Handel s oratorio Messiah is a phenomenon with no parallel in music history. No other work of music has been so popular for so long. Yet familiarity can sometimes breed contempt and also misunderstanding. This book by music expert Calvin Stapert will greatly increase understanding and appreciation of Handel s majestic Messiah, whether readers are old friends of this remarkable work or have only just discovered its magnificence. Stapert provides fascinating historical background, tracing not only Messiah s unlikely inception but also its amazing reception throughout history. The bulk of the book offers scene-by-scene musical and theological commentary on the whole work, focusing on the way Handel s music beautifully interprets and illuminates the biblical text. For anyone seeking to appreciate Handel s Messiah more, this informed yet accessible guide is the book to have and read. (Handel s Messiah: Comfort for God s People is the newest volume in the flourishing Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Liturgical Studies Series, edited by John D. Witvliet.)

The soundtrack of the Christmas season for many music lovers, Messiah is performed annually by choral societies across the world. And so, perhaps unsurprisingly, many aspects of it have been explored by scholars over the years. The work is the subject of several listeners’ guides and there are a number of books and articles of various lengths that describe the biographical circumstances of the work’s formation and details of its many performances, many including lists of singers for each performance (an area that has itself spawned a whole field of research). There has been no extensive study of the creative process of Messiah, however, since 1969. This book seeks to redress this imbalance by providing a thorough investigation of the work’s creative process. Beginning with the creative process of the libretto, it examines the earliest sketches, Handel’s use of pre-existent material, alterations made to the autograph score, and the latest versions of movements. Each stage of composition is examined via primary source material, with particular reference to the autograph score and conducting score. Each chapter is formed as a case study and contains related discussion points for use in teaching or study settings.

We think we know Handel’s Messiah, having heard it or performed it so many times. But is there another way to look at this masterpiece? Who assembled the texts? Why? How did Handel incorporate his own spiritual understanding of the texts? In this treatise, we view the composition from the same Baroque aesthetic perspective the composer used: the Doctrine of Affections—an approach heretofore unexplored in relationship to Handel’s Messiah—which held that every major and minor key prompted a particular, very specific, and involuntary emotional and spiritual response in the listener. When facing a choice between following the accepted rules of musical composition or using the Affect best suited to the scriptural text, Handel almost exclusively chose the Affect; in other words, he chose spiritual insight over compositional tradition. Overlaying the various Affects on each movement of Handel’s composition, we discover the true heart and spiritual depth of the composer’s magnum opus.

Every Easter, audiences across the globe thrill to performances of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” but they would probably be appalled to learn the full extent of the oratorio’s anti-Judaic message. In this pioneering study, respected musicologist Michael Marissen examines Handel’s masterwork and uncovers a disturbing message of anti-Judaism buried within its joyous celebration of the divinity of the Christ. Discovering previously unidentified historical source materials enabled the author to investigate the circumstances that led to the creation of the Messiah and expose the hateful sentiments masked by magnificent musical artistry—including the famed “Hallelujah Chorus,” which rejoices in the “dashing to pieces” of God’s enemies, among them the “people of Israel.” Marissen’s fascinating, provocative work offers musical scholars and general readers alike an unsettling new appreciation of one of the world’s best-loved and most widely performed works of religious music.

Beginning pianists can have the pleasure of playing one of Western music's most popular pieces with this easy-to-play arrangement, which offers highlights from the work and includes downloadable MP3s.

Handel's Messiah cannot be fully appreciated until the scripture behind the music is understood. This work looks at each of the passages of the Bible used in the oratorio.

G. F. Handel: Messiah, a sacred oratorio arranged for SATB with piano part, is presented here by Novello, edited with piano reduction by Watkins Shaw.

This monograph, translated from the original Danish, concentrates on the plan and execution of 'Messiah', its singers and performances, manuscripts and editions, and aesthetics.