Editing Messiah (Handel) (section)

==Later performance history==

===18th century===
[[File:Messiah-Westminster-Abbey-1787.jpg|thumb|right|1787 advertisement for ''Messiah'' at [[Westminster Abbey]] with 800 performers]]
During the 1750s  ''Messiah'' was performed increasingly at festivals and cathedrals throughout the country.<ref>Shaw, pp. 55–61</ref> Individual choruses and arias were occasionally extracted for use as anthems or [[motet]]s in church services, or as concert pieces, a practice that grew in the 19th century and has continued ever since.<ref>Burrows (1991), p. 49</ref> After Handel's death, performances were given in [[Florence]] (1768), New York (excerpts, 1770), [[Hamburg]] (1772), and [[Mannheim]] (1777), where [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] first heard it.<ref name=chron>{{cite web|last1=Leissa|first1=Brad|last2=Vickers|first2=David|url= http://www.gfhandel.org/handel/chron.html|title= Chronology of George Frideric Handel's Life, Compositions, and his Times: 1760 and Beyond|website=GFHandel.org|access-date= 20 May 2011|archive-date= 2 July 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150702033736/http://www.gfhandel.org/handel/chron.html|url-status= live}}</ref> For the performances in Handel's lifetime and in the decades following his death, the musical forces used in the Foundling Hospital performance of 1754 are thought by Burrows to be typical.<ref>Burrows (1994), p. 304</ref> A fashion for large-scale performances began in 1784, in a series of commemorative concerts of Handel's music given in [[Westminster Abbey]] under the patronage of [[George III of the United Kingdom|King George III]]. A plaque on the Abbey wall records that "The Band consisting of DXXV [525] vocal & instrumental performers was conducted by [[Joah Bates]] Esqr."<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history/people/george-frederic-handel|title= History: George Frederic Handel|publisher= Westminster Abbey|access-date= 18 May 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170213044031/http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history/people/george-frederic-handel|archive-date= 13 February 2017|url-status= dead}}</ref> In a 1955 article, [[Malcolm Sargent|Sir Malcolm Sargent]], a proponent of large-scale performances, wrote, "Mr Bates&nbsp;... had known Handel well and respected his wishes. The orchestra employed was two hundred and fifty strong, including twelve horns, twelve trumpets, six [[trombone]]s and three pairs of timpani (some made especially large)."<ref name=sargent>{{cite magazine|authorlink= Malcolm Sargent|last= Sargent|first= Malcolm|url= http://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/gramophone-launches-new-digital-archive-app|title= Messiah|magazine= [[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]|date= April 1955|page= 19|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 1787 further performances were given at the Abbey; advertisements promised, "The Band will consist of Eight Hundred Performers".<ref>{{cite news|title= Advertisement|newspaper=[[The Times|The Daily Universal Register]]|date= 30 May 1787|page=1}}</ref>

