Messiah Part II

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Messiah
(Part II)
by George Frideric Handel
Hallelujah score 1741.jpg
The last page of the Hallelujah chorus, ending Part II, in Handel's manuscript
Year1741 (1741)
Period Baroque
Genre Oratorio
Text Charles Jennens, a compilation from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer
Composed22 August 1741 (1741-08-22) 14 September 1741 (1741-09-14): London
Movements23 in seven scenes
Vocal SATB choir and solo
Instrumental

Messiah (HWV 56), the English-language oratorio composed by George Frideric Handel in 1741, is structured in three parts. This listing covers Part II in a table and comments on individual movements, reflecting the relation of the musical setting to the text. Part I begins with the prophecy of the Messiah and his birth, shows the annunciation to the shepherds and reflects the Messiah's deeds on earth. Part II covers the Passion in nine movements including the oratorio's longest movement, an air for alto He was despised, then mentions death, resurrection, ascension, and reflects the spreading of the Gospel and its rejection. The part is concluded by a scene called "God's Triumph" that culminates in the Hallelujah chorus. Part III of the oratorio concentrates on Paul's teaching of the resurrection of the dead and Christ's glorification in heaven.

Contents

Messiah, the oratorio

Christopher Hogwood in rehearsal in 2014 Christopher Hogwood 2014.jpg
Christopher Hogwood in rehearsal in 2014

The libretto by Charles Jennens is entirely drawn from the Bible, mostly from the King James Bible, whereas several psalms are taken from the Book of Common Prayer. [1] [2] The librettist commented: "... the Subject excells every other Subject. The Subject is Messiah ...". [3] Messiah differs from Handel's other oratorios by telling no story, instead offering reflections on different aspects of the Christian Messiah. Christopher Hogwood comments:

Messiah is not a typical Handel oratorio; there are no named characters, as are usually found in Handel's setting of the Old Testament stories, possibly to avoid charges of blasphemy. It is a meditation rather than a drama of personalities, lyrical in method; the narration of the story is carried on by implication, and there is no dialogue.

Structure and concept

The oratorio's structure follows the liturgical year; Part I corresponding with Advent, Christmas and the life of Jesus, Part II with Lent, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost, Part III with the end of the church year, dealing with the end of time, the Resurrection of the dead and Christ's glorification in heaven. The sources are drawn mostly from the Old Testament. [2] Even the birth and death of Jesus are told in the words of the prophet Isaiah, the most prominent source of the libretto. The only true scene of the oratorio is taken from the Gospel of Luke, the annunciation to the shepherds. [5] The imagery of shepherd and lamb features prominently, in the aria "He shall feed His flock like a shepherd", the only extended piece to talk about the Messiah on earth, in the opening of Part II, "Behold the Lamb of God", in the chorus "All we like sheep", and in the closing chorus of the work, "Worthy is the Lamb". Occasionally verses from different biblical sources are combined in one movement, but more often a coherent text section is set in different consecutive movements, such as the first "scene", the annunciation of Christian salvation, as a sequence of three movements, recitative, aria and chorus.

Music

When Handel composed Messiah in London, he was already a successful and experienced composer of Italian operas. He had started in 1713 to also compose sacred music on English texts, such as the Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate . He set many oratorios on English libretti. In Messiah he used practically the same musical means as for those works, namely a structure based on chorus and solo singing. Only a few movements are a duet or a combination of solo and chorus. The solos are typically a combination of recitative and aria. The arias are called Air or Song, some of them have da capo form, but rarely in a strict sense, repeating a first section after a sometimes contrasting middle section. Handel finds various ways to use the format freely, in order to convey the text. The movements marked "Recitative" (Rec.) are "secco", only accompanied by the basso continuo. Recitatives marked "Accompagnato" (Acc.) are accompanied by additional string instruments. Handel uses four voice parts in both solo and chorus, soprano (S), alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B). Only once is the chorus divided in an upper chorus and a lower chorus, it is SATB otherwise. The orchestra scoring is simple: oboes, strings and basso continuo of harpsichord, violoncello, violone and bassoon. Two trumpets and timpani highlight selected movements, such as the closing movements of Part II, Hallelujah. Handel uses a cantus firmus on long repeated notes especially to illustrate God's speech and majesty, such as "King of Kings" in the Hallelujah chorus. [6]

