Charles Morris tells this story of the composition of Georg Friedrich Handel’s Messiah:
In a time of rising secularism and humanism in England, [Handel's friend Charles] Jennens was a member of the “Society for the Propagation of the Gospel” and a passionate evangelical believer. He believed that putting the gospel to music would communicate its truth, not just intellectually, but at a deep heart level.
This libretto was made up entirely of Old and New Testament texts combined to present the entire Christian message in a single piece. When it was finished he took it to his friend, the great composer, George Handel.
For 18 months the libretto sat on Handel’s shelf gathering dust until one day he took it down, dusted it off, and in three intense weeks, shut up in his flat on Brook Street, composed the oratorio that made the words come alive. He barely ate or slept; he was completely engulfed in the creation of this music—and he wasn’t alone. When he got to the Hallelujah chorus, his assistant found him in tears, saying, “I think I did see heaven open, and the very face of God.”
--Charles Morris
Part 3 of Handel’s Messiah contains a quotation from our readings from Corinthians this week:
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.
To hear the Bach Collegium San Diego perform this incredible duet, click on the video below:
Image source: Victor Loup Deniau, Resurrection, St. Roch Ste. Foy, Aveyron, France, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1785622648381496
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