Hallelujah!

George Frideric Handel

Three Baroque composers were born in 1685: George Frideric Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Domenico Scarlatti, whose father was the composer Alessandro Scarlatti. Handel was born in Germany and lived there and in Italy until he moved to Britain in 1712. He composed many works throughout his life, including his most famous work, the oratorio Messiah. The Hallelujah Chorus is one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music. Handel passed away in 1759 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. He is considered one of the greatest composers of his time, and that time happened to include Johann Sebastian Bach, one of the contenders for the title of greatest composer of all time.

The last music performance Handel attended was at Covent Garden, April 6, 1759. It was his Messiah. He died eight days later.

Messiah

Please read the History of Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah. It says it so much better than I can. Below I will include a few interesting tidbits and technical things not discussed in that article.

The text from Messiah was compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. Handel composed the music in 24 days and barely slept or ate. He was often moved to tears while he wrote it.

It was first performed in April 1742 for Easter in Ireland and was extremely well received. The next year, 1743, it was performed in London but was not well received. The legend is that King George II attended and stood at the end of the Hallelujah Chorus. It is unsure if this happened or not, but the tradition is now well established that everyone stand during the Hallelujah Chorus signifying that earthly Kings must stand and bend their knee to the Messiah. The Messiah's popularity grew and by 1750 the Messiah became a yearly performance in London to raise funds for charity. By the early 1900's Messiah was performed nearly every year at Easter at Christian churches all over the world. Since the 1960s Messiah performances became a yearly Christmas event.

During Handel's life the choir was actually very small. But after his death the size of the choir kept growing. December 13, 1967 was the first time that an audience was invited to sing with the choir. It was the first Messiah Sing-In. Since then, the Messiah Sing-In is a Christmas staple. Now there seems to be a race to see just how big a Messiah performance can be.

When I first attended a sing-in I didn't know any of the music except the Hallelujah Chorus. It was a bit awkward. I should've just sat and listened until the Hallelujah because it isn't something that one can just sight read and I wish I had known that. If you want to learn the whole thing, this webpage is a great resource.

I don't remember the exact year, but around 2010 I was in the Utah Symphony Chorus and had the opportunity to learn the Messiah and I sang it for real at the annual Utah Symphony Messiah Sing-In. Verdi's Requiem and Beethoven's 9th Symphony are the only other performances I've been in that are in the same league.

Structure

Although Messiah is not acted out like an opera, it is structured like one. It has 3 acts or parts.

Part I covers the birth and life of Jesus. It includes "And the glory, the glory of the Lord shall be revealed", "For unto us a Child is born", and "Glory to God in the highest".

Part II covers his death, resurrection, ascension, and the Pentecost. It includes "And with His stripes we are healed", "All we like sheep, have gone astray", and ends with the Hallelujah.

Part III covers the end of time, the judgment and resurrection of all mankind. It includes "Since by man came death", "The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be rais'd", "O death, where is thy sting?", and "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain".

Each act is has multiple scenes or movements and there's a total of 53. Each scene is a collection of individual musical numbers. Many of the scenes includes an introduction number that leads straight into a soloist numer, which is also followed immediately by a choir number.

The introductory numbers don't have repeating sections like verses or choruses. Instead, a soloist tells a story and it resembles ordinary speech. These numbers are called "recitatives". Recitatives serve to move the story along or introduce the next number. In the Messiah, the recitatives are very short. An example of a recitative is "Behold, a virgin shall conceive" (Note, the recitative part only lasts a few seconds).

Some musical numbers are the opposite of recitatives. A soloist sings a lush melody and strives to be as musical as possible. These numbers are called "arias" or "airs". Examples include "Ev’ry valley shall be exalted" from Part I and "I know that my Redeemer liveth" from Part III.

Some musical numbers are performed by the choir and they're called "choruses". Hallelujah from Part II is a chorus.

Hallelujah Chorus

"I did think I saw heaven open, and saw the very face of God." — Handel

The text of the Hallelujah is based on Revelation 19:6,16 and Revelation 11:15.

Rev. 19:6. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.

Rev. 19:16. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

Rev 11:15. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

The Music

It's public domain.

WORDS ONLY
Hallelujah Chorus sheet music
Messiah full score (this is a large file). The Hallelujah Chorus is No. 44. It's pages 203 - 213 (written page 193 - 203).

Learn to sing the Hallelujah Chorus!

Sources

The sources for this are either linked above or from Wikipedia. AI did not write any of this, although I used it to verify a few things and fix a little bit of grammar (although I still leave a lot of mistakes in—I'm not a journalist or much of an academic).