Editing Messiah (Handel)

{{Short description|1741 sacred oratorio by Handel}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Featured article}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox musical composition
| name         = ''Messiah''
| type         = [[Oratorio]]
| image        = Messiah-titlepage.jpg
| caption      = Title page of Handel's autograph score
| composer     = [[George Frideric Handel]]
| composed     = {{Timeline-event|date={{Start date|1741|08|22|df=y}}|end_date={{End date|1741|09|14|df=y}}|location=London}}
| text         = [[Charles Jennens]], from the [[Authorized King James Version|King James Bible]] and the [[Book of Common Prayer]]
| language     = English
| movements    = 53 in three parts
| vocal        = [[SATB|{{abbr|SATB|soprano, alto, tenor and bass}}]] choir and solo
| instrumental = {{hlist | 2 trumpets | timpani | 2 oboes | 2 violins | viola | basso continuo}}
}}
'''''Messiah''''' ([[HWV]] 56)<ref>Also catalogued as [[Händel-Gesellschaft|HG]] xlv; and [[Hallische Händel-Ausgabe|HHA]] i/17.{{cite NewGrove2001|title=Kuzel, Zachary Frideric|last=Hicks|first=Anthony|authorlink=Anthony Hicks|volume=x|page=785}}</ref>{{refn|Since its earliest performances, the work has often been referred to, incorrectly, as "The ''Messiah''". The article is absent from the proper title.<ref>{{cite web|last= Myers|first= Paul (Transcription of broadcast)|title= Handel's Messiah|url= http://music.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/9912_messiah/|publisher= Minnesota Public Radio|date= December 1999|access-date= 20 July 2011|archive-date= 27 September 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110927153948/http://music.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/9912_messiah/|url-status= live}}</ref>|group= n}} is an English-language [[oratorio]] composed in 1741 by [[George Frideric Handel]]. The text was compiled from the [[King James Bible]] and the [[Coverdale Bible|Coverdale Psalter]]{{refn|Coverdale's version of the [[Psalms]] was the one included with the ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]''.|group= n}} by [[Charles Jennens]]. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in [[Western culture#Music|Western music]].

Handel's reputation in England, where he had lived since 1712, had been established through his compositions of [[Italian opera]]. He turned to English oratorio in the 1730s in response to changes in public taste; ''Messiah'' was his sixth work in this genre. Although its [[Structure of Handel's Messiah|structure]] resembles that of [[Opera#The Baroque era|opera]], it is not in dramatic form; there are no impersonations of characters and no direct speech. Instead, Jennens's text is an extended reflection on [[Jesus]] as the [[Messiah]] called [[Christ (title)|Christ]]. The text begins in [[Messiah Part I|Part I]] with prophecies by [[Isaiah]] and others, and moves to the [[annunciation to the shepherds]], the only "scene" taken from the [[Gospel]]s. In [[Messiah Part II|Part II]], Handel concentrates on the [[Passion of Jesus]] and ends with the [[Messiah Part II#44|''Hallelujah'' chorus]]. In [[Messiah Part III|Part III]], he covers [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]]'s teachings on the [[1 Corinthians 15#Resurrection of the body|resurrection of the dead]] and Christ's [[Book of Revelation#Outline|glorification in heaven]].

Handel wrote ''Messiah'' for modest vocal and instrumental forces, with optional alternate settings for many of the individual numbers. In the years after his death, the work was adapted for performance on a much larger scale, with giant orchestras and choirs. In other efforts to update it, its orchestration was revised and amplified, such as Mozart's {{lang|de|[[Der Messias]]}}. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, the trend has been towards reproducing a greater fidelity to Handel's original intentions, although "big ''Messiah"'' productions continue to be mounted. A near-complete version was issued on [[Gramophone record#78 rpm disc developments|78&nbsp;rpm discs]] in 1928; since then the work has been recorded many times.

The autograph manuscript of the oratorio is preserved in the [[British Library]].

