Many Have Heard of ‘Handel’s Messiah.’ But Do You Know About Handel Himself?
December 21, 2021 by SkyWatch Editor
In the 1730s, opera started to become less popular in Britain. Handel, in financial trouble, was sent a manuscript by the writer Charles Jennens entitled Messiah. It was a skillfully put together sequence of Bible passages which told the entire story of salvation from the fall of humanity, through Jesus the suffering Messiah, to Christ’s future triumph. Behind it was something of an agenda: Jennens wanted to counteract the increasingly popular view which saw Jesus as little more than a good moral teacher. He did so by emphasizing that Jesus both fulfilled prophecy and was far more than just a man. Handel was inspired by the text and set to turning it into an oratorio – essentially an English-language opera without staging or costume – with astounding energy. In a remarkable burst of creativity, he wrote all the music in 24 days. At the very end of Messiah, Handel wrote the letters ‘SDG’ – Soli Deo Gloria – “To God Alone the Glory… (READ MORE)