Editing Messiah (Handel) (section)

===20th century and beyond===
[[File:Ebenezer-prout.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Ebenezer Prout]] in 1899]]
Although the huge-scale oratorio tradition was perpetuated by such large ensembles as the [[Royal Choral Society]], the [[Tabernacle Choir]] and the [[Huddersfield Choral Society]] in the 20th century,<ref name=blyth/> there were increasing calls for performances more faithful to Handel's conception. At the turn of the century, ''[[The Musical Times]]'' wrote of the "additional accompaniments" of Mozart and others, "Is it not time that some of these 'hangers on' of Handel's score were sent about their business?"<ref>{{cite journal|title= The Sheffield Musical Festival|journal= The Musical Times|volume= 40|issue= 681|date= November 1899|page=738|doi= 10.2307/3367781|jstor= 3367781}}{{Subscription required}}</ref> In 1902, Prout produced a new edition of the score, working from Handel's original manuscripts rather than from corrupt printed versions with errors accumulated from one edition to another.{{refn| Many of the editions before 1902, including Mozart's, derived from the earliest printed edition of the score, known as the Walsh Edition, published in 1767.<ref name=prout1/>|group= n}} However, Prout started from the assumption that a faithful reproduction of Handel's original score would not be practical:

{{blockquote|[T]he attempts made from time to time by our musical societies to give Handel's music as he meant it to be given must, however earnest the intention, and however careful the preparation, be foredoomed to failure from the very nature of the case. With our large choral societies, additional accompaniments of some kind are a necessity for an effective performance; and the question is not so much whether, as how they are to be written.<ref name=prout1/>}}

Prout continued the practice of adding flutes, clarinets and trombones to Handel's orchestration, but he restored Handel's high trumpet parts, which Mozart had omitted (evidently because playing them was a lost art by 1789).<ref name=prout1>{{cite journal|last= Prout|first= Ebenezer|title= Handel's 'Messiah': Preface to the New Edition, I|journal= The Musical Times|volume= 43|issue= 711|date= May 1902|pages= 311–313|doi= 10.2307/3369304|jstor= 3369304|url= https://zenodo.org/record/1601271|url-access= subscription|access-date= 11 September 2019|archive-date= 22 September 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200922184610/https://zenodo.org/record/1601271|url-status= live}}</ref> There was little dissent from Prout's approach, and when Chrysander's scholarly edition was published in the same year, it was received respectfully as "a volume for the study" rather than a performing edition, being an edited reproduction of various of Handel's manuscript versions.<ref name=cummings>{{cite journal|last= Cummings|first= William H.|title= The 'Messiah'|journal= The Musical Times|volume= 44|issue= 719|date= January 1903|pages= 16–18|jstor= 904855|doi= 10.2307/904855|url= https://zenodo.org/record/1449978|url-access= subscription|access-date= 30 June 2019|archive-date= 1 October 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201001020623/https://zenodo.org/record/1449978|url-status= live}}</ref> An authentic performance was thought impossible: ''The Musical Times'' correspondent wrote, "Handel's orchestral instruments were all (excepting the trumpet) of a coarser quality than those at present in use; his harpsichords are gone for ever&nbsp;... the places in which he performed the 'Messiah' were mere drawing-rooms when compared with the [[Royal Albert Hall|Albert Hall]], the [[Queen's Hall]] and the Crystal Palace.<ref name=cummings/> In Australia, ''[[The Register (Adelaide)|The Register]]'' protested at the prospect of performances by "trumpery little church choirs of 20 voices or so".<ref>{{cite journal|url = http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article56999470?|title= Handel's Messiah|journal=  [[South Australian Register|The Register (Adelaide, S.A.)]]|date= 17 December 1908|page=4}}</ref>