==Background==
The composer [[George Frideric Handel]], born in [[Halle (Saale)|Halle]] in [[Brandenburg-Prussia]] (modern Germany) in 1685, took up permanent residence in London in 1712, and [[Handel's Naturalisation Act 1727|became a naturalised British subject in 1727]].<ref name= OMO/> By 1741 his pre-eminence in British music was evident from the honours he had accumulated, including a pension from the court of [[George II of Great Britain|King George II]], the office of Composer of Musick for the [[Chapel Royal]], and—most unusually for a living person—a statue erected in his honour in [[Vauxhall Gardens]].<ref>Luckett, p. 17</ref> Within a large and varied musical output, Handel was a vigorous champion of Italian opera, which he had introduced to London in 1711 with ''[[Rinaldo (opera)|Rinaldo]]''. He subsequently wrote and presented more than 40 such operas in London's theatres.<ref name= OMO>{{cite book|last= Lynam|first= Peter|title= Handel, George Frideric|url= http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t114/e3115?q=Handel&hbutton_search.x=19&hbutton_search.y=9&hbutton_search=search&source=omo_epm&source=omo_t237&source=omo_gmo&source=omo_t114&search=quick&pos=27&_start=26|series= Grove Music Online|year=2011|publisher= Oxford University Press|isbn= 978-0-19-957903-7|access-date= 15 June 2011|url-access= subscription|archive-date= 3 July 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200703055352/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199579037.001.0001/acref-9780199579037-e-3115|url-status= live}}</ref>

[[File:BLW Handel.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Statue erected in Handel's honour, in [[Vauxhall Gardens]], London; now in the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]]]]
By the early 1730s public taste for Italian opera was beginning to fade. The popular success of [[John Gay]] and [[Johann Christoph Pepusch]]'s ''[[The Beggar's Opera]]'' (first performed in 1728) had heralded a spate of English-language ballad-operas that mocked the pretensions of Italian opera.<ref>Steen, p. 55</ref> With box-office receipts falling, Handel's productions were increasingly reliant on private subsidies from the nobility. Such funding became harder to obtain after the launch in 1730 of the [[Opera of the Nobility]], a rival company to his own. Handel overcame this challenge, but he spent large sums of his own money in doing so.<ref>Steen, pp. 57–58</ref>

Although prospects for Italian opera were declining, Handel remained committed to the genre, but as alternatives to his staged works he began to introduce English-language oratorios.<ref name="Burrows 1991, p. 4">Burrows (1991), p. 4</ref> In Rome in 1707–08 he had written two Italian oratorios at a time when opera performances in the city were temporarily forbidden under [[Pope Clement XI|papal]] decree.<ref>Burrows (1991), p. 3</ref> His first venture into English oratorio had been ''[[Esther (Handel)|Esther]]'', which was written and performed for a private patron in about 1718.<ref name="Burrows 1991, p. 4"/> In 1732 Handel brought a revised and expanded version of ''Esther'' to the [[Her Majesty's Theatre|King's Theatre, Haymarket]], where members of the royal family attended a glittering premiere on 6 May. Its success encouraged Handel to write two more oratorios (''[[Deborah (Handel)|Deborah]]'' and  ''[[Athalia (Handel)|Athalia]]''). All three oratorios were performed to large and appreciative audiences at the [[Sheldonian Theatre]] in Oxford in mid-1733. Undergraduates reportedly sold their furniture to raise the money for the five-[[shilling (British coin)|shilling]] tickets.<ref>Luckett, p. 30</ref>

In 1735 Handel received the text for a new oratorio named ''[[Saul (Handel)|Saul]]'' from its [[librettist]] [[Charles Jennens]], a wealthy landowner with musical and literary interests.<ref>Luckett, p. 33</ref> Because Handel's main creative concern was still with opera, he did not write the music for ''Saul'' until 1738, in preparation for his 1738–39 theatrical season. The work, after opening at the King's Theatre in January 1739 to a warm reception, was quickly followed by the less successful oratorio ''[[Israel in Egypt]]'' (which may also have come from Jennens).<ref>Luckett, pp. 38–41</ref> Although Handel continued to write operas, the trend towards English-language productions became irresistible as the decade ended. After three performances of his last Italian opera ''[[Deidamia (opera)|Deidamia]]'' in January and February 1741, he abandoned the genre.<ref>Burrows (1991), pp. 6–7</ref> In July 1741 Jennens sent him a new libretto for an oratorio; in a letter dated 10 July to his friend [[Edward Holdsworth]], Jennens wrote: "I hope [Handel] will lay out his whole Genius & Skill upon it, that the Composition may excell all his former Compositions, as the Subject excells every other subject. The Subject is Messiah".<ref name= B10/>

