408. Handel

Hello and welcome to another episode from the archives of 5 Minutes in Church History. I’m your host Steve Nichols, and we are just three weeks away from getting back to new episodes of the podcast. So, make sure that you’re subscribed—wherever you get your podcasts—and feel free to let your friends and family know about this show. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoy this episode of 5 Minutes in Church History.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. On this episode, we are talking about a composer, George Frideric Handel, and I will resist the urge to have a pun here and say that we are going to get a handle on Handel, but let's get a handle on Handel. He was born in 1685 in Halle, Germany. The importance of that year is it was the same year as the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach. 1685 was a great year for the birth of composers, apparently, and now Bach to Handel, and I promise I'm done with puns.

Well, Handel was originally set to be a lawyer, but he loved music and he quickly showed his prowess as an organist and at composing, and so he set off to be a musician. He spent some time traveling around Italy and then he was musician for the Elector of Hanover. Now, the importance of the Elector of Hanover was that he was the heir to the throne of England, and when Queen Anne died childless, the Elector of Hanover became King George I of England.

Handel moved with him to London, and the year was 1712 and from then on, Handel spent the rest of his life in Britain and he's, while born in Germany and German descent, is known as an English composer. Under George I, he founded the Royal Academy of Music, which he directed for 15 years. Early on in London, Handel composed for King George I his famous Water Music or, as in Handel's beloved German tongue, Vosser musik. The first time it was performed for King George, he loved it so much he ordered it played again, and then he ordered it played again, so it debuted three times in a row in 1717.

After he finished his time, Handel finished his time at the Royal Academy of Music, he spent much of the 1730s writing operas and then he set about to write what might be considered his magnum opus, The Messiah. Handel was, by all accounts, obsessed with work—we would say today, a workaholic—and he poured himself into his work as a composer and as a musician.

Sadly, in 1751 he went blind and then in 1759, at the age of 74, he died in London. He was buried in Westminster Abbey and of course the grand organ of the Abbey and the choir played his beloved Messiah. Handel once said, "I should be very sorry if I only entertained them," referring to the people who listened to his music. He wanted people to not only be entertained but to be moved by his music, and that was certainly the case with The Messiah.

The Messiah was first performed in Dublin on April 13, 1742. It was performed the next year in London and King George II was in the audience attending and when he got to the chorus for part two, “The Hallelujah Chorus,” King George II was so moved that he stood up. And of course, when the King stands everyone else stands, and so the whole theater stood alongside of the King and that started the tradition of standing during the hallelujah chorus.

The Messiah is in three parts. Part one begins with prophecies of the coming Messiah, from Isaiah in the Psalms and takes us right to the shepherds watching their flock at night on Bethlehem's hillsides. Then, part two covers the passion, the suffering and death of Christ and ends with that hallelujah chorus. Part three picks up with Christ's resurrection and continues with his ascension and what theologians call his present session and glory and then it ends with the day of judgment to come as the Messiah, the King, comes in glory.

Well, that is Handel's Messiah and when he was finished writing the musical score, he signed it SDG, Soli Deo Gloria. I'm Steve Nichols, thanks for joining us for 5 Minutes in Church History.