Handel's Messiah

Event Details

Event type: All Ages

We are pleased to present the holiday favourite Handel's Messiah. 

Composed over the course of just 24 days in 1741, the oratorio — a large composition for orchestra and voice that often focuses on religious themes and, unlike an opera, eschews the use of costumes and scenery -- Messiah was written by Handel with some lyrical help from his longtime friend, librettist and Anglican minister Charles Jennens.

Written at a time when Italian opera’s popularity was on the wane, Handel made the calculated decision to use English for Messiah in the hopes of appealing to a broader audience. After the piece was first performed for the public to a standing-room only crowd in Dublin in 1742, it was immediately clear that Handel’s gambit had paid off: The performance netted a princely sum of £400 — about £100,000 in today’s sterling.

However, the piece and its performance weren’t just a financial success. Concertgoers and critics alike fell in love with it immediately, leading one member of the press to write that: "Words are wanting to express the exquisite delight it afforded to the admiring and crowded audience".

Handel's Messiah has been described by the early-music scholar Richard Luckett as "a commentary on [Jesus Christ's] Nativity, Passion, Resurrection and Ascension", beginning with God's promises as spoken by the prophets and ending with Christ's glorification in heaven. In contrast with most of Handel's oratorios, the singers in Messiah do not assume dramatic roles; there is no single, dominant narrative voice; and very little use is made of quoted speech. In his libretto, Jennens's intention was not to dramatize the life and teachings of Jesus, but to acclaim the "Mystery of Godliness", using a compilation of extracts from the Authorized (King James) Version of the Bible, and from the Psalms included in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

London Pro Musica Choir was founded in 1970 as a chamber choir, organized and run by its members. LPMC was the first, and remains the oldest, unaffiliated concert choir in London with a current membership of approximately 40 singers.

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