==Synopsis==
{{Main|Structure of Handel's Messiah}}
In [[Christian theology]], the [[Messiah#Christianity|Messiah]] is the [[Salvation in Christianity|saviour]] of humankind. The Messiah (''Māšîaḥ'') is an Old Testament [[Biblical Hebrew|Hebrew]] word meaning "the Anointed One", which in [[New Testament]] [[Koine Greek|Greek]] is [[Christ (title)|Christ]], a title given to [[Jesus of Nazareth]], known by his followers as "Jesus Christ". Handel's ''Messiah'' has been described by the early-music scholar Richard Luckett as "a commentary on [Jesus Christ's] Nativity, Passion, Resurrection and Ascension", beginning with God's promises as spoken by the prophets and ending with Christ's glorification in heaven.<ref name= L76>Luckett, pp. 76–77</ref> In contrast with most of Handel's oratorios, the singers in ''Messiah'' do not assume dramatic roles; there is no single, dominant narrative voice; and very little use is made of [[direct speech|quoted speech]]. In his libretto, Jennens's intention was not to dramatise the life and teachings of Jesus, but to acclaim the "[[Sacred mysteries#Christianity|Mystery]] of Godliness",<ref name= B57/> using a compilation of extracts from the [[Authorized King James Version|Authorized (King James) Version]] of the Bible, and from the [[Psalms]] included in the 1662 [[Book of Common Prayer]].<ref>Luckett, p. 73</ref>

The three-part structure of the work approximates to that of Handel's three-act operas, with the "parts" subdivided by Jennens into "[[Messiah structure#Scenes|scenes]]". Each scene is a collection of individual numbers or "[[movement (music)|movements]]" which take the form of [[recitative]]s, [[aria]]s and choruses.<ref name= B57>Burrows (1991), pp. 55–57</ref> There are two instrumental numbers, the opening ''Sinfony''{{refn|The description "Sinfony" is taken from Handel's autograph score.<ref>Burrows (1991), p. 84</ref>|group= n}} in the style of a [[French overture]], and the [[pastorale|pastoral]] ''Pifa'', often called the "pastoral symphony", at the mid-point of Part I.<ref>Burrows (1991), pp. 73–74</ref>

In Part I, the Messiah's coming and the [[Virgin birth of Jesus|virgin birth]] are predicted by the Old Testament prophets. The [[annunciation to the shepherds]] of the [[Nativity of Jesus|birth of the Christ]] is represented in the words of [[Gospel of Luke|Luke's gospel]]. Part II covers [[Passion of Jesus|Christ's passion and his death]], his [[Resurrection of Jesus|resurrection]] and [[Ascension of Jesus|ascension]], the first spreading of the [[gospel]] through the world, and a definitive statement of God's glory summarised in the ''Hallelujah''. Part III begins with the promise of redemption, followed by a prediction of the [[Last Judgment|day of judgment]] and the "[[Resurrection of the dead|general resurrection]]", ending with the final victory over sin and death and the acclamation of Christ.<ref name= L79>Luckett, pp. 79–80</ref> According to the musicologist [[Donald Burrows (musicologist)|Donald Burrows]], much of the text is so allusive as to be largely incomprehensible to those ignorant of the biblical accounts.<ref name= B57/> For the benefit of his audiences Jennens printed and issued a pamphlet explaining the reasons for his choices of scriptural selections.<ref name="Vickers">{{cite web|author=Vickers, David |url=http://www.gfhandel.org/messiah.html |title=''Messiah'', A Sacred Oratorio |publisher=GFHandel.org |access-date=5 November 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120908030611/http://gfhandel.org/messiah.html |archive-date=8 September 2012 }}</ref>

==Writing history==
===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>

===Composition===
The music for ''Messiah'' was completed in 24 days of swift composition. Having received Jennens's text some time after 10 July 1741, Handel began work on it on 22 August. His records show that he had completed Part I in outline by 28 August, Part II by 6 September and Part III by 12 September, followed by two days of "filling up" to produce the finished work on 14 September. This rapid pace was seen by Jennens not as a sign of ecstatic energy but rather as "careless negligence", and the relations between the two men would remain strained, since Jennens "urged Handel to make improvements" while the composer stubbornly refused.<ref>Glover, p. 317</ref> The [[autograph (manuscript)|autograph]] score's 259 pages show some signs of haste such as blots, scratchings-out, unfilled [[bar (music)|bars]] and other uncorrected errors, but according to the music scholar Richard Luckett the number of errors is remarkably small in a document of this length.<ref name= L86>Luckett, p. 86</ref> The original manuscript for ''Messiah'' is now held in the [[British Library]]'s music collection.<ref>{{cite web|title= Messiah by George Frideric Handel|url= http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/hightours/handel/|publisher= British Library|access-date= 18 May 2016|archive-date= 3 July 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200703055343/https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/Messiah-by-George-Frideric-Handel|url-status= live}}</ref> It is scored for two [[trumpet]]s, [[timpani]], two [[oboe]]s, two [[violin]]s, [[viola]], and [[basso continuo]].

