Who doesn’t enjoy the Hallelujah Chorus? Here’s a nice story about how desperate Handel was during the composition and first performances of the Messiah.
Yes, those were in Dublin, not London.
No, they were not in a church, but in a large hall, with tickets to raise money to free more people in Dublin's Debtor’s. Prison. It worked.
Yes there is a great tradition, honored around the world, of everyone standing during the Hallelujah Chorus. The attached history explains how this came about.
My favorite performance of the Chorus? The 2003 Northeast States of India, Christmas Choral Festival in Delhi India. During our five years in Delhi Candy and I hosted a Sunday fellowship for the KOMREM Christian Fellowship in our apartment in Vasant Vihar. The members were all students at Delhi University and all came from one of the poorest smallest of the Northeast States of India called Manipur.
I attach below a recent performance of the Chorus by one of the Nagaland choirs. The Naga’s are one of the bigger stronger groups and their choirs are large and well prepared.
“My” KOMREM’s are one of the small tribes from one of the smallest poorest places. My boys and girls were not well trained, or highly skilled.
About two thousand people attended the large auditorium performance on a saturday evening. “My choir” got polite applause.
But, after the competition it was time for the massed choirs to sing the Hallelujah Chorus. And, so at least 500 young folks and Candy jammed onto this very large stage. The conductor was tiny, but forceful. The audience all stood. Lots of tears. My youngsters said wait til next year.
John
The Miracle of Messiah
If there’s one piece of classical music that needs no introduction, it’s the “Hallelujah” Chorus. Even if you’ve never attended a performance of Messiah, you’ve almost certainly heard it echo through shopping malls, holiday commercials, and in pop culture cameos such as The Simpsons, Arrested Development, or even Dumb & Dumber.
But what makes Handel’s Messiah endure as one of the most beloved works in the classical repertoire nearly 300 years later? Yes, the oratorio has beautiful, sweeping melodies and speaks to universal themes of longing, joy, and redemption, but what truly allows Messiah to stand the test of time is the remarkable story behind its creation.
In 1741, George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) was heavily in debt after a series of musical disappointments. His once-popular Italian operas had fallen out of favor with London audiences, leaving him financially strained, professionally discouraged, and dangerously close to debtor’s prison. At 56, an age when many composers of the era were slowing down, Handel seemed to be facing the end of his career, until a chance project offered him a lifeline.
In August of that same year, Handel’s friend Charles Jennens (1700–1773) had assembled a libretto drawn entirely from biblical texts, tracing the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Around the same time, a group of Dublin charities commissioned Handel to compose a new work for a benefit
performance intended to raise funds for those imprisoned by debt. The project offered a rare opportunity: a meaningful artistic challenge, a chance to support a worthy cause, and a vital commission that might help lift Handel out of his own financial troubles.
So, Handel did what any great composer would do: He shut himself away, perhaps pouted awhile, then began writing in a feverish burst of creativity. In what is described as trance-like, he finished the score in a remarkable 24 days, going for long periods without food or sleep. When he finished writing the “Hallelujah” Chorus, the composer had tears in his eyes and cried out to his servant, “I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself.” This rapid pace was seen by Jennens not as a sign of ecstatic energy but rather as “careless negligence”, and the relations between the two men would remain strained, since Jennens “urged Handel to make improvements” while the composer stubbornly refused.
Handel traveled to Dublin during the winter of 1741–42, where he gave a series of performances of L’Allegro il Penseroso ed il Moderato,Acis and GalateaandEsther. It was unclear whether he originally planned to unveil Messiah during this visit, but the city proved an ideal place for a fresh start. On April 13, 1742, the first performance of Messiah took place at the newly built Great Music Hall on Fishamble Street, a venue designed specifically to host charitable performances supporting the release of imprisoned debtors. Although the hall was built to seat around 600, more than 700 audience members squeezed inside after women were asked to forgo their hoop skirts and men their swords to make room for the crowd.
Handel’s choice to present Messiah in a theater rather than a church stirred controversy, but his aim was clear: he saw the oratorio as evangelical in spirit and wanted it to reach as wide an audience as possible. The premiere was a resounding triumph, raising enough money to free more than 140 people from debtor’s prison and setting the work on its path toward becoming one of the most cherished pieces in the classical canon.
The overwhelming success of the Dublin premiere sparked a renewed chapter in Handel’s career, and Messiah made its way to London, where it continued to grow in popularity. It was during an early London performance that a now-beloved tradition is said to have begun. According to legend, King George II fell asleep during the concert and was awoken by the opening
chords of the “Hallelujah” Chorus that he rose to his feet, prompting the entire audience to stand with him out of respect. While historians still debate whether this moment occurred, the tradition remains deeply ingrained. Today, audiences around the world rise together during the “Hallelujah” Chorus, not only in admiration of the music, but in shared recognition of the joy, uplift, and communal spirit that Messiah embodies as
Handel intended, “I should be sorry if I only entertain them. I wish to make them better.”
