Editing Messiah (Handel) (section)

==Music==

===Organisation and numbering of movements===

{{Main|Structure of Handel's Messiah}}
The numbering of the movements shown here is in accordance with the Novello vocal score (1959), edited by Watkins Shaw, which adapts the numbering earlier devised by Ebenezer Prout. Other editions count the movements slightly differently; the [[Bärenreiter]] edition of 1965, for example, does not number  the recitatives and runs from 1 to 47.<ref name= Bix>Burrows (1991), pp. ix, 86–100</ref> The division into parts and scenes is based upon the 1743 word-book prepared for the first London performance.<ref>Burrows (1991), pp. 83–84</ref> The scene headings are given as Burrows summarised the scene headings by Jennens.<ref name= B57/>

{{col-begin}}
{{col-3}}
;Part I
[[Messiah Part I#Scene 1|Scene 1]]: [[Isaiah]]'s prophecy of salvation
# [[Overture]] (instrumental)
# Comfort ye my people (tenor)
# Ev'ry valley shall be exalted (air for tenor)
# And the glory of the Lord (anthem chorus)

[[Messiah Part I#Scene 2|Scene 2]]: The coming judgment
# <li value=5> Thus saith the Lord of hosts (accompanied [[recitative]] for bass)</li>
# But who may abide the day of His coming (soprano, alto or bass)
# And he shall purify the sons of Levi (chorus)

[[Messiah Part I#Scene 3|Scene 3]]: The prophecy of Christ's birth
# <li value=8> Behold, a virgin shall conceive (alto)</li>
# O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion (air for alto and chorus)
# For behold, darkness shall cover the earth (bass)
# The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light (bass)
# For unto us a child is born (duet chorus)

[[Messiah Part I#Scene 4|Scene 4]]: The annunciation to the shepherds
# <li value=13> ''Pifa'' ("pastoral symphony": instrumental)</li>
# <li value=14a> (a) There were shepherds abiding in the fields (secco recitative for soprano)</li>
# <li value=14> (b) And lo, the angel of the Lord (accompanied recitative for soprano)</li>
# And the angel said unto them (secco recitative for soprano)
# And suddenly there was with the angel (accompanied recitative for soprano)
# Glory to God in the highest (chorus)

[[Messiah Part I#Scene 5|Scene 5]]: Christ's healing and redemption
# <li value=18> Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion (soprano)</li>
# Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened (secco recitative for soprano or alto)
# He shall feed his flock like a shepherd (alto or soprano)
# His yoke is easy (duet chorus)
{{col-break}}

;Part II
[[Messiah Part II#Scene 1|Scene 1]]: Christ's Passion
# <li value=22> Behold the Lamb of God (chorus)</li>
# He was despised and rejected of men (alto)
# Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows (chorus)
# And with his stripes we are healed (fugue chorus)
# All we like sheep have gone astray (duet chorus)
# All they that see him laugh him to scorn (secco recitative for tenor)
# He trusted in God that he would deliver him (fugue chorus)
# Thy rebuke hath broken his heart (tenor or soprano)
# Behold and see if there be any sorrow (tenor or soprano)

[[Messiah Part II#Scene 2|Scene 2]]: Christ's Death and Resurrection
# <li value=31> He was cut off (tenor or soprano)</li>
# But thou didst not leave his soul in hell (tenor or soprano)

[[Messiah Part II#Scene 3|Scene 3]]: Christ's Ascension
# <li value=33> Lift up your heads, O ye gates (chorus)</li>

[[Messiah Part II#Scene 4|Scene 4]]: Christ's reception in Heaven
# <li value=34> Unto which of the angels (tenor)</li>
# Let all the angels of God worship Him (chorus)

[[Messiah Part II#Scene 5|Scene 5]]: The beginnings of Gospel preaching
# <li value=36> Thou art gone up on high (soprano, alto, or bass)</li>
# The Lord gave the word (chorus)
# How beautiful are the feet (soprano, alto, or chorus)
# Their sound is gone out (tenor or chorus)

[[Messiah Part II#Scene 6|Scene 6]]: The world's rejection of the Gospel
# <li value=40> Why do the nations so furiously rage together (bass)</li>
# Let us break their bonds asunder (chorus)
# He that dwelleth in heaven (tenor)

