the text to the surface using instrument and voice conventions has made Messiah perhaps the most popular single musical work of all time.

Messiah is an unusual oratorio in that, unlike the examples we were treated to in the first concert of the season, “Celebrate Handel,” it is not a narrative, a story. Rather, it is a three-part outline of the Biblical concept of “Messiah” (note the title is not “The Messiah,” simply “Messiah”), beginning with Old Testament Messianic prophecy, going through the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah, and concluding with an exegesis on the state of the Christian faith as a result of this Messiah having been among us.

At first glance this seems to fit neatly into a typical three-act format of Prophecy/Christ/Church. However the first part, sometime referred to as the “Christmas” section, takes us through a series of prophecies, raising our expectations as in an opera, until finally these prophesies receive their dramatic culmination in Christ’s birth at the conclusion of part one. A most interesting decision in terms of the dramatic shape of Messiah was to make this birth portion at the end of part one the only remotely narrative segment of the entire oratorio. In a most ingenious maneuver, Handel sets the prophecy and birth narrative portions apart not by a change of acts, an intermission, but by the only instrumental movement in the oratorio other than its overture.

The Christ child, then, has his own “arrival” sinfonia (No. 13 Pifa), as had the Queen of Sheba in Solomon and Iphis in Jephtha (coming to greet her father). Naturally, rather than a noisy march, it is a simple, sweet lullaby for strings alone based on the sicilienne or pifa, a flowing compound meter type of melody, featuring dotted rhythms on one or two beats of the measure. To 18th century audiences, the sicilienne (pifa) was associated with shepherds in the areas surrounding Sicily, and not uncommonly was used in instrumental works composed for Christmas (e.g. Corelli’s famous “Christmas Concerto”). With its whispering violin and viola melodies, and rustic, droning bass, we are invited into the fields on that quiet first Christmas night, among the shepherds humming softly or playing the “piffaro” (shepherd’s pipe). The dramatic effect generated by this music parallels the famous moment in A Charlie Brown Christmas when Linus steps onto the stage, requests “Lights, please,” and begins “And there were shepherds abiding in the fields . . .”; the very text from Luke’s gospel which follows Handel’s pifa in a series of recitatives for soprano (Nos. 14-16; perhaps a shepherd boy’s voice?). These are the first soprano solos in the oratorio, thus their words and consequently the birth narrative itself receive a musical halo.

As recitative was the traditional style for describing action in opera, the use of successive recitatives here underscores the narrative dramatic device. Handel also drew upon the pastoral sicilienne and solo soprano voice, representing simplicity, innocence and the Good Shepherd, in the arias “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd” (No. 20) and “How beautiful are the feet of him” (No. 38), and taken at the proper tempo, the rhythmic flow and sweetness of the soprano solo in “I know that my Redeemer liveth” (No. 45) also suggest the sicilienne, and so remind us of the humble birth of our Redeemer."

Source: Michael E. Ruhling and the Handel and Haydn Society.

We hope that you will seek out a performance of Messiah in your region this Christmas season and celebrate with us this time honored tribute to the holidays.