Yes, those were in Dublin, not London.
No, they were not in a church, but in a large hall, with tickets to raise money to free more people in Dublin's Debtor’s. Prison. It worked.
Yes there is a great tradition, honored around the world, of everyone standing during the Hallelujah Chorus. The attached history explains how this came about.
My favorite performance of the Chorus? The 2003 Northeast States of India, Christmas Choral Festival in Delhi India. During our five years in Delhi Candy and I hosted a Sunday fellowship for the KOMREM Christian Fellowship in our apartment in Vasant Vihar. The members were all students at Delhi University and all came from one of the poorest smallest of the Northeast States of India called Manipur.
I attach below a recent performance of the Chorus by one of the Nagaland choirs. The Naga’s are one of the bigger stronger groups and their choirs are large and well prepared.
“My” KOMREM’s are one of the small tribes from one of the smallest poorest places. My boys and girls were not well trained, or highly skilled.
About two thousand people attended the large auditorium performance on a saturday evening. “My choir” got polite applause.
But, after the competition it was time for the massed choirs to sing the Hallelujah Chorus. And, so at least 500 young folks and Candy jammed onto this very large stage. The conductor was tiny, but forceful. The audience all stood. Lots of tears. My youngsters said wait til next year.
John
The Miracle of Messiah
If there’s one piece of classical music that needs no introduction, it’s the “Hallelujah” Chorus. Even if you’ve never attended a performance of Messiah, you’ve almost certainly heard it echo through shopping malls, holiday commercials, and in pop culture cameos such as The Simpsons, Arrested Development, or even Dumb & Dumber.
But what makes Handel’s Messiah endure as one of the most beloved works in the classical repertoire nearly 300 years later? Yes, the oratorio has beautiful, sweeping melodies and speaks to universal themes of longing, joy, and redemption, but what truly allows Messiah to stand the test of time is the remarkable story behind its creation.
In 1741, George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) was heavily in debt after a series of musical disappointments. His once-popular Italian operas had fallen out of favor with London audiences, leaving him financially strained, professionally discouraged, and dangerously close to debtor’s prison. At 56, an age when many composers of the era were slowing down, Handel seemed to be facing the end of his career, until a chance project offered him a lifeline.
In August of that same year, Handel’s friend Charles Jennens (1700–1773) had assembled a libretto drawn entirely from biblical texts, tracing the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Around the same time, a group of Dublin charities commissioned Handel to compose a new work for a benefit
performance intended to raise funds for those imprisoned by debt. The project offered a rare opportunity: a meaningful artistic challenge, a chance to support a worthy cause, and a vital commission that might help lift Handel out of his own financial troubles.
So, Handel did what any great composer would do: He shut himself away, perhaps pouted awhile, then began writing in a feverish burst of creativity. In what is described as trance-like, he finished the score in a remarkable 24 days, going for long periods without food or sleep. When he finished writing the “Hallelujah” Chorus, the composer had tears in his eyes and cried out to his servant, “I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself.” This rapid pace was seen by Jennens not as a sign of ecstatic energy but rather as “careless negligence”, and the relations between the two men would remain strained, since Jennens “urged Handel to make improvements” while the composer stubbornly refused.
Handel traveled to Dublin during the winter of 1741–42, where he gave a series of performances of L’Allegro il Penseroso ed il Moderato,Acis and GalateaandEsther. It was unclear whether he originally planned to unveil Messiah during this visit, but the city proved an ideal place for a fresh start. On April 13, 1742, the first performance of Messiah took place at the newly built Great Music Hall on Fishamble Street, a venue designed specifically to host charitable performances supporting the release of imprisoned debtors. Although the hall was built to seat around 600, more than 700 audience members squeezed inside after women were asked to forgo their hoop skirts and men their swords to make room for the crowd.
Handel’s choice to present Messiah in a theater rather than a church stirred controversy, but his aim was clear: he saw the oratorio as evangelical in spirit and wanted it to reach as wide an audience as possible. The premiere was a resounding triumph, raising enough money to free more than 140 people from debtor’s prison and setting the work on its path toward becoming one of the most cherished pieces in the classical canon.
The overwhelming success of the Dublin premiere sparked a renewed chapter in Handel’s career, and Messiah made its way to London, where it continued to grow in popularity. It was during an early London performance that a now-beloved tradition is said to have begun. According to legend, King George II fell asleep during the concert and was awoken by the opening
chords of the “Hallelujah” Chorus that he rose to his feet, prompting the entire audience to stand with him out of respect. While historians still debate whether this moment occurred, the tradition remains deeply ingrained. Today, audiences around the world rise together during the “Hallelujah” Chorus, not only in admiration of the music, but in shared recognition of the joy, uplift, and communal spirit that Messiah embodies as
Handel intended, “I should be sorry if I only entertain them. I wish to make them better.”
Thank you, Interesting story and beautiful video.
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