General notes

The following table is organized by movement numbers. There are two major systems of numbering the movements of Messiah: the historic Novello edition of 1959 (which is based on earlier editions and contains 53 movements), and the Bärenreiter edition of 1965 in the Hallische Händel-Ausgabe. Not counting some short recitatives as separate movements, there are therefore 47 movements. In the table below, the Novello number (Nov) is given first and is the index for the notes to individual movements in the "movements" section, then the Bärenreiter number (Bär).

To emphasise the movements in which the oboes (ob) and the rarely used trumpets (tr) and timpani (ti) play, the summary below does not mention the regular basso continuo and the strings in movements. Details on the development of keys, different tempo markings times within a movement are given in notes on the individual movements.

Part II summary

Movements of Messiah Part II
NovBärTitle / First lineFormTempo markingScoringTimeKey
22 19Behold the Lamb of GodChorusLargoob Commontime.svg G minor
23 20He was despisedAir, altoLargo Commontime.svg E-flat major
24 21Surely, He hath borne our griefsChorusLargo e staccatoob Commontime.svg A-flat major
25 22And with His stripes we are healedChorusAlla breve, moderatoob Allabreve.svg F minor
26 23All we like sheepChorusAllegro moderatoob Commontime.svg F major
27 24All they that see Him, laughAccompagnato, tenorLarghetto Commontime.svg B-flat minor
28 25He trusted in GodChorusAllegroob Commontime.svg C minor
29 26Thy rebuke hath broken His heartAccompagnato, TenorLargo Commontime.svg various
30 27Behold, and seeArioso, TenorLargo e piano Commontime.svg E minor
31 28He was cut off outAccompagnato, tenor or soprano Commontime.svg B minor
32 29But Thou didst not leave his soulAir, tenor or sopranoAndante larghetto Commontime.svg A major
33 30Lift up your headsChorus SSATBA tempo ordinarioob Commontime.svg F major
34 Unto which of the angelsRecitative, tenor Commontime.svg D minor
35 31Let all the angels of GodChorusAllegroob Commontime.svg D major
36 32Thou art gone up on highAir, alto, soprano, or bassAllegro larghetto3
4
D minor (alto and bass) / G minor (soprano)
37 33The Lord gave the wordChorusAndante allegroob Commontime.svg B-flat major
38 34How beautiful are the feetDuet, alto or soprano & alto Chorus or Air, soprano or altoAndanteob Commontime.svg D minor (duet and chorus) / G minor (soprano) / C minor (alto)
39 35Their sound is gone outArioso, tenor or chorusAndante larghetto Commontime.svg F major (tenor) / E-flat major (chorus)
40 36Why do the nations so furiously rageAir, bassAllegro Commontime.svg C major
41 37Let us break their bonds asunderChorusAllegro e staccatoob3
4
C major
42 He that dwelleth in heavenRecitative, Tenor Commontime.svg A major
43 38Thou shalt break themAir, tenorAndante3
4
A minor
44 39HallelujahChorusAllegrotr ti ob Commontime.svg D major

Part II movements

Scene 1

Scene 1 is the longest scene of the oratorio and reflects the Passion, in Jennens' words "Christ's Passion; the scourging and the agony on the cross", in nine individual movements, including the longest one, the Air for alto "He was despised". [3] Part II is the only part opened by a chorus, and continues to be dominated by choral singing. Block observes that the emphasis on the Passion differs from modern western popular Christianity, which prefers to stress the nativity of the Messiah. [4]

22

23

Schmerzensmann, Albrecht Durer Albrecht Durer, The Man of Sorrows with Hands Bound, 1512, NGA 30840.jpg
Schmerzensmann , Albrecht Dürer

He was despised

24

25

26

27

All they that see Him, laugh Him to scorn

The thought "All they that see Him, laugh Him to scorn" is taken from Psalm 22 (Psalms22:7), the psalm from which Jesus quoted on the cross, according to Mark and Matthew. The text is set as a short tenor accompagnato, again based on a pattern of dotted notes in the instruments. The strings through in violent figures after "laugh Him to scorn" and "shoot out their lips", similar to an outburst of laughter. The key of B-flat minor is termed "remote and barbarous" by Hogwood. [7]

28

29

30

Scene 2

Scene 2 covers death and resurrection in two tenor solo movements.

