Messiah Premieres in Dublin
Dublin, 1742, where Handel's charity concert turned an English sacred oratorio into a public event.
Related
Time and place
13 April 1742, in the New Music Hall on Fishamble Street, Dublin. Handel gave a charity concert, and Messiah was performed complete for the first time with modest orchestral and choral forces.
What happened
Charles Jennens compiled the libretto from the Bible. English words, recitatives, arias and choruses form three parts, prophecy, Passion and resurrection. Handel composed it in London in twenty-four days, then adjusted the voices to the singers in Dublin. It raised money for a debtors' prison and a hospital, and ladies were asked to come without hoops so more people could be seated. A second performance in June filled the hall.
What changed
An oratorio no longer needed church ritual, Italian words or mythological characters to tell a sacred story in a concert hall. The division of soloists, chorus and orchestra became a model, and the charity concert a repeatable form. Later Handel festivals enlarged the chorus, and standing for the Hallelujah chorus became a habit rooted in this small Dublin performance.
Listen to the turn
Begin with a Messiah excerpt and notice how English words fall on the stresses of recitative. Then another excerpt, comparing the sound of different arrangements. Finally the stretch around the Hallelujah chorus, where Handel hands the music from soloists to the full choir. A sacred text found a new audience in the concert hall.
Related
This turn belongs to Baroque; see Oratorio and Aria, and Trumpet.
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Sources
- Grove Music Online, entry "Messiah" — Dublin premiere, charity and forces checked, not quoted
- Donald Burrows, Handel, Messiah (Cambridge University Press) — sources and performance history checked, not quoted
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.