8/12/2019 1990 Issue 10 - Handel's Messiah - Counsel of Chalcedon

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Handel s

essiah

y

i Wages .

,

Prom

a

Pooto

printed

irt

the

~ b f u i

J

umal

Following .

he

first

u ~ i i

perfonnance of

essiah in Apri11742.

hls is

the season

of Messiah At

this tiine:

of

year

Handel's great oratorio

will be

perlonrted

in

churches

and

concert halls throughout the world.

For almost 250 years audiences are

moved

from the

grave overture to the majestic Hallelujah Chorus.

It

truly is a musical masterpiece.

George Frideric Handel was

hom

in Halle,

Germany, within a month

of

Bach's Birth, 1685.

His

father

was a barber/surgeon and desired that

hiS

son

become

a lawyer. His mother was the.daughter

of

a Lutheran

pastor

. About the age

of

17

he went

to

Hamburg

and

discovered opera with its great

amalgamation

of

French, German,

and

Italian styles.

From Hamburg he

moved to Italy then to Hanover

and

finally

to London in

1712where

he

remained the .

rest of

his life. Handel had developed a_reputation

with his operas

but t

is his

26

oratorios that are the

most known

of

his vocal works.

The

oratorio

is

a text

of

Scripture

set

to music. In

contrast

to

opera, an oratorio is not acted

out

on

stage.

lts

drama

is developed by the music. ,

The

text is usually four soloists (Soprano, Alto, Tenor,

and Bass) with a chorus

and

orchestra

accompaniment Handel's first oratorio, The

Resurrection,

was composed

in Rome in

1708 .

Other notable . ones are

Israel in Egypt, Saul,

Solomon, and,Esther .

the finished

work

of an opera or oratorio is the .

The Counsel ofChalcedon o December. 1990 o Page

l4

collaboration of two talents--the composer and the

librettist.

One

librettist that Handel had collaborated

with on several previous projects was . Charles

Jennens.

n

writing to a friend, Jennens reveals:

"Handel says he will

do

nothing next winter,

but

I

hope I shall persuade

him

to

set

another Scripture

collection I have made for

him

and perform

it

for his

own benefit

in

Passion week. I hope he will lay out

his whole genius and skill

upon

it; that the

composition may excel all his former compositions,

as the subject excels every other subject. The

subject is Messiah."

Handel was persuaded and

he

set . o work.

For

twenty-four days

in

his study

in

London Handel

wrote fervently and swiftly, maybe almost

continuously if the stories are true that have come

from . his e x p e r i e n e ~ For example, his servant

brought him food; when the servant returned the

food was often untouched. While working on the

"Hallelujah Chorus", his servant found him with

tears .

in

his eyes.

He

exclaimed,

I

did think I did

see all . heaven before

me

and the great

God

Himself " That same serVant brought

him

chocolates and found his master weeping over a

page of the score ' bearing the words, "He was

despised and rejected of men."

n

those twenty-four days Handel created notes on

265 pages of manuscript from a plan Jennens had

devised from the words

of

both the Old and

New

Testament, to wit: "And without controversy, great

is the mystery

of

godliness;

God

was manifested iil

the flesh, justified by the Spirit, seen of 1 1 1 1 g ~ l s

preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the

world, received

up

in glory; in

whom

are hid all the

treasures

of

wisdom and knowledge.''

Jennens took ali his words from one

or

another

version of the English Bible, most from the King

James Version

of

1611, some from the Great Bible

of

1539. Instead

of

recounting the events

of

Jesus'

life in

just

the words

of

the four Gospels, he always

began with an

Old

Testament prophecy followed by

a

New

Testament account

that

validated the

prophecy. The result was a masterlullibretto--the

weaving of spiritual thoughts that Handel brilliantly

cfeated

in

vocal

and

instrumental line. When

it

was

completed

it

was a work quite dif ferent from all

that

preceded it. .

It

would be

hard

to imagine that Handel'.s religious

themes would

be

opposed for public presentation.

However, in Handel's day the use

of

Biblical words

in .a theater was revolutionary, and those who

opposed Handel

went

.to great extremes to keep his

oratorios from being successful.

It

is purport

ed

that

his enemies hired boys to . ear down the

8/12/2019 1990 Issue 10 - Handel's Messiah - Counsel of Chalcedon

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advertisements of his perlormances.