31

32

Scene 3

Scene 3 refers in a chorus to the ascension.

33

Scene 4

Scene 4 covers the Messiah's position in heaven, following the teaching from the Epistle to the Hebrews in two verses, Hebrews1:5–6.

34

35

Scene 5

Scene 5 alludes to Pentecost and the beginning of preaching the Gospel.

36

37

38

39

Scene 6

Scene 6 shows the difficulties and rejection of the preaching, based on four consecutive verses from Psalm 2, Psalms2:1–4. It is the first text in the oratorio actually referring to the Messiah, the "anointed one" (verse 2). [4]

40

41

42

Scene 7

Scene 7 is called "God's triumph" by Jennens.

43

44

Hallelujah

Part II closes with the Hallelujah chorus which became famous as a stand-alone piece, set in the key of D major with trumpets and timpani. The choir introduces Hallelujah, repeated in homophony, in a characteristic simple motif for the word, playing with the interval of a second, which re-appears throughout the piece. Several lines from the Book of Revelation (Revelation19:6,16, Revelation11:15) are treated differently, as in a motet, but unified by "Hallelujah" as a conclusion or as a countersubject in a fugal section. The line "for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth" is sung by all voices, first in unison, then in imitation with Hallelujah-exclamations interspersed. (The melody is based on the fugue theme from Corelli's "Fuga a Quattro Voci ".) The second line "The kingdom of this world is become" is sung in a four-part setting like a chorale. The third idea "and He shall reign for ever and ever" starts as a fugue on a theme with bold leaps, reminiscent in sequence of Philipp Nicolai's Lutheran chorale "Wachet auf". [7] As a countersubject, the words "for ever – and ever" assume the rhythm of the Hallelujah-motif. The final acclamation "King of Kings...and Lord of Lords" is sung on one note, energized by repeated calls Hallelujah and "for ever – and ever", raised higher and higher in the sopranos and trumpets, up to a rest full of tension and a final solemn Hallelujah.

References

  1. Vickers, David (2012). "Messiah (HWV 56) "A Sacred Oratorio"". gfhandel.org. Archived from the original on 8 September 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  2. 1 2 Powell, David R. (2009). "The Bible and Handel's Messiah: Some Sources on Their Relation and Use". journal.atla.com. Theological Librarianship, An Online Journal of the American Theological Library Association. Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 Heighes, Simon (1997). "George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) / Messiah – Simon Heighes, for The Sixteen recording, Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder". hyperion-records.co.uk. Retrieved 11 July 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Block, Daniel I. (2001). "Handel's Messiah: Biblical and Theological Perspectives" (PDF). Didaskalia . 12 (2). Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  5. 1 2 Luckett, Richard (1992). Handel's Messiah: A Celebration. London: Victor Gollancz. ISBN   978-0-575-05286-4.
  6. Burrows, Donald (1991). Handel: Messiah. Cambridge (UK): Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-37620-4.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Hogwood, Christopher (1991). Handel: Messiah (CD). The Decca Recording Company Ltd. (Notes on the music, Edition de L'Oiseau-Lyre 430 488–2)
  8. Manson Myers, Robert (1948). Handel's Messiah: A Touchstone of Taste . New York: Macmillan. ISBN   9780374960353.{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  9. "G. F. Handel's Compositions HWV 101–200". GFHandel.org. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 19 July 2011.
  10. 1 2 3 Keates, Jonathan (2007). "Handel Messiah" (PDF). Barbican Centre. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2011.