Handel Born: Baroque Master Behind Messiah

George Frideric Handel composed Messiah in 24 days in 1741. Not revised it, not polished it. He wrote the entire work, 259 pages of score covering roughly two and a half hours of music, in three weeks and three days. Born on February 23, 1685, in Halle, Saxony, in the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and just 80 miles away, Handel showed musical talent early and studied organ and composition despite his father's preference that he pursue law. He traveled to Italy in his early twenties, where he absorbed the Italian operatic style that would inform his entire career, then settled in London in 1712. He became the dominant figure in English music for the next four decades, producing Italian operas for the London stage before the public's taste shifted to English-language works. The shift nearly bankrupted him. He pivoted to English oratorios, large-scale choral works on biblical subjects that could be performed in concert halls rather than opera houses. Messiah was composed in his house on Brook Street in London. He barely left his room during the composition. Servants found his food untouched. When he reached the Hallelujah chorus, he reportedly told a servant, "I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself." The premiere took place in Dublin on April 13, 1742, to enthusiastic audiences. London was initially cooler. It became the most performed choral work in history over the following centuries. Handel went blind in his final years from the same surgeon who had unsuccessfully operated on Bach. He continued conducting Messiah performances from memory, relying on trusted musicians to manage the details. He collapsed during a Messiah performance on April 6, 1759, and died eight days later. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.