[[Messiah Part II#Scene 7|Scene 7]]: God's ultimate victory
# <li value=43> Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron (tenor)</li>
# [[Hallelujah Chorus|Hallelujah]] (anthem and fugue chorus)
{{col-break}}

;Part III
[[Messiah Part III#Scene 1|Scene 1]]: The promise of eternal life
# <li value=45> I know that my Redeemer liveth (soprano)</li>
# Since by man came death (chorus)

[[Messiah Part III#Scene 2|Scene 2]]: The Day of Judgment
# <li value=47> Behold, I tell you a mystery (bass)</li>
# The trumpet shall sound (bass)

[[Messiah Part III#Scene 3|Scene 3]]: The final conquest of sin
# <li value=49> Then shall be brought to pass (alto)</li>
# O death, where is thy sting? (alto and tenor)
# But thanks be to God (chorus)
# If God be for us, who can be against us? (soprano)

[[Messiah Part III#Scene 4|Scene 4]]: The acclamation of the Messiah
# <li value=53> Worthy is the Lamb (anthem and fugue chorus)</li>
:::Amen (anthem and fugue chorus)
{{col-end}}

===Overview===
[[File:Hallelujah score 1741.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|The final bars of the ''Hallelujah'' chorus, from Handel's manuscript]]
Handel's music for ''Messiah''  is distinguished from most of his other oratorios by an orchestral restraint—a quality which the musicologist [[Percy M. Young]] observes was not adopted by Mozart and other later arrangers of the music.<ref name= Young63/> The work begins quietly, with instrumental and solo movements preceding the first appearance of the chorus, whose entry in the low alto register is muted.<ref name=Hog17>Hogwood, pp. 17–21</ref> A particular aspect of Handel's restraint is his limited use of trumpets throughout the work. After their introduction in the Part I chorus "Glory to God", apart from the solo in "The trumpet shall sound" they are heard only in ''Hallelujah'' and the final chorus "Worthy is the Lamb".<ref name= Young63>Young, p. 63</ref> It is this rarity, says Young, that makes these brass interpolations particularly effective: "Increase them and the thrill is diminished".<ref>Young, p. 64</ref> In  "Glory to God", Handel marked the entry of the trumpets as ''da lontano e un poco piano'', meaning "quietly, from afar"; his original intention had been to place the brass offstage (''in disparte'') at this point, to highlight the effect of distance.<ref name="B61"/><ref name= L93>Luckett, p. 93</ref> In this initial appearance the trumpets lack the expected drum accompaniment, "a deliberate withholding of effect, leaving something in reserve for Parts II and III"  according to Luckett.<ref>Luckett, p. 87</ref>

Although ''Messiah'' is not in any particular key, Handel's tonal scheme has been summarised by the musicologist [[Anthony Hicks]] as "an aspiration towards [[D major]]", the key musically associated with light and glory. As the oratorio moves forward with various shifts in key to reflect changes in mood, D major emerges at significant points, primarily the "trumpet" movements with their uplifting messages. It is the key in which the work reaches its triumphant ending.<ref name= H10>Hicks, pp. 10–11</ref> In the absence of a predominant key, other integrating elements have been proposed. For example, the musicologist [[Rudolf Steglich]] has suggested that Handel used the device of the "ascending [[Perfect fourth|fourth]]" as a unifying [[motif (music)|motif]]; this device most noticeably occurs in the first two notes of "I know that my Redeemer liveth" and on numerous other occasions. Nevertheless, Luckett finds this thesis implausible, and asserts that "the unity of ''Messiah'' is a consequence of nothing more arcane than the quality of Handel's attention to his text, and the consistency of his musical imagination".<ref name= L88>Luckett, pp. 88–89</ref> [[Allan Kozinn]], ''[[The New York Times]]'' music critic, finds "a model marriage of music and text&nbsp;... From the gentle falling melody assigned to the opening words ("Comfort ye") to the sheer ebullience of the ''Hallelujah'' chorus and the ornate celebratory counterpoint that supports the closing "Amen", hardly a line of text goes by that Handel does not amplify".<ref>{{cite news|author-link= Allan Kozinn|last= Kozinn|first= Allan|title= Messiah Mavens Find that its Ambiguities Reward All Comers|newspaper= [[The New York Times]]|date= 24 December 1997|page=E10}}</ref>