In Germany, ''Messiah'' was not so often performed as in Britain;<ref>{{cite news|last= Brug|first= Manuel|url= https://www.welt.de/kultur/article3552234/Der-Messias-ist-hier-immer-noch-unterschaetzt.html|title= Der 'Messias' ist hier immer noch unterschätzt|journal= [[Die Welt]]|date= 14 April 2009|access-date= 10 March 2017|archive-date= 24 June 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160624135725/http://www.welt.de/kultur/article3552234/Der-Messias-ist-hier-immer-noch-unterschaetzt.html|url-status= live}} (German text)</ref> when it was given, medium-sized forces were the norm. At the [[Handel Festival, Halle|Handel Festival]] held in 1922 in Handel's native town, Halle, his choral works were given by a choir of 163 and an orchestra of 64.<ref>{{cite journal|last= van der Straeten|first= E.|title= The Handel Festival at Halle|journal= The Musical Times|volume= 63|issue= 953|date= July 1922|pages= 487–489|jstor= 908856|doi= 10.2307/908856|url= https://zenodo.org/record/1450002|url-access= subscription|access-date= 5 September 2020|archive-date= 2 December 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201202003123/https://zenodo.org/record/1450002|url-status= live}}</ref> In Britain, innovative broadcasting and recording contributed to reconsideration of Handelian performance. For example, in 1928, Beecham conducted a recording of ''Messiah'' with modestly sized forces and controversially brisk [[tempo|tempi]], although the orchestration remained far from authentic.<ref name=klein>{{cite magazine|url= http://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/gramophone-launches-new-digital-archive-app|title= Messiah (Handel)|magazine= The Gramophone|date= January 1928|page= 21|url-access= subscription|access-date= 23 February 2013|archive-date= 29 January 2013|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130129082659/http://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/gramophone-launches-new-digital-archive-app|url-status= live}}</ref> In 1934 and 1935, the [[BBC]] broadcast performances of ''Messiah'' conducted by [[Adrian Boult]] with "a faithful adherence to Handel's clear scoring."<ref name=dickinson>{{cite journal|last= Dickinson|first= A. E. F.|title= The Revival of Handel's 'Messiah'|journal= The Musical Times|volume= 76|issue= 1105|date= March 1935|pages=217–218|jstor= 919222|doi= 10.2307/919222}} {{Subscription required}}</ref> A performance with authentic scoring was given in [[Worcester Cathedral]] as part of the [[Three Choirs Festival]] in 1935.<ref>{{cite news|title= The Three Choirs Festival|newspaper= The Manchester Guardian|date= 7 September 1935|page= 7}}</ref> In 1950 John Tobin conducted a performance of ''Messiah'' in [[St Paul's Cathedral]] with the orchestral forces specified by the composer, a choir of 60, a countertenor alto soloist, and modest attempts at vocal elaboration of the printed notes, in the manner of Handel's day.<ref>{{cite news|title= 'Messiah' in First Version – Performance at St. Paul's|newspaper= [[The Times]]|date= 25 February 1950|page=9}} and {{cite news|title= 'The Messiah' in its Entirety – A Rare Performance|newspaper= The Times|date= 20 March 1950|page=8}}</ref> The Prout version sung with many voices remained popular with British choral societies, but at the same time increasingly frequent performances were given by small professional ensembles in suitably sized venues, using authentic scoring. Recordings on [[LP record|LP]] and [[compact disc|CD]] were preponderantly of the latter type, and the large scale ''Messiah'' came to seem old-fashioned.<ref name=which>Larner, Gerald. "Which Messiah?", ''The Guardian'', 18 December 1967, p. 5</ref>

[[File:ENO Messiah 2009 Crop.jpg|thumb|left|300px|''Messiah'' staged at the [[English National Opera]], 2009]]

The cause of authentic performance was advanced in 1965 by the publication of a new edition of the score, edited by Watkins Shaw. In the ''[[Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', David Scott writes, "the edition at first aroused suspicion on account of its attempts in several directions to break the crust of convention surrounding the work in the British Isles."<ref>{{cite web|last= Scott|first= David|url= http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/25608|title= Shaw, Watkins|work= Grove Music Online|publisher= Oxford Music Online|access-date= 22 May 2011|url-access= subscription|archive-date= 3 July 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200703055404/https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000025608|url-status= live}}</ref> By the time of Shaw's death in 1996, ''The Times'' described his edition as "now in universal use".<ref>{{cite news|title= Harold Watkins Shaw – Obituary|newspaper= The Times|date= 21 October 1996|page=23}}</ref>{{refn|In 1966 an edition by John Tobin was published.<ref name=dean>{{cite journal|author-link= Winton Dean|last1= Dean|first1= Winton.|title= Two New 'Messiah' Editions|journal= The Musical Times|volume= 108|issue= 1488|date= February 1967|pages=157–158|jstor= 953965|doi= 10.2307/953965|last2= Handel|last3= Shaw|first3= Watkins|last4= Tobin|first4= John|last5= Shaw|first5= Watkins|last6= Tobin|first6= John}} {{Subscription required}}</ref> More recent editions have included those edited by Donald Burrows (Edition Peters, 1987) and Clifford Bartlett (Oxford University Press, 1999).|group= n}}

