Editing Messiah (Handel) (section)

==Premières==
===Dublin, 1742===
[[File:Musick-hall-dublin.jpg|thumb|right|[[Neale's Musick Hall, Dublin|The Great Music Hall]] in Fishamble Street, Dublin, where ''Messiah'' was first performed]]
Handel's decision to give a season of concerts in Dublin in the winter of 1741–42 arose from an invitation from the [[William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire|Duke of Devonshire]], then serving as [[Lord Lieutenant of Ireland]].<ref name= Shaw24>Shaw, pp. 24–26</ref>  A violinist friend of Handel's, [[Matthew Dubourg]], was in Dublin as the Lord Lieutenant's bandmaster; he would look after the tour's orchestral requirements.<ref name= Cole>{{cite journal|last= Cole|first= Hugo |title= Handel in Dublin |journal=Irish Arts Review (1984–87)|volume=1| issue= 2 |date= Summer 1984|pages= 28–30}}</ref> Whether Handel originally intended to perform ''Messiah'' in Dublin is uncertain; he did not inform Jennens of any such plan, for the latter wrote to Holdsworth on 2 December 1741: "…it was some mortification to me to hear that instead of performing ''Messiah'' here he has gone into Ireland with it."<ref>Burrows (1991), p. 14</ref> After arriving in Dublin on 18 November 1741, Handel arranged a subscription series of six concerts, to be held between December 1741 and February 1742 at the [[Neale's Musick Hall, Dublin|Great Music Hall]], [[Fishamble Street]]. The venue had been built in 1741 specifically to accommodate concerts for the benefit of ''The Charitable and Musical Society for the Release of Imprisoned Debtors'', a charity for whom Handel had agreed to perform one benefit performance.{{sfn|Bardon|2015|page=18}} These concerts were so popular that a second series was quickly arranged; ''Messiah'' figured in neither series.<ref name= Shaw24/>

In early March Handel began discussions with the appropriate committees for a charity concert, to be given in April, at which he intended to present ''Messiah''. He sought and was given permission from [[St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin|St Patrick's]] and [[Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin|Christ Church]] cathedrals to use their choirs for this occasion.<ref>Luckett, pp. 117–119</ref><ref name= B17>Burrows (1991), pp. 17–19</ref>  These forces amounted to sixteen men and sixteen [[boy soprano|boy choristers]]; several of the men were allocated solo parts. The women soloists were [[Christina Maria Avoglio]], who had sung the main [[soprano]] roles in the two subscription series, and [[Susannah Maria Cibber|Susannah Cibber]], an established stage actress and [[contralto]] who had sung in the second series.<ref name=B17/><ref>Luckett, pp. 124–125</ref> To accommodate Cibber's vocal range, the recitative "Then shall the eyes of the blind" and the aria "He shall feed his flock" were transposed down to [[F major]].<ref name= B22/><ref name= Hog17/> The performance, also in the Fishamble Street hall, was originally announced for 12 April, but was deferred for a day "at the request of persons of Distinction".<ref name= Shaw24/> The orchestra in Dublin comprised [[string section|strings]], two trumpets, and timpani; the number of players is unknown. Handel had his own organ shipped to Ireland for the performances; a [[harpsichord]] was probably also used.<ref>{{cite book|last=Butt|first=John|title= Programme notes|series=[[Three Choirs Festival]], Gloucester| date =  2013}}</ref>

The three charities that were to benefit were [[debtors' prison|prisoners' debt]] relief, the [[Mercer's Hospital]], and the [[Charitable Infirmary, Dublin|Charitable Infirmary]].<ref name = B17/> In its report on a public rehearsal, the ''Dublin News-Letter'' described the oratorio as "…far surpass[ing] anything of that Nature which has been performed in this or any other Kingdom".<ref>Luckett, p. 126</ref> Seven hundred people attended the premiere on 13 April.<ref name = L127/> So that the largest possible audience could be admitted to the concert, gentlemen were requested to remove their swords, and ladies were asked not to wear [[hoop skirt|hoops]] in their dresses.<ref name= B17/> The performance earned unanimous praise from the assembled press: "Words are wanting to express the exquisite delight it afforded to the admiring and crouded Audience".<ref name= L127 /> A Dublin clergyman, Rev. Delaney, was so overcome by Susanna Cibber's rendering of "He was despised" that reportedly he leapt to his feet and cried: "Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven thee!"<ref name= Hog22>Hogwood, pp. 22–25</ref>{{refn|It is possible that Delaney was alluding to the fact that Cibber was, at that time, involved in a scandalous divorce suit.<ref name=Kandell />|group= n}} The takings amounted to around [[pound sterling|£]]400, providing about £127 to each of the three nominated charities and securing the release of 142 indebted prisoners.<ref name= Cole/><ref name= L127>Luckett, pp. 127–128</ref>

Handel remained in Dublin for four months after the première. He organised a second performance of ''Messiah'' on 3 June, which was announced as "the last Performance of Mr Handel's during his Stay in [[Kingdom of Ireland|this Kingdom]]". In this second ''Messiah'', which was for Handel's private financial benefit, Cibber reprised her role from the first performance, though Avoglio may have been replaced by a Mrs Maclaine;<ref>Shaw, p. 30</ref> details of other performers are not recorded.<ref>Luckett, p. 131</ref>

