"What type of music is Handel's ""Messiah""?"
Messiah (Handel) the speed of composition, has encouraged belief in the apocryphal story that Handel wrote the music in a fervour of divine inspiration in which, as he wrote the "Hallelujah" chorus, "he saw all heaven before him". Burrows points out that many of Handel's operas, of comparable length and structure to "Messiah", were composed within similar timescales between theatrical seasons. The effort of writing so much music in so short a time was not unusual for Handel and his contemporaries; Handel commenced his next oratorio, "Samson", within a week of finishing "Messiah", and completed his draft of this new work in
Messiah (Handel) to me to hear that instead of performing "Messiah" here he has gone into Ireland with it." After arriving in Dublin on 18 November 1741, Handel arranged a subscription series of six concerts, to be held between December 1741 and February 1742 at the Great Music Hall, Fishamble Street. These concerts were so popular that a second series was quickly arranged; "Messiah" figured in neither series. In early March Handel began discussions with the appropriate committees for a charity concert, to be given in April, at which he intended to present "Messiah". He sought and was given permission from St