Reflection on Handel’s Messiah Occasion: Choir and soloists singing pieces from Part 2 and Part 3 of Messiah Dr. William C. Pender, 4/9/17 (Passion Sunday)

Today, our focus is on the Passion of Christ through the work of Charles Jennens and George Frederick Handel in the oratorio called Messiah (incidentally, not “the Messiah”…just Messiah ). The word oratorio comes from Italian—it originally meant “pulpit.” The word “oratorio” became a name for a particular kind of musical expression—one that preaches! The drama is in solos and choruses, but without any dramatic staging or costuming. The focus is on the words. One thought is that in a world where illiteracy was more the norm—a population that cannot read—then music becomes a way to establish Scripture in the hearts of people.

The combination of music and words is an integral part to our humanity. For example, if I asked you to write down the words of the Pledge of Allegiance, you could probably do it very quickly. But if I asked you to write down the words of the Star-Spangled Banner, most of us would have to mentally sing through it to come up with the words. And when someone begins to sing a song, often we find that we know words that we did not realize we had in us. Music and lyrics connect in us in a different way than just memorization.

One of my pet theories is that the best of our faith has to have a musical expression. If we cannot sing it, it is not very deep within us. Today we hear words of Scripture together with music. And Messiah has been a staple for the Christian faith for over 250 years.

Here are some further thoughts for you: Charles Jennens is often not mentioned. He was the lyricist—he chose a set of Scriptures to accomplish a faithful expression about who Jesus Christ is for us. In other words, Jennens had an agenda, or purpose—he was preaching. His goal was to present Jesus Christ in a way that was accurate theologically and convincing emotionally. Jennens chose a set of Scriptures—not to tell the story of Jesus—but to give the prophecy and birth of Christ (part 1), Christ’s passion, death and resurrection (part 2), and the redemption and response of the believer (part 3).

However, the genius in the crafting of Messiah , the oratorio, was George Fredrick Handel. The text is straight from the Bible—Jennens made those choices, but he did not write anything of his own composition. But what has made Messiah live and breathe for almost 300 years is the music—the music composed by George Fredrick Handel.

Handel was a composer, a German composer of English music, who was greatly influenced by Italian opera. A German-English-Italian pedigree! One of the earliest negative reactions to Messiah was that it combined a secular, worldly music with an eternal, reverent text. For example, can you imagine taking the stately hymn such as “Our God, Our Help in Ages Past” and resetting it to a rap beat and style? It would be jarring for many. But Handel took the challenge to set the text of Scripture to the then-modern, even secular, style of his day of Italian opera. And now around the world, in most every expression of Christendom, Messiah is a recognized work of art and faith.

Our preparation for Holy Week is to hear the Scripture texts—some are choral pieces, some are solos. And remember it is an “oratorio”—a pulpit message. We will hear selections from Messiah — mainly from Part II, and mainly the parts that deal with Jesus’ Passion and Death. Part II also

Page 1 of 2 includes songs about Jesus’ resurrection—the Easter message—which we are not doing today. The concluding piece of Part II that emphasizes Easter is the signature piece of Messiah : the “Hallelujah Chorus.” As this is now Passion Sunday, we hold off from that piece until next Sunday.

Jennens and Handel focused on the Old Testament anticipation of the Passion—of God’s purpose in the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus Messiah , or Jesus Christ. The vast majority of the Old Testament texts in Part II come from Isaiah 53. Of all the Old Testament texts that point to the Messiah of Israel, Isaiah 53’s depiction of the “suffering servant” has the clearest connection to the New Testament’s depiction of Jesus. One of the alto solos from Isaiah 53 is "He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” This solo was so moving in the first production of Messiah that a priest, Rev. Patrick Delany, leapt to his feet and cried out to the soloist: "Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven thee!"

Another solo, this by a soprano, is “How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.” (Isaiah 52:7) I have always been a bit intimidated by this text—how beautiful are the feet of them that preach. If you have seen my feet, you know I missed out on this one! However, in a serious vein, let me suggest a way to hear these words. Recall first that the original meaning of the word “angel” is not a “divine being” but rather “messenger.” An angel is simply a messenger of God. In many of the Biblical scenes of an angel appearing, the first reaction is to kneel or to bow down to the ground. When in awe and humility, you find yourself kneeling down, even prostrating yourself, it is the feet of the person who brings the message that you see. So vision would be focused on the feet. So how beautiful are the feet who bring good news, the good news from God!

The first performance of Messiah was in Dublin, Ireland, on April 13, 1742. The crowd for the first performance was expected to be so large that women were instructed not to wear hoop skirts and men were told to leave their swords at home—all to insure that there would be sufficient seating! And although we are not performing the “Hallelujah Chorus” today (but come back next week!), the tradition of standing for it is well-established, but there is little evidence for the legend that you stand for the “Hallelujah Chorus” because King George II did so the first time he heard it. More likely, because a full performance of Messiah takes almost three hours, standing for the “Hallelujah Chorus” at the end of Part II could be comparable to the seventh inning stretch in a baseball game—rising to your feet in preparation for several innings more!

So, let us now dispense with unaccompanied words, and hear the Scripture, set to music by the genius of George Fredrick Handel—selections from Messiah , preparing us for Holy Week.

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