At the end of his manuscript Handel wrote the letters "SDG"—''{{lang|la|[[Soli Deo Gloria]]}}'', "To God alone the glory". This inscription, taken with the speed of composition, has encouraged belief in the apocryphal story that Handel wrote the music in a fervour of [[divine inspiration]] in which, as he wrote the ''Hallelujah'' chorus, "He saw all heaven before him".<ref name= L86/> Burrows points out that many of Handel's operas of comparable length and structure to ''Messiah'' were composed within similar timescales between theatrical seasons. The effort of writing so much music in so short a time was not unusual for Handel and his contemporaries; Handel commenced his next oratorio, ''Samson'', within a week of finishing ''Messiah'', and completed his draft of this new work in a month.<ref>Burrows (1991), pp. 8, 12</ref><ref>Shaw, p. 18</ref> In accordance with his practice when writing new works, Handel adapted existing compositions for use in ''Messiah'', in this case drawing on two recently completed Italian duets and one written twenty years previously. Thus, ''{{lang|it|Se tu non lasci amore}}'' HWV 193 from 1722 became the basis of "O Death, where is thy sting?"; "His yoke is easy" and "And he shall purify" were drawn from ''{{lang|it|Quel fior che all'alba ride}}'' HWV 192 (July 1741), "Unto us a child is born" and "All we like sheep" from ''{{lang|it|Nò, di voi non vo' fidarmi}}'' HWV 189 (July 1741).<ref>Shaw, p. 13</ref><ref name= B61>Burrows (1991), pp. 61–62</ref> Handel's instrumentation in the score is often imprecise, again in line with contemporary convention, where the use of certain instruments and combinations was assumed and did not need to be written down by the composer; later copyists would fill in the details.<ref>Shaw, pp. 22–23</ref>

Before the first performance Handel made numerous revisions to his manuscript score, in part to match the forces available for the 1742 Dublin premiere; it is probable that his work was not performed as originally conceived in his lifetime.<ref name= B22>Burrows (1991), p. 22</ref> Between 1742 and 1754 he continued to revise and recompose individual movements, sometimes to suit the requirements of particular singers.<ref name= B41/> The first published score of ''Messiah'' was issued in 1767, eight years after Handel's death, though this was based on relatively early manuscripts and included none of Handel's later revisions.<ref>Burrows (1991), p. 48</ref>

==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/>

==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/>|}}

==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>

==Recordings==
Many early recordings of individual choruses and arias from ''Messiah'' reflect the performance styles then fashionable—large forces, slow tempi and liberal reorchestration. Typical examples are choruses conducted by [[Henry Wood|Sir Henry Wood]], recorded in 1926 for [[Columbia Graphophone Company|Columbia]] with the 3,500-strong choir and orchestra of the Crystal Palace Handel Festival, and a contemporary rival disc from [[His Master's Voice (British record label)|His Master's Voice]] (HMV) featuring the Royal Choral Society under Sargent, recorded at the [[Royal Albert Hall]].<ref>{{cite magazine|authorlink= Herman Klein|last= Klein|first= Herman|url= http://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/gramophone-launches-new-digital-archive-app|title= Messiah|magazine= The Gramophone|date= August 1926|page= 39|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>

The first near-complete recording of the whole work (with the cuts then customary){{refn|The numbers customarily omitted were: from Part II, "Unto which of the angels"; "Let all the angels of God worship Him"; and "Thou art gone up on high"; and from Part III, "Then shall be brought to pass"; "O death, where is thy sting?", "But thanks be to God"; and "If God be for us".<ref name=rg/>|group= n}} was conducted by Beecham in 1928. It represented an effort by Beecham to "provide an interpretation which, in his opinion, was nearer the composer's intentions", with smaller forces and faster tempi than had become traditional.<ref name="klein"/> His contralto soloist, [[Muriel Brunskill]], later commented, "His tempi, which are now taken for granted, were revolutionary; he entirely revitalised it".<ref name=blyth>{{cite magazine|last= Blyth|first= Alan|url= http://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/gramophone-launches-new-digital-archive-app|title= Handel's Messiah – Music from Heaven|magazine= Gramophone|date= December 2003|pages= 52–60|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> Nevertheless, Sargent retained the large-scale tradition in his four HMV recordings, the first in 1946 and three more in the 1950s and 1960s, all with the Huddersfield Choral Society and the [[Royal Liverpool Philharmonic|Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra]].<ref name=blyth/> Beecham's second recording of the work, in 1947, "led the way towards more truly Handelian rhythms and speeds", according to the critic [[Alan Blyth]].<ref name=blyth/> In a 1991 study of all 76 complete ''Messiahs'' recorded by that date, the writer Teri Noel Towe called this version of Beecham's "one of a handful of truly stellar performances".<ref name=blyth/>

