Handel's Messiah

I recently re-listened to Handel's work of genius, Messiah (some call it The Messiah, but the title is simply Messiah).  George Frederick Handel composed this superb work in 1741 in a mere 24 days.  However, he worked from a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jenning, whom he had worked together on a previous composition.

Messiah tells the story of Christ in uplifting music.  Handel organized it in 3 parts - Part 1: The Nativity; Part 2: The Resurrection and the Spread of the Gospel; and Part 3: Eternal Life.  The Jenning's text is all from the King James Bible (a beautiful poetic translation), and passages are repeated often in song, so the effect is like a lectio devina (a traditional Catholic practice of scriptural reading, meditation and prayer intended to promote communion with God and to increase the knowledge of God's Word).  So listening to it can be a meditative and spiritual experience.

However, Messiah is an oratoria, which is similar to an opera.  For many modern hearers unused to this, it can be hard to understand the words being sung.  So this time, I used Messiah: The Wordbook for the Oratorio, which has all the words carefully laid out in equisite font, as well as beautiful illustrative paintings by Barry Moser.  I highly recommend getting this book (your local library probably carries it) if you listen to Messiah, as it will immensely help you in understanding it.


Messiah transcends Christians, its music enjoyed by all. Though Handel wrote it for Lent, it is most often performed at Christmas.  We usually do not hear the original, more simple, composition, since many composers modified it over time, including Mozart.  Still, the basic composition touches the spirit and the heart in ways that few compositions can.  I hope you will take the time to enjoy this work soon if you never have, or to listen to it again.