===Part I===
{{Main|Messiah Part I}}
{{listen|image=none|filename=Handel - messiah - 02 comfort ye.ogg|title='''No. 2.''' Recit. accompanied (''Tenor''): ''Comfort ye my people''}}
The opening  ''Sinfony'' is composed in [[E minor]] for strings, and is Handel's first use in oratorio of the French overture form. Jennens commented that the ''Sinfony'' contains "passages far unworthy of Handel, but much more unworthy of the Messiah";<ref name= L88/> Handel's early biographer [[Charles Burney]] merely found it "dry and uninteresting".<ref name= Hog17/> A change of key to [[E major]] leads to the first prophecy, delivered by the tenor whose vocal line in the opening recitative "Comfort ye" is entirely independent of the strings accompaniment. The music proceeds through various key changes as the prophecies unfold, culminating in the [[G major]] chorus "For unto us a child is born", in which the choral exclamations (which include an ascending fourth in "the Mighty God") are imposed on material drawn from Handel's Italian cantata ''Nò, di voi non-vo'fidarmi''.<ref name= Hog17/> Such passages, says the music historian [[Donald Jay Grout]], "reveal Handel the dramatist, the unerring master of dramatic effect".<ref>Grout & Palisca, p. 445</ref>

The pastoral interlude that follows begins with the short instrumental movement, the ''Pifa'', which takes its name from the shepherd-bagpipers, or ''pifferari'', who played their pipes in the streets of Rome at Christmas time.<ref name= L93/> Handel wrote the movement in both 11-bar and extended 32-bar forms; according to Burrows, either will work in performance.<ref name= B41/> The group of four short recitatives which follow it introduce the soprano soloist—although often the earlier aria "But who may abide" is sung by the soprano in its transposed G minor form.<ref>Burrows (1991), p. 87</ref> The final recitative of this section is in D major and heralds the affirmative chorus "Glory to God". The remainder of Part I is largely carried by the soprano in [[B-flat major|B-flat]], in what Burrows terms a rare instance of tonal stability.<ref>Burrows (1991), p. 63</ref> The aria "He shall feed his flock" underwent several transformations by Handel, appearing at different times as a recitative, an alto aria and a duet for alto and soprano before the original soprano version was restored in 1754.<ref name= Hog17/> The appropriateness of the Italian source material for the setting of the solemn concluding chorus "His yoke is easy" has been questioned by the music scholar [[Sedley Taylor]], who calls it "a piece of word-painting&nbsp;... grievously out of place", though he concedes that the four-part choral conclusion is a stroke of genius that combines beauty with dignity.<ref>Taylor, p. 41</ref>

===Part II===
{{Main|Messiah Part II}}
{{listen|image=none|help=no|filename=Handel - messiah - 23 he was despised.ogg|title='''No. 23.''' Air (''Alto''): ''He was despised''}}
The second Part begins in [[G minor]], a key which, in [[Christopher Hogwood]]'s phrase, brings a mood of "tragic presentiment" to the long sequence of Passion numbers which follows.<ref name= Hog22/> The declamatory opening chorus "Behold the Lamb of God", in [[fugue|fugal]] form, is followed by the alto solo "He was despised" in [[E-flat major]], the longest single item in the oratorio, in which some phrases are sung unaccompanied to emphasise Christ's abandonment.<ref name= Hog22/> Luckett records Burney's description of this number as "the highest idea of excellence in pathetic expression of any English song".<ref>Luckett, p. 95</ref> The subsequent series of mainly short choral movements cover Christ's Passion, Crucifixion, Death and Resurrection, at first in [[F minor]], with a brief F major respite in "All we like sheep". Here, Handel's use of ''Nò, di voi non-vo'fidarmi'' has Sedley Taylor's unqualified approval: "[Handel] bids the voices enter in solemn canonical sequence, and his chorus ends with a combination of grandeur and depth of feeling such as is at the command of consummate genius only".<ref>Taylor, pp. 42–43</ref>