In 1954 the first recording based on Handel's original scoring was conducted by [[Hermann Scherchen]] for [[Nixa Records|Nixa]],{{refn|1=This recording was monophonic and issued on commercial CD by PRT in 1986; Scherchen re-recorded Messiah in stereo in 1959 using Vienna forces; this was issued on LP by Westminster and on commercial CD by Deutsche Grammophon in 2001. Both recordings have appeared on other labels in both LP and CD formats. A copyright-free transfer of the 1954 version (digitized from original vinyl discs by Nixa Records) is available on YouTube: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhb3s4E8-CA part 1], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfQnICqY3j4 part 2], [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M48k_QBXKeU part 3].|group= n}} quickly followed by a version, judged scholarly at the time, under Sir Adrian Boult for [[Decca Records|Decca]].<ref name=rg/> By the standards of 21st-century performance, however, Scherchen's and Boult's tempi were still slow, and there was no attempt at vocal ornamentation by the soloists.<ref name=rg>Porter, Andrew, in Sackville West, pp. 337–45</ref> In 1966 and 1967 two new recordings were regarded as great advances in scholarship and performance practice, conducted respectively by [[Colin Davis]] for [[Philips Records|Philips]] and [[Charles Mackerras]] for [[His Master's Voice (British record label)|His Master's Voice]]. They inaugurated a new tradition of brisk, small-scale performances, with vocal embellishments by the solo singers.{{refn|The Davis set uses a chorus of 40 singers and an orchestra of 39 players;<ref>{{cite magazine|authorlink= Stanley Sadie|last= Sadie|first= Stanley|url= http://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/gramophone-launches-new-digital-archive-app|title= Handel – Messiah|magazine= The Gramophone|date= November 1966|url-access= subscription|page= 77|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> the Mackerras set uses similarly sized forces, but with fewer strings and more wind players.<ref>{{cite magazine|last= Fiske|first= Roger|title= Handel – ''Messiah''|magazine=[[Gramophone (magazine)|The Gramophone]]|date= March 1967|page=66|ref=none}}</ref>|group=n|ref=none}} A 1967 performance of Messiah by the [[Ambrosian Singers]] conducted by [[John McCarthy (conductor)|John McCarthy]] accompanying the [[English Chamber Orchestra]] conducted by [[Charles Mackerras]] was nominated for a [[Grammy Awards|Grammy Award]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Grammy Awards 1968 |url=http://www.awardsandshows.com/features/grammy-awards-1968-218.html |website=Awards and Shows |access-date=6 December 2022}}</ref> Among recordings of older-style performances are Beecham's 1959 recording with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with orchestration commissioned from [[Eugene Aynsley Goossens|Sir Eugene Goossens]] and completed by the English composer [[Leonard Salzedo]],<ref name=blyth/> [[Karl Richter (conductor)|Karl Richter]]'s 1973 version for [[Deutsche Grammophon]],<ref>{{cite magazine|last= Fiske|first= Roger|title= Handel – ''Messiah''|magazine=[[Gramophone (magazine)|The Gramophone]]|date= November 1973|page=125}}</ref> and [[David Willcocks]]'s 1995 performance based on Prout's 1902 edition of the score, with a 325-voice choir and 90-piece orchestra.<ref>{{Cite AV media notes|title= George Frideric Handel's Messiah|author=unknown|others= David Willcocks, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, NightPro Orchestra|year= 1995|type= Liner notes|publisher= NightPro|id= NP1001|location= Provo, Utah|url= https://www.discogs.com/David-Willcocks-Mormon-Tabernacle-Choir-NightPro-Orchestra-George-Frideric-Handels-Messiah/release/7245176|access-date= 18 May 2016|archive-date= 11 September 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160911033907/https://www.discogs.com/David-Willcocks-Mormon-Tabernacle-Choir-NightPro-Orchestra-George-Frideric-Handels-Messiah/release/7245176|url-status= live}}{{failed verification|date=January 2025|reason=No liner notes at this URL, so it's an unsuitable citation for the version and forces of this recording.}}</ref>

