Classical Music Composer George Frideric Handel - Classical Musik: Messiah

George Frideric Handel (German: Georg Friedrich Händel; pronounced [ˈhɛndəl]) (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-English Baroque composer who is famous for his operas, oratorios, and concertos. Handel was born in Germany in the same year as JS Bach and Domenico Scarlatti. He received critical musical training in Italy before settling in London and becoming a naturalised British subject His works include Messiah, Water Music, and Music for the Royal Fireworks. He was strongly influenced by the techniques of the great composers of the Italian Baroque and the English composer Henry Purcell. Handel's music was well-known to many composers, including Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.

Early years

Classical Music in  Magdeburg

Handel was born in Halle (which was then in the Duchy of Magdeburg, a province of Brandenburg-Prussia) to Georg and Dorothea (née Taust) Händel in 1685. His father, Georg Händel, 63 when his son was born, was an eminent barber-surgeon who also served as surgeon to the court of Saxe-Weissenfels and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. According to John Mainwaring, his first biographer, "Handel had discovered such a strong propensity to Music, that his father who always intended him for the study of the Civil Law, had reason to be alarmed. He strictly forbade him to meddle with any musical instrument but Handel found means to get a little clavichord privately convey'd to a room at the top of the house. To this room he constantly stole when the family was asleep. At an early age Handel became a skillful performer on the harpsichord and pipe organ One day Handel and his father went on a trip to Weissenfels to visit either his son (Handel's half-brother) Carl, or grandson (Handel's nephew) Georg Christian who was serving as a valet to Duke Johann Adolf I.According to legend, the young Handel attracted the attention of the Duke with his playing on the churchorgan. At his urging, Handel's father permitted him to take lessons in musical composition and keyboard technique from Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, the organist of the Lutheran Marienkirche. From then on Handel learned about harmony and contemporary styles, analysed sheet music scores, learned to work fugue subjects and copy music. Sometimes he would take his teacher's place as organist for services In 1698 Handel played for Frederick I of Prussia and met Giovanni Bononcini in Berlin; in 1701 Georg Philipp Telemann went to Halle to listen to the promising young man.

Later years 

Classical Music in London

Following his recovery Handel focused on composing oratorios instead of opera. His Messiah was first performed at the New Music Hall in Fishamble Street, Dublin, on 13 April 1742, with 26 boys and five men from the combined choirs of St Patrick's and Christ Church cathedrals participating. In 1749 he composed Music for the Royal Fireworks; 12,000 people attended the performance. In 1750 Handel arranged a performance of Messiah to benefit the Foundling Hospital. The performance was considered a great success and was followed by annual concerts that continued throughout his life. In recognition of his patronage, Handel was made a governor of the Hospital the day after his initial concert. He bequeathed a copy of Messiah to the institution upon his death^. His involvement with the Foundling Hospital is today commemorated with a permanent exhibition in London's Foundling Museum, which also holds the Gerald Coke Handel Collection. In addition to the Foundling Hospital, Handel also gave to a charity that helped to assist impoverished musicians and their families. Also, during the summer of 1741, the Duke of Devonshire invited Handel to Dublin to give concerts for the benefit of local hospitals.

In August 1750, on a journey back from Germany to London, Handel was seriously injured in a carriage accident between The Hague and Haarlem in the Netherlands. In 1751 his eyesight started to fail in one eye. The cause was a cataract which was operated on by the great charlatan Chevalier Taylor. This led to uveitis and subsequent loss of vision. Jephtha was first performed on 26 February 1752; even though it was his last oratorio, it was no less a masterpiece than his earlier works^. He died some eight years later in 1759 in London, at the age of 74, with his last attended performance being his own Messiah. More than three thousand mourners attended his funeral, which was given full state honours, and he was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Handel never married, and kept his personal life private. He left a sizable estate at his death, worth £20,000, the bulk of which he bequeathed to a niece in Germany, with additional gifts to his other relations, servants, friends and favorite charities.

Classical Music Works

Handel's compositions include 42 operas, 29 oratorios, more than 120 cantatas, trios and duets, numerous arias, chamber music, a large number of ecumenical pieces, odes and serenatas, and 16 organ concerti. His most famous work, the oratorio Messiah with its "Hallelujah" chorus, is among the most popular works in choral music and has become a centrepiece of the Christmas season. Amongst the works with opus numbers published and popularised in his lifetime are the Organ Concertos Op.4 and Op.7, together with the Opus 3 and Opus 6 concerto grossi; the latter incorporate an earlier organ concerto The Cuckoo and the Nightingale in which birdsong is imitated in the upper registers of the organ. Also notable are his sixteen keyboard suites, especially The Harmonious Blacksmith.

Handel introduced various previously uncommon musical instruments in his works: the viola d'amore and violetta marina (Orlando), the lute (Ode for St. Cecilia's Day), three trombones (Saul), clarinets or small high cornets (Tamerlano), theorbo, horn (Water Music), lyrichord, double bassoon, viola da gamba, bell chimes, positive organ, and harp (Giulio Cesare, Alexander's Feast)

Handel's works have been catalogued in the Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis and are commonly referred to by a HWV number. For example, Messiah is catalogued as HWV 56.

