Northwestern State University

Presents

Messiah, Part II & III

Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at 7:30 p.m., with pre-concert lecture at 7:00 p.m.
Magale Recital Hall, NSU Campus

George Frederick Handel (1685-1759) was one of the pillars of artistic life in Baroque London. His operas, court music, religious anthems, organ music, and oratorios have all become staples of the performing repertoire.  Messiah, HWV 56 (1741) remains one of the enduring masterpieces of his career. Composed over a period of a few weeks (Handel often reused material from other works, which made the compositional process quicker), the oratorio is based on key moments of Jesus’s life: the Nativity, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension.

In contrast with many of Handel’s oratorios, the singers in Messiah do not assume named dramatic roles. There is a three-part structure to the various scenes which take the forms of recitatives, arias, and choruses. There are two non-vocal numbers: the opening Sinfonia (in the style of a French Overture) and the Pifa (a “pastoral symphony” midway through Part I). Part I is generally referred to as the “Christmas Portion” and Part II and II as the “Easter Portion.”

When Charles Jennens presented Handel with his text for Messiah in 1741, Handel’s fortunes were so low that he was considering leaving England. Several years earlier, his opera company had collapsed, and he had suffered a stroke. In the years following his recovery, he had had great success with two English oratorios (Saul and L’Allegro), but his two Italian operas had been complete failures. With the fashion for Italian opera apparently over, Jennens hoped to persuade Handel to return to writing English oratorios.  In the summer of 1741 came a fortuitous invitation to give a series of concerts in Dublin. With these concerts in mind, Handel set to work on the music for Messiah on August 22, completing the enormous work on September 14, a mere three weeks later. Jennens, never one to be overly modest, expressed disappointment that Handel had not spent a year setting his libretto. “[Handel] has made a fine Entertainment of it, tho’ not near so good as he might & ought to have done. I have with great difficulty made him correct some of the grossest faults in the composition, but he retain’d his Overture obstinately, in which there are some passages far unworthy of Handel, but much more unworthy of the Messiah.” 

Messiah was premiered on April 13, 1742 in Dublin for the benefit of charity and drew so many people that ladies were requested not to wear hoops, in order to accommodate a larger audience. The series of concerts was a triumph. According to Faulkner’s Journal, “The best judges allowed it to be the most finished piece of Musick. Words are wanting to express the exquisite Delight it afforded to the admiring crowded Audience.” But Handel was wary about presenting his new oratorio in London. Several years earlier, Israel in Egypt had failed, partly due to a controversy over using a biblical text in the theater. When he did finally introduce Messiah there in 1743, it was not well received, partly indeed because of its biblical text, but also partly because there were too many choruses and no characters playing out a story. The work did not become widely accepted until Handel began presenting it in his annual charity performances for the Foundling Hospital in 1750.

The London premiere of Messiah in 1743 is a source of an urban myth: some say that King George II, so moved by the powerful music of the “Hallelujah Chorus,” stood in appreciation of

the composer’s efforts (a move that obligated all to stand). As a result, during a live performance of the “Hallelujah Chorus,” the audience stands. A good story, but there has been no historical evidence to suggest that the King attended the London premiere or any subsequent performance of it that year. The first reference to the Messiah in the King’s letters dates from 1756, three years before Handel died.