Messiah is far and away George Frideric Handel's most highly esteemed and popular work. It has become one of the most renowned pieces of English sacred music. Unlike the majority of his work which was popular during his lifetime and then fell into obscurity, until relatively recently, at least, Messiah has endured. It has not remained in exactly the same form, however. In both the notes that are played and the culture in which the work is performed there have been vast changes for various reasons. It is these differences that will be explored here.
Andrew Cottle's, "Mozart's Arrangement of Messiah," and Howard E. Smither's, "Messiah and Progress in Victorian England," detail some of the changes that have occurred both within Messiah and in the surrounding English culture. Cottle's article, deals with the actual musical changes of Mozart's rearrangement of Messiah and, to a lesser degree, the circumstances behind the changes Mozart made. Smither's article looks at how the late Baroque work of Messiah was viewed within the later Victorian period in England, and the impact it had on music. There are a number of other articles and books dealing with same theme, some of which will be referenced here, as well.
In order to have a true insight into how Messiah has evolved through time, one must possess the background and history of the piece. It was truly a favorite of Handel himself. He suggested it was the product of an inspiration of sorts when he said, "I did think I did see all Heaven before me and the great God himself" (qtd. in Jacobi 7). In 1741, during a low spot in Handel's career in England, a friend, Charles Jennens convinced Handel to compose an oratorio based upon a compilation of Scriptures Jennens had recently arranged. Rather than return to Germany, Handel was convinced and began work on the oratorio (Jacobi 32). The entire work was written in a twenty-four day spurt from August 22 until September 14, in 1741. Messiah was performed for the first time in Dublin, April 13, 1742. It is not known whether Handel wrote the work for the Dublin performance or if he only choose Dublin for its first playing (Jacobi 8). As with all oratorios, Messiah, is divided into three parts. In Messiah, the three parts represent Christ's birth, death, and resurrection; each part breaking down into a series of arias and choruses, with a Biblical passage as their basis. Subsequent to the initial performance Handel toured Great Britain and Ireland performing his new masterpiece. During these initial performances Handel often changed elements of the oratorio to suit the librettos or the concert location.
The first major revision of Messiah by another musician began in 1788 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He had been commissioned by Baron van Swieten to arrange several of Handel's oratorios, among them Messiah, for a series of private performances in the homes of Viennese court members (Cottle 19). Mozart made the changes he did for two primary reasons. First, the orchestral style, including the phrase lengths, was already thought to be archaic, less than fifty years after Handel's initial composition (Cottle 19). Second, Mozart added new wind parts, complementing or completely replacing the original, to support the continuo organ which was not available in every house which Mozart was to play his arrangement (Cottle 19). Also, unlike the original Messiah which Handel wrote for the public, Mozart's version was to be played only for quite exclusive audiences (Cottle 19). The performances were given throughout Vienna during the Spring of 1789, since at that time Messiah was equated more with Easter rather than Christmas as it is today.
The group that performed Messiah for these gatherings was most likely comprised of roughly thirty men and boys, a larger number than performed Messiah under Handel's direction (Cottle 19). In this version Mozart shortened the oratorio by removing two movements from the second part (Jesus' death), "Let all the angels of God," and "Thou art gone up on high." Other than some adjustments to "The trumpet shall sound," Mozart left most of the original choral and vocal writing as it was. The major variation in the Mozart arrangement was in the winds. This brought about three major effects: the absence of the missing organs is minimized, cadences are reinforced to eliminate the linearity of the music (thus further blending the voices to the harmony, as was the Classical style), and the imagery was intensified (Cottle 20). In many of the arias Mozart strengthens the cadences, effectively breaking them up and making them more dissociated (Cottle 21). All of these changes made the music, at least to Mozart, more pleasing (Cottle 20).
Messiah was rediscovered and reinvented in Handel's adopted hometown of London, and England as a whole, during the 1820s continuing through the turn of the century. In London during the 1820s oratorios had become the vogue musical form, with Messiah leading the way. For some time religious musical festivals had been held in many of the English provinces and in London (Smither 339). Thus, there was the means and newfound desire to bring Messiah back out for large scale public performance.
These initial performances were themselves unique in that many amateurs were incorporated within the professional choirs to form huge performing forces of up to 300 (Smither 340). The alterations Mozart made to the music were often, though not always, included (Smither 340). In fact, the Mozart additions became so popular that some high class citizens felt the oratorio should not be played without them (Smither 341). What is more, new additions, implementing instrumental improvements, were also often added. By 1834 the number of performers had been stretched even farther to 644 at the Royal Music Festival held at Westminster Abby. This marked the beginning of an evolution toward ever larger events, which eventually reached its zenith in the gigantic festivals held at the Crystal Palace - huge both in the number of performers, normally over 3,000, and in attendance, in the tens of thousands. Early in Queen Victoria's reign there was a great push to bring music, especially oratorios to the common man, as a way of instilling a sense of morality (Smither 343). In fact, music became such a part of the lower classes that some of the festivals added days, with reduced prices for performances specifically targeted at the less affluent. Messiah was even being taught to children at school (Smither 343).
Despite all of the popular attention bestowed upon oratorios, Messiah especially, the religious foundation of the music was not lost. The profits from most of the festivals were donated to charity. Thus Messiah also became a wonderful fund-raiser, perhaps leading to its playing more often during the Christmas season (Smither 340).
In 1883 Sir George Grove began a shift in English attitudes. Unlike the view that Messiah should be added to and modified, he felt more historically accurate performance was more desirable. In a letter to the editor of the Musical Review he spelled out his thoughts that Messiah be performed "with an orchestra as Handel had it" (qtd. in Smither 347). He also wanted the Mozart additions to be discarded, as well as the numerous other modifications that had become the norm. In December 1885 Messiah was performed at Westminster Town Hall, without the additions, as Handel had originally written it, to the greatest extent possible. In 1906 there was a performance in Cambridge that was modeled as closely as possible to the initial Handel performances. These were not exact replications, however, as it appears women were used and the singers numbered about 100 (Smither 347). The movement toward historical accuracy in performance in no way diminished Messiah's popularity. The greatest contribution Messiah made to English music of the Victorian period was the movement of music away from a pastime of the elite to a significant part of life for people of all classes (Smither 347).
Today the debate for early music performance as it was performed historically still goes on, re-ignited during the 1960s (Freitas 14). There are two predominant questions that must be answered to settle this debate. First, do we really want to hear the music as it was first played? Second, if we do so desire, how accurately can the music be performed the way it was played so long ago? Perhaps these questions will linger and there will always be debate. What is beyond debate is that Messiah is a superb example of early Western music.