In continental Europe, performances of ''Messiah'' were departing from Handel's practices in a different way: his score was being drastically reorchestrated to suit contemporary tastes. In 1786, [[Johann Adam Hiller]] presented ''Messiah'' with updated scoring in [[Berlin Cathedral]].<ref name=hiller>{{cite journal|last= Shedlock|first= J. S.|title= Mozart, Handel, and Johann Adam Hiller|journal= [[The Musical Times]]|date= August 1918|volume= 59|issue= 906|pages= 370–371|jstor= 908906|doi= 10.2307/908906|url= https://zenodo.org/record/1450004|url-access= subscription|access-date= 30 June 2019|archive-date= 27 October 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201027145340/https://zenodo.org/record/1450004|url-status= live}}</ref> In 1788 Hiller presented a performance of his revision with a choir of 259 and an orchestra of 87 strings, 10 bassoons, 11 oboes, 8 [[flute]]s, 8 horns, 4 [[clarinet]]s, 4 trombones, 7 trumpets, timpani, harpsichord and [[pipe organ|organ]].<ref name=hiller/> In 1789, Mozart was commissioned by Baron [[Gottfried van Swieten]] and the {{lang|de|[[Gesellschaft der Associierten]]}} to re-orchestrate several works by Handel, including  ''Messiah'' (''[[Der Messias]]'').<ref>Steinberg, p. 152</ref>{{refn|Swieten provided Mozart with a London publication of Handel's original orchestration (published by Randal & Abell), as well as a German translation of the English libretto, compiled and created by [[Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock]] and [[Christoph Daniel Ebeling]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Holschneider|first=Andreas|author-link= Andreas Holschneider|title=Händel – Bearbeitungen: Der Messias, Kritische Berichte|journal=Neue Mozart Ausgabe, Series X, Werkgruppe 28, Band 2|publisher=Bärenreiter|location=Kassel|year=1962|pages=40–42}}</ref>|group= n}} Writing for a small-scale performance, he eliminated the organ continuo, added parts for flutes, clarinets, trombones and horns, recomposed some passages and rearranged others. The performance took place on 6 March 1789 in the rooms of Count Johann Esterházy, with four soloists and a choir of 12.<ref name=rl338>Robbins Landon, p. 338</ref>{{refn|A repeat performance was given in the [[Esterháza]] court on 7 April 1789,<ref>Steinberg, p. 150</ref> and between the year of Mozart's death (1791) and 1800, there were four known performances of Mozart's re-orchestrated ''Messiah'' in Vienna: 5 April 1795, 23 March 1799, 23 December 1799 and 24 December 1799.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Link|first=Dorthea|title=Vienna's Private Theatrical and Musical Life, 1783–92, as reported by Count Karl Zinzendork|journal=Journal of the Royal Musical Association|year=1997|volume=12|issue=2|page=209}}</ref>|group= n}} Mozart's arrangement, with minor amendments from Hiller, was published in 1803, after his death.{{refn|Hiller was long thought to have revised Mozart's scoring substantially before the score was printed. Ebenezer Prout pointed out that the edition was published as "F. G. {{sic}} Händels Oratorium Der Messias, nach W. A. Mozarts Bearbeitung" – "nach" meaning ''after'' rather than ''in'' Mozart's arrangement. Prout noted that a Mozart edition of another Handel work, ''[[Alexander's Feast (Handel)|Alexander's Feast]]'' published in accordance with Mozart's manuscript, was printed as "mit neuer Bearbeitung von W. A. Mozart" ("with new arrangement by W. A. Mozart)."<ref name=prout1/> When Mozart's original manuscript subsequently came to light it was found that Hiller's changes were not extensive.<ref>{{cite web|last= Towe|first= Teri Noel|url= http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/works/handel/messiah/mozart.php|title= George Frideric Handel – Messiah – Arranged by Mozart|publisher= Classical Net|year= 1996|access-date= 11 June 2011|archive-date= 3 June 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110603234719/http://www.classical.net/music/comp.lst/works/handel/messiah/mozart.php|url-status= live}}</ref>|group= n}} The musical scholar [[Moritz Hauptmann]] described the Mozart additions as "[[stucco]] ornaments on a marble temple".<ref>{{cite journal|last= Cummings|first= William H.|title= The Mutilation of a Masterpiece|journal= Proceedings of the Musical Association, 30th Session (1903–1904)|volume= 30|date= 10 May 1904|pages= 113–127|jstor= 765308|doi= 10.1093/jrma/30.1.113|url= https://zenodo.org/record/1853629|url-access= subscription|access-date= 30 June 2019|archive-date= 26 September 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200926001122/https://zenodo.org/record/1853629|url-status= live}}</ref> Mozart himself was reportedly circumspect about his changes, insisting that any alterations to Handel's score should not be interpreted as an effort to improve the music.<ref name=Kandell>{{cite magazine|last= Kandell|first= Jonathan|title= The Glorious History of Handel's Messiah|url= http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-glorious-history-of-handels-messiah-148168540|magazine=[[Smithsonian Magazine]]|date= December 2009|publisher= The Smithsonian Institution|access-date= 18 May 2016|archive-date= 13 May 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160513135123/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-glorious-history-of-handels-messiah-148168540/|url-status= live}}</ref> Elements of this version later became familiar to British audiences, incorporated into editions of the score by editors including [[Ebenezer Prout]].<ref name=rl338/>

