Handel's Greatest Triumph: The Messiah

George Friderich Handel was discouraged. Panicked might be a better term. Although he had proven to be a great success as a musician, he was a miserable example of a businessman. Fearing that debtor's prison would become his next performance, on April 8, 1741, at the age of 56, he gave what he considered to be his farewell concert.

Although not much is known about Handel's personal life or his spiritual beliefs, Handel must have done a great deal of praying about his situation because within weeks two events happened that would change his life forever.

First, a wealthy friend and admirer Charles Jennings gave Handel a libretto based on the life of Christ taken entirely from the Bible. At around the same time he received a commission from a Dublin charity to compose a work for a benefit performance. He set out to compose an oratorio, using Jennings' libretto, on August 22.

He became so completely inspired while writing that he never left his house, hardly stopping to eat. Servants would prepare food for him that would lay untouched. A friend who tried to visit him during this period found him sobbing in his study. Later, Handel tried to explain by quoting St. Paul, saying, "Whether I was in the body or out of my body when I wrote it I know not."

Within six days Part One was complete; Part Two was finished nine days later, and Part Three in six more days. He finished up with the orchestration in two more days. Thus one of the most beloved of all musical classics was finished in the remarkable span of three weeks! Sir Newman Flower, one of Handel's many biographers, summed up the consensus of history: "Considering the immensity of the work and the short time involved, it will remain, perhaps forever, the greatest feat in the whole history of music composition." Handel's title for the commissioned work was, simply, Messiah.

Handel presented his Messiah the next April as a charitable event, raising 400 pounds and freeing 142 men from debtor's prison (while successfully escaping it himself forever). The following year, 1743, he staged it in London, despite the controversy from staging a religious story on a secular stage. At the first notes of the triumphant "Hallelujah" chorus, the King of England stood up. Following royal protocol, everone else stood up as well! Over two hundred years later, the tradition of standing up during the Hallelujah chorus remains with us, in imitation of King George.

Handel went on to become incredibly successful thanks to the Messiah, and never again had to fear about debtor's prison. He personally conducted more than thirty performances of this beloved masterpiece, many of which were benefits for the Foundling Hospital, his favorite charity. He raised so much money for them in fact that one biographer noted that, "Messiah has fed the hungry, clothed the naked, fostered the orphan.... more than any other single musical production in this or any other country." Another one wrote that, "Perhaps the works of no other composer have so largely contributed to the relief of human suffering." His influence on other composers would be extraordinary. When Haydn later heard the "Hallelujah Chorus," he wept like a child and exclaimed, "He is the master of us all!"

However, the power of the Messiah is not that just that it is a brilliantly inspired piece of music; it was meant to be more than just music. Handel sought to somehow educate his listeners, to tutor them in the belief of God. Following the London opening, someone congratulated Handel on the excellent "entertainment" of the evening. Handel replied, "My Lord, I should be sorry if I only entertain them. I wish to make them better." Indeed he did. One Christian writer has said that the Messiah's music and message "has probably done more to convince thousands of mankind that there is a God about us than all the theological works ever written."

The religious beliefs of the composer who created the world's most popular religious masterpiece have puzzled many musicologists. In an era when Christian musicians typically worked for local churches, this composer of secular opera, chamber, and orchestral music did not fit the usual pattern. The secular theater was thought of as profane and immoral by most religious leaders. Yet Handel was a devout follower of Christ, widely known for his concern for others. His morals were above reproach. At church he was often seen on his knees, expressing the utmost fervor of devotion. His friend, Sir John Hawkins, said that "throughout his life he manifested a deep sense of religion. In conversation he would frequently declare the pleasure he felt in setting the Scriptures to music, and how contemplating the many sublime passages in the Psalms had contributed to his edification."

He also was known for his great generosity and concern for those who suffered. Handel donated freely to various charities even when he was facing personal financial ruin. Faith in God sustained him always, through every setback, illness, depression and financial problem.

A few days before he died, he expressed his desire to die on Good Friday, "in the hopes of meeting his good God, his sweet Lord and Savior, on the day of his Resurrection." He lived until the morning of Good Saturday, April 14, 1759. His death came only eight days after his final performance, at which he had conducted his masterpiece, Messiah.

His close friend James Smyth wrote, "He died as he lived--a good Christian, with a true sense of his duty to God and to man, and in perfect charity with all the world." Handel was buried in Westminster Abbey, with over 3,000 in attendance at his funeral. A statue erected there shows him holding the manuscript for the solo that opens Part Three of Messiah, "I know that my Redeemer liveth," the section that today is most commonly played at Christian funerals.

The Messiah was not originally composed as a Christmas tradition, but to educate Christians on the basics of their faith. In fact, an oratorio means "oratory by music", and dates back to those days when Bibles were so expensive that few could purchase them, and fewer still could read them and understand what was written. Popular oratorios could reach the common people in the public square of secular entertainment, and instruct them in their faith at the same time. This indeed was Handel's intent and hope: to make us "better."