The sense of desolation returns, in what Hogwood calls the "remote and barbarous" key of [[B-flat minor]], for the tenor recitative "All they that see him".<ref name= Hog22/><ref>Burrows (1991), p. 64</ref> The sombre sequence finally ends with the Ascension chorus "Lift up your heads", which Handel initially divides between two choral groups, the altos serving both as the bass line to a soprano choir and the treble line to the tenors and basses.<ref>Luckett, p. 97</ref> For the 1754 Foundling Hospital performance Handel added two horns, which join in when the chorus unites towards the end of the number.<ref name= Hog22/> After the celebratory tone of Christ's reception into heaven, marked by the choir's D major acclamation "Let all the angels of God worship him", the "[[Pentecost|Whitsun]]" section proceeds through a series of contrasting moods—serene and pastoral in "How beautiful are the feet", theatrically operatic in "Why do the nations so furiously rage"—towards the Part II culmination of [[Hallelujah]].

{{listen|image=none|help=no|filename=Handel - messiah - 44 hallelujah.ogg|title='''No. 44.''' Chorus: ''Hallelujah''}}
The ''Hallelujah'' chorus, as Young points out, is not the climactic chorus of the work, although one cannot escape its "contagious enthusiasm".<ref>Young, p. 42</ref> It builds from a deceptively light orchestral opening,<ref name= Hog22/> through a short, unison [[cantus firmus]] passage on the words "For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth" (the theme based on the fugue theme from Corelli's "Fuga a Quattro Voci"), to the reappearance of the long-silent trumpets at "And He shall reign for ever and ever". Commentators have noted that the musical line for this third subject is based on ''[[Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme|Wachet auf]]'', Philipp Nicolai's popular [[Lutheran chorale]].<ref name= Hog22/><ref>Luckett, pp. 102–104</ref>

===Part III===
{{Main|Messiah Part III}}
[[File:Worthy-is-the-lamb.jpg|thumb|First page of the concluding chorus "Worthy is the Lamb": From Handel's original manuscript in the [[British Library]], London]]
The opening soprano solo in E major, "I know that my Redeemer liveth" is one of the few numbers in the oratorio that has remained unrevised from its original form.<ref name= H26>Hogwood, pp. 26–28</ref> Its simple unison violin accompaniment and its consoling rhythms apparently brought tears to Burney's eyes.<ref name= L104>Luckett, pp. 104–106</ref> It is followed by a quiet chorus that leads to the bass's declamation in D major: "Behold, I tell you a mystery", then the long aria "The trumpet shall sound", marked ''{{lang|it|pomposo ma non-allegro}}'' ("dignified but not fast").<ref name= H26/> Handel originally wrote this in [[da capo]] form, but shortened it to [[dal segno]], probably before the first performance.<ref>Burrows (1991), p. 99</ref> The extended, characteristic trumpet tune that precedes and accompanies the voice is the only significant instrumental solo in the entire oratorio. Handel's awkward, repeated stressing of the fourth syllable of "incorruptible" may have been the source of the 18th-century poet [[William Shenstone]]'s comment that he "could observe some parts in ''Messiah'' wherein Handel's judgements failed him; where the music was not equal, or was even ''opposite'', to what the words required".<ref name= H26/><ref>Luckett, p. 191</ref> After a brief solo recitative, the alto is joined by the tenor for the only duet in Handel's final version of the music, "O death, where is thy sting?" The melody is adapted from Handel's 1722 cantata ''{{lang|it|Se tu non-lasci amore}}'', and is in Luckett's view the most successful of the Italian borrowings.<ref name= L104/> The duet runs straight into the chorus "But thanks be to God".<ref name= H26/>

The reflective soprano solo "If God be for us" (originally written for alto) quotes [[Martin Luther|Luther]]'s chorale ''{{lang|de|[[Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir|Aus tiefer Not]]}}''. It ushers in the D major choral finale: "Worthy is the Lamb", leading to the apocalyptic "Amen" in which, says Hogwood, "the entry of the trumpets marks the final storming of heaven".<ref name= H26/> Handel's first biographer, [[John Mainwaring]], wrote in 1760 that this conclusion revealed the composer "rising still higher" than in "that vast effort of genius, the Hallelujah chorus".<ref name= L104/> Young writes that the "Amen" should, in the manner of [[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina|Palestrina]], "be delivered as though through the aisles and ambulatories of some great church".<ref>Young, p. 45</ref>