How Handel brought 鈥楾he Messiah鈥� to life in bleak times
Time and place affect even the greatest works of art. The serendipitous composition of the music for George Frideric Handel鈥檚 most famous work has been told many times, but maybe never so engagingly as in 鈥淓very Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel鈥檚 鈥楳essiah.鈥欌�� Charles King masterfully interlocks the stories of the people and events that inspired and influenced the creation of Handel鈥檚 glorious 鈥淢essiah.鈥�
The German-born composer first came to London in 1710 at the age of 25 but soon adopted England as his own, living and working there until the end of his long, productive life in 1759. While Handel is the star of 鈥淓very Valley鈥� (the title comes from the oratorio鈥檚 first song, 鈥淓very Valley shall be exalted, and every Mountain and Hill made low, the Crooked straight, and the rough Places plain鈥�), the supporting role played by the irascible librettist Charles Jennens, a wealthy political renegade, occasionally upstages him.
King appreciatively recounts the聽casualness with which Handel took on grand projects, including the libretto by Jennens, which in 1741 Handel had had in his possession for months before deciding, during an engagement in Dublin, to give it a whirl. Jennens, meanwhile, had no idea that Handel had, in a matter of about three weeks, fashioned the entire oratorio in his usual adroit way of recomposing airs from his own trove of Italian operas and bringing to life a bundle of new songs and choruses. Despite the patchwork libretto, Handel ingeniously parlayed Jennens鈥� quotations and paraphrases from the Old and New testaments into unexpected evocations of wonder and awe.
King neatly describes how the composer鈥檚 peculiar English may have helped him devise emphases in the lyrics that were, and remain, unusually striking: 鈥淔or the biblical words 鈥楬allelujah鈥� and 鈥榝orever,鈥� he applied rhythms just enough at odds with English to be interesting.鈥� Moreover, 鈥淔or unto us a child is born,鈥� clipped by Jennens from the book of聽Isaiah, Handel 鈥渞epurposed鈥� from a love duet he had written for an Italian opera, titled 鈥淣o, I Will Never Trust You.鈥�
The Irish audience for its premiere in April 1742, to Handel鈥檚 surprise and delight, was over the moon for 鈥淢essiah鈥� (鈥淭he鈥� in its title came later): 鈥淚t seems to be a聽Species of Musick different from any other,鈥� remarked a Protestant bishop.
As King lays out the contemporary cultural and political history, he corrects any misunderstanding that Handel鈥檚 Britain was a place of calm and national unity. It resembled, instead, the chaos and dread much of the world seems to be experiencing today, brought on by political upheavals and struggles to forge national identities. Britain was 鈥渄efined by some combination of official Protestantism, naval power, a global empire, and most important not being French,鈥� King writes. The government repressed religious dissent (in particular, Catholicism) while unconscionably investing in slavery and colonization.
Disease killed half of the infants born in London during聽 the first half of the 18th century, as the lower classes of the country suffered terrible poverty. The popularity of 鈥淢essiah鈥� grew in part because of its function as an annual charity fundraiser 鈥� given at Easter rather than at Christmas. Handel, a rich celebrity, seems to have donated his share of the oratorio鈥檚 proceeds to hospitals and orphanages.聽
Another of Handel鈥檚 good deeds was rescuing Susannah Cibber from an聽adultery scandal by casting her in 鈥淢essiah鈥� and rewriting the aria 鈥淗e was despised, rejected of men鈥� in a range that she 鈥� not an especially accomplished singer 鈥� could perform well due to her extraordinary gifts as an actor. Her wrenching performances in Dublin brought her back to stardom on the London stage.聽
鈥淢essiah鈥� lay dormant for several years after its less-than-rapturous debut in聽London. But it was revived and became in Handel鈥檚 lifetime his most-performed work.
The pleasure of 鈥淓very Valley鈥� may be a result of its veteran author having the theme of 鈥渉ope鈥� (鈥溾�榓n expectation indulged with pleasure,鈥� as Samuel Johnson would describe it in his dictionary in the 1750s,鈥� King notes). Hope, in the fall of 2020, amid the pandemic, was what spurred him to write the book: 鈥淗emmed in, unprepared for what seemed like a dark future 鈥� disease, social division, a warming planet, the messed-up state of everything 鈥� I wanted desperately to find a way for us to slice through the gloom, to let in a bit of healing light.鈥澛�
King has opened a dazzling skylight above Handel鈥檚 time.
