The Back Story...

 

 

George Frederic Handel (1685-1759) was one of the most famous musicians of the Baroque Era (1600-1750).  One of the things Handel was known for was the Italian Opera Seria (serious operas) that he wrote for the Royal Academy of Music in London.  At the time, there was a large market for these Italian operas.

 

Handel was quite successful - at least until John Gay came along.  Gay was also an opera composer, but his operas were quite different from Handel's.  In 1728, Gay wrote an 'anti-opera' called 'The Beggar's Opera'.  It was funny, accessible, and, most importantly, in English.  It poked fun at serious Italian operas like the kind Handel wrote, even 'borrowing' one of Handel's original melodies (unfortunately, copyright hadn't been invented yet...)!

 

The Beggar's Opera was a huge success, and other composers picked up on this new trend and began writing similar comic operas.  Soon, Handel found that these new comic operas were causing his Italian opera company to lose money.  Unwilling to jump on the comic opera bandwagon, he had to think of a new plan to avoid financial disaster.

 

Like most of Europe at the time, England was a Christian country that publicly observed the season of Lent, a period of 40 days before Easter that emphasizes fasting, prayer, penance, and self-reflection. Many forms of public entertainment were considered to be inappropriately indulgent or too festive for such a somber time of year, and so composers generally did not schedule new opera performances during this time. However, religious music was perfectly appropriate for this somber season, and so Handel invented a new genre: the English Oratorio. The oratorio is structured the same way as an opera, but with no acting, scenery, costumes, or special effects. Additionally, the subject matter is religious in nature, and typically taken from the Bible.

 

Handel's oratorios proved to be quite successful, partly because there were not many other forms of entertainment available during Lent, partly because Handel encouraged people to attend by donating a portion of the ticket sales to charitable organizations, and partly because they contained some excellent music. Out of the 25 oratorios Handel composed, the most popular is undoubtedly his Messiah.

 

In July of 1741, Handel received a manuscript from a man named Charles Jennens, with whom he had worked before. Jennens was a writer whose specialty was arranging librettos (the literary texts that form the lyrics of operas, oratorios, and other vocal musical works). Jennens had high hopes for what Handel could do with his latest literary project, which he titled 'Messiah'. Handel began to work on Jennens' libretto on August 22, 1741. Twenty-four days and 259 pages later, Handel's two-hour long musical masterpiece was complete.

 

 

 

 

 

The Premiere

 

As part of a publicity stunt, Handel had arranged a series of concerts in Dublin, Ireland, for the 1741-42 winter and spring seasons, including his new, never-before-heard oratorio, Messiah. The rehearsals generated so much attention that opening night, April 13, 1742, was expected to be a big success. Event organizers sent out a notice to the expected attendees requesting that females refrain from wearing hoop skirts and that gentlemen leave their swords at home, so as to fit as many people as possible into the performance venue.  The concert lived up to expectations and was a resounding success.

 

 

 

 

Hallelujah, Hallelujah!

 

The Hallelujah Chorus is the very last part of the Messiah oratorio and is very majestic sounding, with trumpets and timpani. Legend has it that King George II attended the first London performance and stood up when the Hallelujah Chorus was sung.  Of course, the pubic was required to stand if the King was standing, so everyone else in the audience stood as well. 

 

There is some debate as to why the King stood at that particular moment.  Some say the King stood because he was so moved by the music, while others say the King had a leg cramp and needed to stretch a bit.  The records of the day even suggest that none of this ever happened because the King was not at the performance at all!  Regarless of what really happened, somehow the tradition of standing during the Hallelujah Chorus has survived since 1743.

 

 

 

 

Activity - The Musical Texture of the Hallelujah Chorus

 

The music for Messiah  was written by G. F. Handel, who was a composer during the Baroque Period.  The term 'baroque' is derived from the Portuguese word 'barroco', which translates to mean 'oddly shaped pearl'.  Comparing some of music history’s greatest masterpieces to a misshapen pearl might seem strange to us today, but to the 19th century critics who applied the term, the music of Handel’s era sounded overly ornamented and exaggerated.  Having long since shed its derogatory connotations, 'baroque' is now simply a convenient label for the music composed during 1600-1750.

 

One of the key features of Baroque music is the use of texture.  In the early Baroque Period, most composers used homophonic music texture.  However, by the time Handel composed Messiah, the use of monophony, polyphony and homophony was widely used.

 

We are going to listen to the Hallelujah Chorus and see if we can determine what type(s) of musical texture Handel used in this composition.  Please use the worksheet (see below).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

 

The Hallelujah Chorus has been performed by many, many ensembles.  For the most part, these are musicians who are trying to perform the music as originally intended.  However, there have been others who have taken the Hallelujah Chorus and... well... changed it.  Below are some 'interesting' versions of the Hallelujah Chorus.