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Deeply depressed, Handel was visited by his friend Charles Jennens. The wecaptionhy, devout Anglican had written a libretto about the life of Christ and the work of redemption, with the text completely taken from the Bible. A fussy perfectionist, Jennens had written it to challenge the deists who denied the divinity of Jesus. Would Handel compose the music for it? he asked. Handel answered that he would, and estimated its completion in a year.

Soon thereafter, a group of Dublin charities approached Handel to compose a work for a benefit performance. The money raised would help free men from debtor's prison, and Handel would receive a generous commission. Now with a text and a motivation, Handel began composing Messiah on August 22, 1741. Within six days, Part One was finished. In nine more, Part Two. Six more and Part Three was done. It took him only an additional two days to finish the orchestration. Handel composed like a man obsessed. He rarely left his room and rarely touched his meals. But in 24 days he had composed 260 pages—an immense physical feat.

When he finished writing what would become known as the Hallelujah Chorus, he said, "I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God himself."

Though the performance of the piece again caused controversy (Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels and then the dean of Saint Patrick's Cathedral, was outraged and initially refused to allow his musicians to participate), the premiere on April 13, 1742, at the Fishamble Street Musick Hall was a sensation. An overcapacity crowd of 700 people attended, raising 400 pounds to release 142 men from prison. (The demand for tickets was so great that men were asked not to wear their swords and women asked not to wear hoops in their skirts, allowing 100 extra people into the audience. Such hoops immediately fell out of fashion for concerts.)

Still it took nearly a year for Messiah to be invited to London. Religious controversy surrounded it there, too, and Handel compromised a bit by dropping the "blasphemous" title from handbills. It was instead called "A New Sacred Oratorio." But the controversy wasn't strong enough to keep away the king, who stood instantly at the opening notes of the Hallelujah Chorus—(though some historians have suggested it was because he was partially deaf and mistook it for the national anthem) a tradition ever since.

Though it had met rave reviews in Dublin ("the most finished piece of music"), it was not very popular in London after its premiere. By 1745 Handel was again playing to empty houses and nearing poverty. Not until his oratorio Judas Maccabeus, which was misunderstood by the English as a veiled nationalistic anthem, did Handel (and with him Messiah) reach the pinnacle of his career.

Until his death, Handel conducted 30 performances of Messiah (none at Christmastime, for Handel deemed it a Lenten piece), only one of which was in a church, Bristol Cathedral. In that audience sat John Wesley. "I doubt if that congregation was ever so serious at a sermon as they were during this performance," he remarked.

Handel died on the day before Easter 1759, hoping to "meet his good God, his sweet Lord and Savior, on the day of his Resurrection." A close friend remarked, "He died as he lived—a good Christian, with a true sense of his duty to God and to man, and in perfect charity with all the world."

Recommended Resources Buy the book containing this and many other profiles of Christians you should know.

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