By the end of the 1970s the quest for authenticity had extended to the use of period instruments and historically correct styles of playing them. The first of such versions were conducted by the early music specialists [[Christopher Hogwood]] (1979) and [[John Eliot Gardiner]] (1982).<ref>{{cite magazine|last1= Vickers|first1= David|last2= Kemp|first2= Lindsay|title= Classics revisited – Christopher Hogwood's recording of Handel's Messiah|url= http://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/classics-revisited-christopher-hogwood-recording-of-handel-messiah|magazine=[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]|date= 10 April 2016|access-date= 18 May 2016|archive-date= 16 August 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160816023346/http://www.gramophone.co.uk/feature/classics-revisited-christopher-hogwood-recording-of-handel-messiah|url-status= live}}</ref> The use of period instruments quickly became the norm on record, although some conductors, among them [[Georg Solti|Sir Georg Solti]] (1985) and Sir Andrew Davis (1989) continued to favour modern instruments. ''[[Gramophone (magazine)|Gramophone]]'' magazine and ''[[The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music]]'' highlighted two versions, conducted respectively by [[Trevor Pinnock]] (1988) and [[Richard Hickox]] (1992). The latter employs a chorus of 24 singers and an orchestra of 31 players; Handel is known to have used a chorus of 19 and an orchestra of 37.<ref>{{Cite AV media notes|title= George Frideric Handel: Messiah|author=Clifford Bartlett|others= Richard Hickox, Collegium Music 90|year= 1992|type= Notes|publisher= Chandos|id=[https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%200522 0522(2)]|location= Colchester, Essex|url= http://www.chandos.net/pdf/CHAN%200522.pdf|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120321204204/http://www.chandos.net/pdf/CHAN%200522.pdf|archive-date= 21 March 2012}}</ref> Performances on an even smaller scale have followed.{{refn|A 1997 recording under Harry Christophers employed a chorus of 19 and an orchestra of 20.<ref>Heighes, Simon. [http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDD22019 Notes to Hyperion CD CDD 22019] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021141727/http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDD22019 |date=21 October 2012 }} (1997)</ref> In 1993, the Scholars Baroque Ensemble released a version with 14 singers including soloists.<ref>{{cite magazine|last= Finch|first= Hilary|url= http://www.gramophone.co.uk/classical-music-news/gramophone-launches-new-digital-archive-app|title= Handel – Messiah|magazine= The Gramophone|date= April 1993|page= 109|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>|group= n}}

Several reconstructions of early performances have been recorded: the 1742 Dublin version by Scherchen in 1954, and again in 1959, and by [[Jean-Claude Malgoire]] in 1980.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.amazon.co.uk/Handel-Messiah-arranged-Georg-Friederich/dp/B000025U9K/ref=sr_1_20?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1309652325&sr=1-20|title= Handel: Messiah (arranged by Mozart)|publisher= Amazon|access-date= 3 July 2011|archive-date= 3 July 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200703055353/https://www.amazon.co.uk/Handel-Messiah-arranged-Georg-Friederich/dp/B000025U9K/ref=sr_1_20?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1309652325&sr=1-20|url-status= live}}</ref> In 1976, the London version of 1743 was recorded by [[Neville Marriner]] for Decca. It featured different music, alternative versions of numbers and different orchestration. There are several recordings of the 1754 Foundling Hospital version, including those under Hogwood (1979), [[Andrew Parrott]] (1989), and Paul McCreesh.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.amazon.com/Handel-Messiah-R%C3%B6schmann-Gritton-McCreesh/dp/B000001GYW|title= Handel: Messiah. Röschmann, Gritton, Fink, C. Daniels, N. Davies; McCreesh|publisher= Amazon|access-date= 3 July 2011|archive-date= 3 December 2010|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101203162014/http://www.amazon.com/Handel-Messiah-R%C3%B6schmann-Gritton-McCreesh/dp/B000001GYW|url-status= live}}</ref><ref name= Presto>{{cite web|url= http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/w/57653/George-Frederic-Handel-Messiah|title= Handel: Messiah. All recordings|publisher= Presto Classical|access-date= 3 July 2011|archive-date= 13 January 2011|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110113043323/http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/w/57653/George-Frederic-Handel-Messiah|url-status= live}}</ref> In 1973 David Willcocks conducted a set for [[His Master's Voice (British record label)|His Master's Voice]] in which all the soprano arias were sung in unison by the boys of the [[Choir of King's College, Cambridge]],<ref>{{cite magazine|last= Fiske|first= Roger|title= Handel – ''Messiah''|magazine=[[Gramophone (magazine)|The Gramophone]]|date= June 1973|page=84|ref=none}}</ref> and in 1974, for Deutsche Grammophon, Mackerras conducted a set of Mozart's reorchestrated version, sung in German.<ref name=blyth/>

==Editions==
The first published score of 1767, together with Handel's documented adaptations and recompositions of various movements, has been the basis for many performing versions since the composer's lifetime. Modern performances which seek authenticity tend to be based on one of three 20th-century performing editions.<ref name= Bix/> These all use different methods of numbering movements:

* The Novello Edition, edited by Watkins Shaw, first published as a vocal score in 1959, revised and issued 1965. This uses the numbering first used in the Prout edition of 1902.<ref name= Bix/>
* The Bärenreiter Edition, edited by John Tobin, published in 1965, which forms the basis of the ''Messiah'' numbering in [[Bernd Baselt]]'s catalogue (HWV) of Handel's works, published in 1984.<ref name= Bix/>
* The Peters Edition, edited by Donald Burrows, vocal score published 1972, which uses an adaptation of the numbering devised by Kurt Soldan.<ref name= Bix/>
* The Van Camp Edition, edited by Leonard Van Camp, published by Roger Dean Publishing, 1993 rev. 1995 (now Lorenz pub.).
* The Oxford University Press edition by Clifford Bartlett, 1998.<ref>{{cite book|title= George Frideric Handel: Messiah|series= Classic Choral Works|date= 10 September 1998|url= https://global.oup.com/academic/product/messiah-9780193366688?cc=gb&lang=en&|publisher= Oxford University Press|isbn= 978-0-19-336668-8|access-date= 19 May 2016|archive-date= 2 February 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170202002053/https://global.oup.com/academic/product/messiah-9780193366688?cc=gb&lang=en&|url-status= live}}</ref>
* The Carus-Verlag Edition, edited by Ton Koopman and Jan H. Siemons, published in 2009 (using the HWV numbering).

The edition edited by Chrysander and [[Max Seiffert]] for the [[Händel-Gesellschaft|Deutsche Händel-Gesellschaft]] (Berlin, 1902) is not a general performing edition, but has been used as a basis of scholarship and research.<ref name= Bix/>

In addition to Mozart's well-known reorchestration, arrangements for larger orchestral forces exist by Goossens and [[Andrew Davis (conductor)|Andrew Davis]]; both have been recorded at least once, on the [[RCA Records|RCA]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.discogs.com/Handel-Jennifer-Vyvyan-Monica-Sinclair-Jon-Vickers-Giorgio-Tozzi-Royal-Philharmonic-Orchestra-And-Ch/release/8696241 |title=Discogs.com discography |website=[[Discogs]] |date=15 October 1992 |access-date=2 December 2016 |archive-date=2 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202193531/https://www.discogs.com/Handel-Jennifer-Vyvyan-Monica-Sinclair-Jon-Vickers-Giorgio-Tozzi-Royal-Philharmonic-Orchestra-And-Ch/release/8696241 |url-status=live }}</ref> and [[Chandos Records|Chandos]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://sirandrewdavis.com/recordings |title=Andrew Davis website |access-date=2 December 2016 |archive-date=2 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202171354/http://sirandrewdavis.com/recordings |url-status=live }}</ref> labels respectively.

