~ LEARNING RESOURCES AND MESSIAH HISTORY ~

Resources: why not get a head start before coming to sing?

Whether you have sung Handel’s Messiah before or are learning it for the first time, we are happy to share some great resources to support everyone in singing it. These include:

• YouTube Videos with Voice Part Guides and Scrolling Score

• Concert Version Audio Tracks: Audio tracks with all parts equally present for choruses, along with our selected solos. The effect is like singing along with a quartet and orchestra, which makes it relatively easy to find your part!

LEARNING RESOURCES LINK

About Handel’s Messiah

George Frideric Handel’s (1685-1759) beloved oratorio Messiah was composed between August 22 and September 14, 1741, an incredibly short time for such a lengthy composition (3+ hours performance time). It was premiered to tumultuous acclaim at a charity concert in Dublin on April 13, 1742, with Handel conducting. The demand for tickets to this performance was so high that newspapers of the day demanded that gentlemen leave their swords at home and that ladies should refrain from wearing hoop skirts so that more people might fit into the 600-seat theater. On March 23, 1743, it was presented at Covent Garden in London to decidedly mixed reviews, as sophisticated London audiences and clergy found the use of a theater and theatrical singers [soloists] to be in extremely poor taste for a performance of such a serious religious work.

For Handel, Messiah was a departure from his usual oratorio format: i.e., an opera to be presented in a non-staged performance. Also, unlike Handel's other oratorios that have a plot from a freely composed libretto, Messiah consists solely of selected Biblical passages [King James Version] that tell the story of Christ from the Old Testament prophecies to the New Testament accounts of his birth, teachings, death, resurrection and eternal salvation.

These Biblical passages were selected and made into a “libretto” by Charles Jennens (1700-1773), an English author who was the only surviving son of Charles Jennens, a rich landowner in Leicestershire. Although son Charles attended Oxford, he did not graduate because of being a nonconformist. Nonetheless, he became a prominent figure of his day, renowned for his wealth, eccentricity and ostentatious lifestyle. It is surmised that he met Handel in the 1720s. Becoming a trusted friend and colleague of Handel’s, he had access to all of Handel’s autograph scores and did not hesitate to make changes to other librettists’ work without Handel’s knowledge. Upon Messiah’s completion he also did not hesitate to make known his displeasure with the music’s “defects.” A subsequent rift in their friendship developed, fortunately mended before Handel died.

After infrequent London performances from 1743 to 1749, in 1750 Handel began the practice of performing Messiah as the last oratorio of his annual Lenten season. By the time of his death in 1759, it had become the most frequently performed of all his operas and oratorios, a position it celebrates to this day.

The 2020 Sing-Along Messiah (SAM) via Zoom

Before our “SAM” date we enjoyed revisiting Handel’s beloved Messiah (Part 1 with some of Parts 2 and 3) via the skillful teamwork of chorus director Larry Marietta and accompanist John Walko. During rehearsals, Larry gave us insights and tips from his many years of conducting Messiah in both performances and sing-alongs. We provided both a) videos with scrolling scores with each part highlighted, and b) high-quality audio from real singers and orchestra for mid-week practice.

For our virtual concert on December 6th, after the beautiful overture, we sang some of our favorite choruses and solos in parallel—i.e. seeing but not hearing each other sing—instead guided by a suite of audio tracks in concert order. We sang our part—any part we chose—individually at home, matching a quartet of singers plus orchestra for the choruses, and singing freely along with the solos. What a joy to see so many happy faces! So many said it felt like a wonderful start to the season.

LEARNING RESOURCES for the 2020 Sing Along Messiah

SCORE: LINK TO JUST THE CHORUSES AND SOLOS WE DID (125 pages)