wealthy landowner and literary figure who was a longtime friend of the composer’ s and had created texts for several other Handel oratorios. Beginning the work on August 22, 1741, he completed the two-and-a-half-hour oratorio in just over three weeks. Besides inspiration from God, he also had a little practical assistance in this huge task. Like most Baroque composers( Bach included), Handel did not hesitate to borrow from his own earlier works if they were suitable for use here. Three of the choruses in Part I—“ He shall purify,”“ His yoke is easy,” and even the famous“ For unto us a child is born”— are based on music he’ d originally composed as Italian vocal duets.
Messiah was introduced to the world in Dublin, Ireland on April 13, 1743, during Holy Week( the tradition of performing it during the Christmas season is fairly recent). At the invitation of the Duke of Devonshire, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Handel had been presenting concerts of his works there since the previous November and winning the kind of warm response that had been eluding him in London. On that Tuesday, Neal’ s Musick Hall was packed beyond its capacity; audience members had been specifically requested to leave their swords and hoop skirts at home in order to fit more people into the hall.
The Dublin audience responded with enormous enthusiasm to the new work, and another performance was quickly scheduled. But when Handel brought Messiah to London in March 1743, attendance was disappointing and the critics unkind. A subsequent Handel oratorio, Samson, was much preferred. Much of Messiah’ s failure was caused by a heated controversy that broke out in the city about whether such a serious sacred subject ought to be presented as an“ entertainment” in secular concert halls. Receiving few subsequent performances, the oratorio went back on Handel’ s shelf. By 1749, when Handel was 64, the trustees of London’ s Foundling Hospital invited him to present Messiah there at a charitable fundraising concert. This time the oratorio aroused no controversy,
A FEAST FOR THE SENSES
THROUGH JAN 8
A Feast for the Senses: Art and Experience in Medieval Europe features more than 100 works including stained glass, ivories, tapestries, paintings, and illuminated manuscripts. FREE
600 N. Charles Street / thewalters. org
Lady Bathing( detail), Netherlands, first quarter of the 16th century. Musée de Cluny— Musée national du Moyen Âge, Paris( Cl. 2180) The exhibition has been organized by the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, in partnership with the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota. / The exhibition received major funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor; the Institute of Museum and Library Services; the National Endowment for the Arts; and anonymous donors, with additional support from the Gary Vikan Exhibition Fund, Nanci and Ned Feltham, and the Helen Hughes Trust. The accompanying catalogue was made possible by an anonymous donor. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Holiday 2016 | Overture 11