== Notes ==
{{reflist|group=n}}

== References ==
=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|22em}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book |author-link = Karen Armstrong |last = Armstrong |first = Karen |title = A History of Jerusalem |publisher = Harper Collins |location = London, England |year = 1996 |isbn = 0-00-255522-0 }}
* {{cite book |last=Bardon |first=Jonathan |title=Hallelujah – The Story of a Musical Genius and the City That Brought his Masterpiece to Life |year=2015 |publisher= Gill and Macmillan |location=Dublin |isbn=978-0717163540 |author-link=Jonathan Bardon }}
* {{cite book |last = Beecham |first = Sir Thomas|author-link=Thomas Beecham|year = 1959 |title = Messiah – An Essay |location = London, England |publisher = RCA |oclc = 29047071 }} CD 09026-61266-2
* {{cite book |author-link = Donald Burrows (musicologist)|last = Burrows |first = Donald |title = Handel: Messiah |publisher = Cambridge University Press |year = 1991 |location = Cambridge, England |isbn = 0-521-37620-3 }}
* {{cite book |last = Burrows |first = Donald |year = 1994 |title = Handel |location = Oxford, England |publisher = Oxford University Press |isbn = 0-19-816470-X }}
* {{cite book |author-link = Donald Jay Grout |last1 = Grout |first1 = Donald |last2 = Palisca |first2 = Claude V. |title = A History of Western Music |location = London, England |publisher = J M Dent & Sons |year = 1981 |edition = 3rd |isbn = 0-460-04546-6 }}
* {{cite book |last=Glover|first=Jane|author-link=Jane Glover|title=Handel in London : the making of a genius. |date=2018 |publisher=Picador |isbn=9781509882083 |location = London, England }}
* {{cite video |people = [[Anthony Hicks|Hicks, Anthony]] |title = Handel: ''Messiah'' |medium = CD |publisher = [[Decca Records|The Decca Recording Company Ltd.]] |year = 1991 |oclc = 25340549 }} (Origins and the present performance, Édition de L'Oiseau-Lyre 430 488–2)
* {{cite video |editor-last = Hogwood|editor-first= Christopher|editor-link=Christopher Hogwood|title = Handel: ''Messiah'' |medium = CD |publisher = The Decca Recording Company Ltd. |year = 1991 }} (Notes on the music, Edition de L'Oiseau-Lyre 430 488–2)
* {{cite book |editor1-last = Laurence |editor1-first = Dan H. |editor2-last = Shaw |editor2-first = Bernard |year = 1981a|title = Shaw's Music – The Complete Musical Criticism of Bernard Shaw|volume =1 (1876–1890) |location = London, England |publisher = The Bodley Head |isbn = 0-370-31270-8 }}
* {{cite book |editor1-last = Laurence |editor1-first = Dan H. |editor2-last = Shaw |editor2-first = Bernard |year = 1981b|title = Shaw's Music – The Complete Musical Criticism of Bernard Shaw|volume =2 (1890–1893) |location = London, England |publisher = The Bodley Head |isbn = 0-370-31271-6 }}
* {{cite book |last = Luckett |first = Richard |title = Handel's Messiah: A Celebration |publisher = [[Victor Gollancz]] |year = 1992 |location = London |isbn = 0-575-05286-4 }}
* {{cite book |author-link = H.C. Robbins Landon |last = Landon |first = H. C. Robbins |year = 1990 |title = The Mozart compendium: a guide to Mozart's life and music |location = London, England |publisher = Thames & Hudson |isbn = 0-500-01481-7 }}
* {{cite book |title = The Record Guide |author1-link = Edward Sackville-West, 5th Baron Sackville |last1 = Sackville-West |first1 = Edward |last2 = Shawe-Taylor |first2 = Desmond |author2-link = Desmond Shawe-Taylor (music critic) |location = London, England |publisher = Collins |year = 1956 |oclc = 500373060 }}
* {{cite book |author-link = Watkins Shaw |last = Shaw |first = Watkins |title = The story of Handel's "Messiah" |publisher = Novello |year = 1963 |location = London, England |oclc = 1357436 }}
* {{cite book |last = Steen|first = Michael |title = The Lives and Times of the Great Composers|publisher = Icon Books|year = 2009 |location = London, England |isbn = 978-1-84046-679-9 }}
* {{cite book |last = Steinberg |first = Michael|author-link=Michael Steinberg (music critic)|title = Choral Masterworks: A Listener's Guide |year = 2005 |publisher = Oxford University Press |location = New York, NY |isbn = 0-19-512644-0 |url-access = registration |url = https://archive.org/details/choralmasterwork00stei }}
* {{cite book |last = Taylor |first = Sedley |author-link=Sedley Taylor |title = The Indebtedness of Handel to Works by other Composers |url = https://archive.org/details/indebtednessofha00tayluoft |publisher = Cambridge University Press |location = Cambridge, England |year = 1906 |oclc = 23474813 }}
* {{cite book |author-link = Percy M. Young |last = Young |first = Percy M. |title = Messiah: A Study in Interpretation |publisher = Dennis Dobson |year = 1951 |location = London, England |oclc=643151100}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last=King|first=Charles|title=Every Valley: The Story of Handel's Messiah|publisher=[[Jonathan Cape]]|location=London|date=December 2024|isbn= 978-1847928450|ref=none}}

==External links==
{{commons|Messiah}}
{{Wikisource|Messiah (1749)|Messiah}}
* [https://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/Viewer.aspx?ref=r.m.20.f.2_fs001r/ ''Messiah'']: Handel's autograph manuscript in the British Library
* {{IMSLP2|work=Messiah%2C_HWV_56_(Handel%2C_George_Frideric)|cname=''Messiah'' (Handel)}}
* [http://scores.ccarh.org/handel/messiah/ Handel's ''Messiah''] at Stanford University's [[Stanford University centers and institutes#Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics|Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics]]
* {{NMA|206|-1|207|-1|Der Messias, ed. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, K.&nbsp;572|bullet=no}}

{{George Frideric Handel}}
{{Messiah (Handel)}}
{{History of Dublin}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Messiah (Handel)| ]]
[[Category:1742 oratorios]]
[[Category:1742 in Ireland]]
[[Category:History of Dublin (city)]]
[[Category:Oratorios based on the Bible]]
[[Category:Oratorios by George Frideric Handel]]
[[Category:Music for Easter]]