One

critic wrote: "An

oratorio either

is an

act of religion or it is not; i f

it

is, I

ask if

the playhouse

is

a fit temple to perform

it

in,

or

a company of

players .. it ministers of God's Word?" Thirteen years after it

was first performed in London a friend of Handel wroted to

him " ..When in the grand choruses the whole audience

solemnly rose in joint acknowledgement that

He

who for

our

sakes had been despised and rejected of men was their creator,

redeemer,

king

of Kings, Lord

of

Lords To be sure,

the

playhouse is an unfit place for such a solemn performance .."

It

was in an atmosphere of doubt that

caused

Han iel much

anguish before the first London performance.

It had

been

initially performed in Dublin ten months prior without

controversy. Handel struggled with the decision to perform

it

in London because the oversensitive Bishop of London might

fail to recognize Handel's efforts to distance Messiah from that

vulgar form of entertainment-"Opera". He struggled with the

title. Would it evoke charges of sacrilege?

hrist

ollege

We believe

In

the full authority of the Bible

as

l l(]lressed in the Westminster Confession of Faith.

e are Reformed in theology.

We teach a comP.rehenslve Biblical World-view

arising from the historic Biblical Reformed Faith.

God's Word is

the

foundation of all knowled2e.

We have a high view of God's revealed Moral

Law In both Old

and

New Covenants.

We believe in the ultimate

t r u m ~ o

God's

Sovereign Grace which will impact tbe world.

We believe

In

very limited civil government,

a free enterP.rlse economic

S Y s t e ~

and

Christian Schooland home-school education.

We offer a Bachelors degree and an Associate

(2-year) degree, with initial

m ~ j o r s

in Theology,

PhilosophyI. History, Political Economy, Litera

tore, and Lbrlstian Education.

f you are interested in more information or a Catlalogue,

please

write us. We also welcome inquiries concerning

potential fmancial conlnbutions.

Write:

Administrative Offices

Christ College

P.O. Box 11135

Lynchburg, Virginia 24506

ChristCollege

does

not

discriminate on

the

basis of race, color, or ellmic or national origin.

For the most part

on

that London premiere night, the listeners

found the music not to

their

liking, the oratorion, after all,

had no story. The soloists had too little to do and the chorus

too

much.

It

was different and the audience was not ready for

i t

Yet we

are told that at least one person of some

importance was impressed---the King.

It

was reported that

during the "Hallelujah Chorus" the King was

so

moved

that

he, then

the

rest of the audience, stood

and

remained t a n d i n g

until the chorus ended.

think

it

is fitting

to

conclude

with

this anecdote:

When

a

nobleman complimented Handel on the great entertainment of

Messiah

Handel replied, My Lord, I should be sorry

i f

only

entertained them; wished to make them better." By God's

grace, those who believe the message of Messiah will

be

made

better. Bibliography:

Jacobi, Peter;

The

Messiah

Book New

York:

St

Martins

Pre is

. 1982

Smilb, J.S. and Carlson,

B.; Gift of Music

Westchester, ll.: Crossway

Boolcs.

1978

Q

You

may think that a book about the growth of a coal

company would be uninstructive. Think again.

Otto Scott's recently published (1989)

Buried Treasure

diStributed by Ross House Books, P.O.

Box

67 Vallecito,

CA.

95251 provides

many

astute

ob

setvations

and

economic

insights for the reader.

Buried Treasure is the story of the formation and growth

of

Arch Mineral

over

a nineteen year

period

(1969-1988).

Formed

in

a time when it was very difficult to get into the

coal industry, Arch has grown to a point when it has good

coal reserves,

good

contracts.for

that

coal, and employs 3,000

people while providing an excellent return

to

its investors.

The

buried

treasure is, of course, coal. Yet there is buried

treasure here for the

discerning reader.

That

treasure is in the

form of economic principles that must not go unnoticed by

the wise.

God's providence is evident

in

the economic realm. The

company was founded in 1969 in St Louis by Merle

Kelce

and Orin Atkins. However much more than two men with a

vision is needed for a company to

be

successful. Millions of

dollars were needed

to buy

reserves and

set up other

aspects

of

the operation. Kelce, Atkins, and others

had

known various

(continued on page 22)

The Counsel of Chalcedon December 1990 Page 15