===London, 1743–59===
The warm reception accorded to ''Messiah'' in Dublin was not repeated in London. Indeed, even the announcement of the performance as a "new Sacred Oratorio" drew an anonymous commentator to ask if "the ''Playhouse'' is a fit ''Temple'' to perform it".<ref>Glover, p. 318</ref> Handel introduced the work at [[Royal Opera House#First theatre|the Covent Garden theatre]] on 23 March 1743. Avoglio and Cibber were again the chief soloists; they were joined by the [[tenor]] [[John Beard (tenor)|John Beard]], a veteran of Handel's operas, the [[bass (voice type)|bass]] Thomas Rheinhold and two other sopranos, Kitty Clive and Miss Edwards.<ref>Shaw, pp. 31–34</ref> The first performance was overshadowed by views expressed in the press that the work's subject matter was too exalted to be performed in a theatre, particularly by secular singer-actresses such as Cibber and Clive. In an attempt to deflect such sensibilities, in London Handel had avoided the name ''Messiah'' and presented the work as the "New Sacred Oratorio".<ref name= B24>Burrows (1991), pp. 24–27</ref> As was his custom, Handel rearranged the music to suit his singers. He wrote a new setting of "And lo, the angel of the Lord" for Clive, never used subsequently. He added a tenor song for Beard: "Their sound is gone out", which had appeared in Jennens's original libretto but had not been in the Dublin performances.<ref name=B30>Burrows (1991), pp. 30–31</ref>

[[File:Microcosm of London Plate 037 - Foundling Hospital.jpg|thumb|left|The chapel of London's [[Foundling Hospital]], the venue for regular charity performances of ''Messiah'' from 1750]]
The custom of standing for the ''Hallelujah'' chorus originates from a popular belief that, at the London premiere, King George II did so, which would have obliged all to stand. There is no convincing evidence that the king was present, or that he attended any subsequent performance of ''Messiah''; the first reference to the practice of standing appears in a letter dated 1756, three years prior to Handel's death.<ref>Luckett, p. 175</ref><ref>Burrows (1991), pp. 28–29</ref>

London's initially cool reception of ''Messiah'' led Handel to reduce the season's planned six performances to three, and not to present the work at all in 1744—to the considerable annoyance of Jennens, whose relations with the composer temporarily soured.<ref name= B24/> At Jennens's request, Handel made several changes in the music for the 1745 revival: "Their sound is gone out" became a choral piece, the soprano song "Rejoice greatly" was recomposed in shortened form, and the transpositions for Cibber's voice were restored to their original soprano range.<ref name= B41>Burrows (1991), pp. 41–44</ref> Jennens wrote to Holdsworth on 30 August 1745: "[Handel] has made a fine Entertainment of it, though not near so good as he might & ought to have done. I have with great difficulty made him correct some of the grosser faults in the composition…"  Handel directed two performances at Covent Garden in 1745, on 9 and 11 April,<ref>Luckett, p. 153</ref> and then set the work aside for four years.<ref>Burrows (1991), pp. 34–35</ref>

[[File:Arms of the Foundling Hospital with an admission ticket (BM 1858,0417.578).jpg|thumb|Uncompleted admission ticket for the May 1750 performance, including the arms of the venue, the [[Foundling Hospital]]]]
The 1749 revival at Covent Garden, under the proper title of ''Messiah'', saw the appearance of two female soloists who were henceforth closely associated with Handel's music: [[Giulia Frasi]] and [[Caterina Galli]]. In the following year these were joined by the [[countertenor|male alto]] [[Gaetano Guadagni]], for whom Handel composed new versions of "But who may abide" and "Thou art gone up on high". The year 1750 also saw the institution of the annual charity performances of ''Messiah'' at London's [[Foundling Hospital]], which continued until Handel's death and beyond.<ref>Shaw, pp. 42–47</ref> The 1754 performance at the hospital is the first for which full details of the orchestral and vocal forces survive. The orchestra included fifteen violins, five violas, three [[cello]]s, two [[double bass]]es, four [[bassoon]]s, four oboes, two trumpets, two horns and drums. In the chorus of nineteen were six [[treble voice|trebles]] from the Chapel Royal; the remainder, all men, were altos, tenors and basses. Frasi, Galli and Beard led the five soloists, who were required to assist the chorus.<ref>Shaw, pp. 49–50</ref>{{refn|[[Anthony Hicks]] gives a slightly different instrumentation: fourteen violins and six violas.<ref>Hicks, p. 14</ref>|group= n}} For this performance the transposed Guadagni arias were restored to the soprano voice.<ref>Hogwood, pp. 18, 24</ref> By 1754 Handel was severely afflicted by the onset of blindness, and in 1755 he turned over the direction of the ''Messiah'' hospital performance to his pupil, J. C. Smith.<ref name= Shaw51>Shaw, pp. 51–52</ref> He apparently resumed his duties in 1757 and may have continued thereafter.<ref>Luckett, p. 176</ref> The final performance of the work at which Handel was present was at Covent Garden on 6 April 1759, eight days before his death.<ref name= Shaw51/>