===19th century===
[[File:Crystal-palace-handel-1857.jpg|thumb|The Handel Festival at [[The Crystal Palace]], 1857]]

In the 19th century, approaches to Handel in German- and English-speaking countries diverged further. In Leipzig in 1856, the musicologist [[Friedrich Chrysander]] and the literary historian [[Georg Gottfried Gervinus]] founded the Deutsche [[Händel-Gesellschaft]] with the aim of publishing authentic editions of all Handel's works.<ref name=chron/> At the same time, performances in Britain and the United States moved away from Handel's performance practice with increasingly grandiose renditions. ''Messiah'' was presented in New York in 1853 with a chorus of 300 and in Boston in 1865 with more than 600.<ref>{{cite news|title= Musical|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1853/12/27/archives/musical.html|newspaper= [[The New York Times]]|date= 27 December 1853|access-date= 13 April 2022|archive-date= 12 February 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200212172511/https://www.nytimes.com/1853/12/27/archives/musical.html|url-status= live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= The Great Musical Festival in Boston |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1865/06/04/news/the-great-musical-festival-in-boston-boston-enjoying-itself.html |work= The New York Times |date= 4 June 1865 |url-access= subscription |access-date= 11 February 2017 |archive-date= 27 April 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170427203733/http://www.nytimes.com/1865/06/04/news/the-great-musical-festival-in-boston-boston-enjoying-itself.html |url-status= live }}</ref> In Britain a [[Handel Festival 1857|"Great Handel Festival"]] was held at [[the Crystal Palace]] in 1857, performing ''Messiah'' and other Handel oratorios, with a chorus of 2,000 singers and an orchestra of 500.<ref>{{cite news|title= Handel Festival, Crystal Palace|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date= 15 June 1857|page=6}}</ref>

In the 1860s and 1870s ever larger forces were assembled. [[George Bernard Shaw|Bernard Shaw]], in his role as a music critic, commented, "The stale wonderment which the great chorus never fails to elicit has already been exhausted";<ref>Laurence (Vol. 1), p. 151</ref> he later wrote, "Why, instead of wasting huge sums on the multitudinous dullness of a Handel Festival does not somebody set up a thoroughly rehearsed and exhaustively studied performance of the Messiah in [[St James's Hall]] with a chorus of twenty capable artists? Most of us would be glad to hear the work seriously performed once before we die."<ref>Laurence (Vol. 2), pp. 245–246</ref> The employment of huge forces necessitated considerable augmentation of the orchestral parts. Many admirers of Handel believed that the composer would have made such additions, had the appropriate instruments been available in his day.<ref>{{cite journal|last= Smither|first= Howard E.|title= 'Messiah' and Progress in Victorian England|journal= Early Music|volume=  13|issue=  3|date= August 1985|pages=339–348|jstor= 3127559|doi= 10.1093/earlyj/13.3.339}}{{Subscription required}}</ref> Shaw argued, largely unheeded, that "the composer may be spared from his friends, and the function of writing or selecting 'additional orchestral accompaniments' exercised with due discretion."<ref>Laurence (Vol. 1), p, 95</ref>

One reason for the popularity of huge-scale performances was the ubiquity of amateur choral societies. The conductor [[Thomas Beecham|Sir Thomas Beecham]] wrote that for 200 years the chorus was "the national medium of musical utterance" in Britain. However, after the heyday of Victorian choral societies, he noted a "rapid and violent reaction against monumental performances&nbsp;... an appeal from several quarters that Handel should be played and heard as in the days between 1700 and 1750".<ref>Beecham, pp. 6–7</ref> At the end of the century, [[Frederick Bridge|Sir Frederick Bridge]] and T. W. Bourne pioneered revivals of ''Messiah'' in Handel's orchestration, and Bourne's work was the basis for further scholarly versions in the early 20th century.<ref>{{cite news|last=Armstrong|first= Thomas|title= Handel's 'Messiah'|newspaper=The Times|date= 2 April 1943|page=5}}</ref>

===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/>|}}