Sir Colin Davis, who was a conductor at the London Symphony Orchestra for fifty years, discusses Handel’s Messiah.
There’s an excellent chance at this time of year of seeing people on the subway or in your local coffee shop with bright orange (usually tattered) choir books tucked under their arms. What are those books? If you have ever sung in a choir, you know – it’s time for Handel’s Messiah and across the land thousands of choral enthusiasts are dusting off their scores for the annual Christmas rite. I admit it. I am an unabashed Messiah enthusiast. I have been singing it (badly) since I was a 12-year-old church chorister and Christmas just isn’t Christmas without it.
What gives Messiah its enduring popular appeal at Christmastime? Well, the first thing you should know – it wasn’t written for Christmas. Handel wrote it for Lent, but because the story includes the advent and birth of Christ (Part 1 of 3), over the years choirs, especially in North America, have adopted it as the choral work at Christmas. In continental Europe you are more likely to hear Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at this time of year and Messiah at Easter. Handel probably doesn’t mind either way. He was a masterful marketer in his day. When he conducted the premiere in Dublin on April 3, 1742, he cannily arranged for a public rehearsal to take place the day before. It caused a sensation. As a result, hundreds of eager listeners had to be turned away from the official performance.
Many performances followed, with Handel constantly revising texts and rewriting arias and recitatives, depending on what soloists were available to him. As a result, there is no definitive, “authentic” version of the oratorio. Conductors choose their favourite versions and so you will see in house programs “1754 Foundling Hospital version” or “Mozart arrangement” in small print beneath the title (yes, even Mozart took his turn at it). In the Victorian era things got a little out of hand, with the musical forces for Messiah growing to hundreds of players and voices, when Handel originally wrote it for an orchestra of twenty-five and a choir of comparable size. Luckily, Messiah is quite resilient, which I think is one of the reasons it’s so popular. There are large and small Messiahs, Baroque and Romantic Messiahs Sing-Along Messiahs, even rock and soul arrangements. In the end, all that matters is that the power of the work shines through, which it invariably does.
This year marks the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death. The commemoration has centred in London, where Handel lived for close to 50 years. The BBC has broadcast all of his operas, and every one of his keyboard suites and cantatas were performed at the annual London Handel Festival. But nothing will compare with Messiah this Christmas, the 268-year-old oratorio that still awes listeners and musicians alike. Not bad for a work that was written in 22 days!
Heather Clark is the Director of Marketing and Development at Roy Thomson Hall and Massey Hall.
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