Handel’s Messiah and Mr. Wesley

Last updated on: April 4, 2026 at 1:59 am by Ben Witherington

Handel’s Messiah and Mr. Wesley 2026-01-16T09:18:38-05:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Handel’s Messiah— the Story behind the Classic

By Ben Witherington

Without question, one of the most famous pieces of music ever written or performed is Handel’s Messiah. Note that the title of this work is not ‘The Messiah’, but simply Messiah. Above you will see one of the more flattering portraits of Handel. Handel was a German born in Halle in 1685. When he was old enough, because he wanted to compose opera, he moved to Italy at the invitation of the D’Medici family, but unfortunately for him, the Pope had banned opera at that time, and he found himself scrambling to compose occasional pieces. Eventually the ban was lifted and Handel had a successful opera entitled Agrippina, but by then he had become more famous for composing sacred music, for example his Dixit Dominus (‘Thus says the Lord’) composed in 1707 became a very famous composition in due course.

In the beginnings of the 18th century there was much ferment and furor over what counted as sacred music and what counted as secular music. Handel got caught in the crossfire to some extent. Discouraged with the musical situation in Italy, Handel moved first to Germany and then to England in 1712 and by 1727 had become a naturalized citizen of the British realm. His timing here was better than in Italy because England came to have a King from Hanover in Germany, namely King George– the one the American colonists had so much trouble with. In fact, Handel had returned to Germany and had become the Kapellmeister for George the Elector of Hanover before he ever became King of England. This augured will for his future and indeed Handel relied on that previous connection to get a job composing occasional pieces like his Royal Fireworks, and his Water Music for special royal occasions.

In fact Handel’s relationship with King George was an up and down affair. In 1717 he composed the famous Water Music which was well liked, but in the ‘what have you done for me lately?’ department, it only brought Handel some temporary recognition and remuneration.

In 1725 Handel moved into a newly built flat on Brook Street in London where he was to live the rest of his life, dying in 1759. This house is today the well known Handel House museum, and well worth a visit too. The building has a shop on the first floor called Regina Rubens.

In April of 1737 at 52 Handel seems to have suffered from a stroke which incapacitated him, making it impossible for him to perform (he played the spinet or keyboard) or conduct, because it had paralyzed his right arm and he was right-handed. He also complained of blurred vision. The truth was as well, that falling in and out of favor with royalty left him alternately in and out of money, and because he was not a wise businessman he in fact lost a fortune in the opera business and, depressed and in debt, gave it up in 1740.

It was only shortly after these calamities in Handel’s life that he came across a libretto composed by Charles Jennens. Composed entirely of Scripture portions, mainly from the OT, Handel was deeply affected when he read this libretto. It was divided into three parts: 1) prophecies about the coming messiah (largely drawing on Isaiah); 2) the birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection of Christ; 3) the End times with Christ’s final victory over sin and death, largely based in the book of Revelation. Inspired, Handel decided he must compose an oratorio based on this libretto. The story of the composition of this most famous of all Christian musical works has been told variously. What we can say with certainty is that he composed the work in a short period of time during the summer of 1741, and when he got to the Hallelujah chorus, his assistant found him in tears saying “I did think I saw heaven open, and saw the very face of God”. Today of course it is the first two parts of this work that mostly get performed. The Hallelujah chorus is in fact the conclusion of part two the Easter portion, but in performances today it regularly is used to climax and conclude the Christmas performance of the first part of the oratorio.

The work first premiered during the Easter season in April 1742, and interestingly enough John Wesley was one of the first ones who saw an early performance of this work. In his Journal he commented “there were some parts that were affecting, but I doubt it has staying power”. It’s a good thing he didn’t go into the music business. On another occasion, Wesley says in his Journal “Thursday, August 17—”l went to the Bristol cathedral to hear Mr. Handel’s Messiah. I doubt if that congregation was ever so serious at a sermon as they were during this performance. In many parts, especially several of the choruses, it exceeded my expectation.”

His brother Charles actually got to know Handel a bit before Handel died, and visited him in his London home on more than one occasion. Charles of course composed two well-known Christmas hymns— ‘Lo he Comes with Clouds Descending’, and the more familiar Hark the Herald Angels Sing. The original title of that second hymn was ‘Hark How the Welkins Ring’ (a welkin being a bell). George Whitefield told him that title would never do and suggested the current title. Unlike Handel Charles was a writer of lyrics not primarily a composer of music, which was Handel’s forte.

While it would certainly be too much to call ‘Messiah’ an overnight sensation, it is clear that this work quickly became very popular and was soon to be seen as a classic. What is interesting is that Handel kept tinkering with it and changing it. As one source says

“Handel conducted Messiah many times and often altered the
music to suit the needs of the singers and orchestra he had available
to him for each performance. In consequence, no single version can be
regarded as the “authentic” one. Many more variations and
rearrangements were added in subsequent centuries–a notable arrangement
was one by Mozart, translated into German. In the Mozart version a French horn replaces the trumpet on ‘The Trumpets shall sound’, even though Luther’s bible translation speaks of a last trombone. In fact, of course the libretto was based on the Authorized or King James Version, except the portions from the Psalms which were extracted from the Great Bible as it was found in the readings in the BCP, the Book of Common Prayer.”

Fortunately for Handel, King George decided that this work was worthy of being attended and supported, and this in turn led to one of the most interesting traditions connected to this masterpiece. When the Hallelujah chorus began to play in the performance the King attended, he abruptly stood up, apparently as a way of indicating he recognized that Christ was the King of Kings. Now it was normal protocol that if the King stood at any time, no one in his presence sat, and so the entire audience stood for the performance of the Hallelujah Chorus. This tradition has been maintained even until today. Handel could never have anticipated that this work would become perhaps the most performed piece of classical music in all of history, all to the glory of Christ. And he certainly could not have anticipated the many and various versions of the performance of Messiah. My hope for you is that you will have the blessing of hearing some or all of this oratorio during this Easter season. Even if you are not a classical music buff, you can Handel it once in a while. �
BW3

Education and Religion

History and Religion

Uncategorized

And he shall reign forever

Previous Post

April 3, 2026

The Treatise of the Tree

Next Post

April 15, 2026 Terrorist Meets the Lord

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz