Editing Messiah (Handel) (section)

===Libretto===
[[File:Charles Jennens23.jpg|thumb|upright|A portrait of [[Charles Jennens]] by [[Thomas Hudson (painter)|Thomas Hudson]] from around 1740; now in the [[Handel House Museum]]]]
Charles Jennens was born around 1700, into a prosperous landowning family whose lands and properties in [[Warwickshire]] and [[Leicestershire]] he eventually inherited.<ref name= MT-Jennens/> His religious and political views—he opposed the [[Act of Settlement 1701|Act of Settlement of 1701]] which secured the accession to the British throne for the [[House of Hanover]]—prevented him from receiving his degree from [[Balliol College, Oxford]], or from pursuing any form of public career. His family's wealth enabled him to live a life of leisure while devoting himself to his literary and musical interests.<ref>Burrows (1991), pp. 9–10</ref> Although musicologist [[Watkins Shaw]] dismisses Jennens as "a conceited figure of no special ability",<ref name= Shaw11/> Burrows has written: "of Jennens's musical literacy there can be no doubt". He was certainly devoted to Handel's music, having helped to finance the publication of every Handel score since ''[[Rodelinda (opera)|Rodelinda]]'' in 1725.<ref name= OMO2>{{cite web |last= Smith |first= Ruth|title= Jennens, Charles|url= http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/14259?q=Charles+Jennens&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1|work= Grove Music Online|access-date= 16 June 2011|archive-date= 3 July 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200703055430/https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000014259?_start=1&pos=1&q=Charles%20Jennens&search=quick|url-status= live}}(subscription)</ref> By 1741, after their collaboration on ''Saul'', a warm friendship had developed between the two, and Handel was a frequent visitor to the Jennens family estate at [[Gopsall]].<ref name= MT-Jennens>{{cite journal|title= Mr Charles Jennens: the Compiler of Handel's Messiah |journal= [[The Musical Times|The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular]] |volume= 43|issue= 717|date= 1 November 1902|pages= 726–727 |doi= 10.2307/3369540|jstor=3369540}}</ref>

Jennens's letter to Holdsworth of 10 July 1741, in which he first mentions ''Messiah'', suggests that the text was a recent work, probably assembled earlier that summer. As a devout [[Church of England|Anglican]] and believer in scriptural authority, Jennens intended to challenge advocates of [[Deism]], who rejected the doctrine of [[Divine providence|divine intervention]] in human affairs.<ref name= L76/> Shaw describes the text as "a meditation of our Lord as Messiah in Christian thought and belief", and despite his reservations on Jennens's character, concedes that the finished [[libretto|wordbook]] "amounts to little short of a work of genius".<ref name= Shaw11>Shaw, p. 11</ref> There is no evidence that Handel played any active role in the selection or preparation of the text, such as he did in the case of ''Saul''; it seems, rather, that he saw no need to make any significant amendment to Jennens's work.<ref name= B10>Burrows (1991), pp. 10–11</ref>