''Messiah'' remains Handel's best-known work, with performances particularly popular during the [[Advent]] season;<ref name=Kandell /> writing in December 1993, the music critic [[Alex Ross (music critic)|Alex Ross]] refers to that month's 21 performances in New York alone as "numbing repetition".<ref>{{cite news|last= Ross|first= Alex|author-link=Alex Ross (music critic)|title= The Heavy Use (Good and Bad) of Handel's Enduring ''Messiah''|newspaper= [[The New York Times]]|date= 21 December 1993|page=C10}}</ref> Against the general trend towards authenticity, the work has been staged in opera houses, both in London (2009) and in Paris (2011).<ref>{{cite news|last= Maddocks|first=Fiona|author-link=Fiona Maddocks|url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/dec/06/messiah-warner-falstaff-glyndebourne-maddocks?INTCMP=SRCH|title= Messiah; Falstaff From Glyndebourne|newspaper=[[The Observer]]|date= 6 December 2009|access-date= 16 June 2011|archive-date= 3 July 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200703055334/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/dec/06/messiah-warner-falstaff-glyndebourne-maddocks?INTCMP=SRCH|url-status= live}} and {{cite news|last= Bohlen|first= Celestine|url= https://archive.nytimes.com/query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage-9407EFDC123EF933A15757C0A9679D8B63.html|title= Broadway in Paris? A Theater's Big Experiment|newspaper= The New York Times|date= 20 April 2011|access-date= 13 April 2022|archive-date= 19 May 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210519035709/https://archive.nytimes.com/query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage-9407EFDC123EF933A15757C0A9679D8B63.html|url-status= live}}</ref> The Mozart score is revived from time to time,<ref>{{cite news|last= Ashley|first= Tim|url= https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/dec/11/classicalmusicandopera?INTCMP=SRCH|title= Messiah|newspaper= The Guardian|date= 11 December 2003|access-date= 15 December 2016|archive-date= 15 February 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170215024705/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/dec/11/classicalmusicandopera?INTCMP=SRCH|url-status= live}}</ref> and in [[Anglophone]] countries "[[Scratch Messiah|singalong]]" performances with many hundreds of performers are popular.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.trbc.co.uk/about-us/how-it-all-began.htm|title= History|publisher= The Really Big Chorus|access-date= 24 May 2010|archive-date= 26 July 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100726005125/http://www.trbc.co.uk/about-us/how-it-all-began.htm|url-status= live}} and {{cite web|url= http://www.imfchicago.org/diy/main|title= Do-It-Yourself Messiah 2011|publisher= International Music Foundation|access-date= 24 May 2011|archive-date= 26 July 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110726173939/http://www.imfchicago.org/diy/main|url-status= live}}</ref> Although performances striving for authenticity are now usual, it is generally agreed that there can never be a definitive version of ''Messiah''; the surviving manuscripts contain radically different settings of many numbers, and vocal and instrumental ornamentation of the written notes is a matter of personal judgment, even for the most historically informed performers.<ref>{{cite journal|last1= Mackerras|first1= Charles|last2= Lam|first2= Basil|title= Messiah: Editions and Performances|journal= The Musical Times|volume= 107|issue= 1486|date= December 1966|pages=1056–1057|jstor= 952863|doi= 10.2307/952863}} {{Subscription required}}</ref> The Handel scholar [[Winton Dean]] has written:

{{blockquote|[T]here is still plenty for scholars to fight over, and more than ever for conductors to decide for themselves. Indeed if they are not prepared to grapple with the problems presented by the score they ought not to conduct it. This applies not only to the choice of versions, but to every aspect of baroque practice, and of course there are often no final answers.<ref name=dean/>|}}