Classical Music: Messiah

Messiah (HWV 56) is an English oratorio composed by George Frideric Handel, and is one of the most popular works in the Western choral literature. The libretto by Charles Jennens is drawn entirely from the King James and Great Bibles, and interprets the Christian doctrine of the Messiah. Messiah, often incorrectly called The Messiah, is one of Handel's most famous works.

Composed in London during the summer of 1741 and premiered in Dublin, Ireland on 13 April 1742, it was repeatedly revised by Handel, reaching its most familiar version in the performance to benefit the Foundling Hospital in 1754. In 1789 Mozart orchestrated a German version of the work, and his added woodwind parts, and the edition by Ebenezer Prout, were commonly heard until the mid-20th century and the rise of historically informed performance.

The Messiah sing-alongs now common at Christmas often consist of only the first of the oratorio's three parts, with the Hallelujah Chorus (originally concluding the second part) replacing His Yoke is Easy in the first part.

Messiah - Movements

1. Sinforia
2. Confort Ye, My People - Tenor Recitative
3. Every Valley Shall Be Exalted - Tenor Air
4. And The Glory Of The Lord - Chrous
5. Thus Saith The Lord - Bass Recitative
6. But Who May Abide - Alto Air
7. And He Shall Purify - Chorus
8. Behold, A Virgin Shall Conceive - Alto Recitative
9. O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings To Zion - Alto Air and Chorus
10. For Behold, Darkness Shall Cover The Earth - Bass Recitative
11. The People That Walked In Darkness - Bass Air
12. For Unto Us A Child Is Born - Chorus
13. Pifa (Pastoral Symphony)
14. There Were Shepards - Soprano Recitative
15. And The Angel Said Unto Them - Soprano Recitative
16. And Suddenly There Was With The Angel - Soprano Recitive
17. Glory To God In The Highest - Chorus
18. Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter Of Zion - Soprano Air
19. Then Shall The Eyes Of The Blind - Alto Recitative
20. He Shall Feed His Flock Like A Shepard - Alto and Soprano Air
21. His Yoke Is Easy - Chorus
22. Behold The Lamb Of God - Chorus
23. He Was Despised - Alto Air
24. Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs And Carried Our Sorrows - Chorus
25. And With His Stripes We Are Healed - Chorus
26. All We Like Sheep - Chorus
27. All They That See Him - Tenor Recitative
28. He Trusted In God - Chorus
29. Thy Rebuke Hath Broken His Heart - Tenor Recitative
30. Behold, And See If There Be Any Sorrow - Tenor Arioso
31. He Was Cut Off Our Of The Land Of The Living - Tenor Recitative
32. But Thou Didst Not Leave His Soul In Hell - Tenor Air
33. Lift Up Your Heads - Chorus
34. Unto Which Of The Angels - Tenor Recitative
35. Let All The Angels Of God Worship Him - Chorus
36. Thou Art Gone Up On High - Alto Air
37. The Lord Gave The Word - Chorus
38. How Beautiful Are The Feet - Soprano Air
39. Their Sound Is Gone Out - Chorus
40. Why Do The Nations So Furiously Rage Together? - Bass Air
41. Let Us Break Their Bonds Asunder - Chorus
42. He That Dwelleth in Heaven - Tenor Recitative
43. Thou Shalt Break Them - Tenor Air
44. Hallelujah - Chorus
45. I Know That My Redeemer Liveth - Soprano Air
46. Since By Man Came Death - Chorus
47. Behold, I Tell You A Mystery - Bass Recitative
48. The Trumpet Shall Sound - Bass Air
49. Then Shall Be Brought To Pass - Alto Recitative
50. O Death, Where Is Thy Sting? - Alto and Tenor Duet
51. But Thanks Be To God - Chorus
52. If God Be For Us - Chrous
53. Worthy Is The Lamb - Chorus
54. Amen - Chorus

Hallelujah (Aleluya)
Written by George Friedrich Händel
Classical Music Composer

Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah
Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah

For the lord God omnipotent reigneth
Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah
For the lord God omnipotent reigneth
Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah
For the lord God omnipotent reigneth
Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah

Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah
Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah
(For the lord God omnipotent reigneth)
Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah

For the lord God omnipotent reigneth
(Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah)
Hallelujah

The kingdom of this world;
is become
the kingdom of our Lord,
and of His Christ
and of His Christ

And He shall reign for ever and ever
And he shall reign forever and ever
And he shall reign forever and ever
And he shall reign forever and ever

King of kings forever and ever hallelujah hallelujah
and lord of lords forever and ever hallelujah hallelujah
King of kings forever and ever hallelujah hallelujah
and lord of lords forever and ever hallelujah hallelujah
King of kings forever and ever hallelujah hallelujah
and lord of lords
King of kings and lord of lords

And he shall reign
And he shall reign
And he shall reign
He shall reign
And he shall reign forever and ever

King of kings forever and ever
and lord of lords hallelujah hallelujah
And he shall reign forever and ever

King of kings and lord of lords
King of kings and lord of lords
And he shall reign forever and ever

Forever and ever and ever and ever
(King of kings and lord of lords)

Hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah hallelujah
Hallelujah 

Handel George Frideric : 44. Chorus: Hallelujah! Lyrics