Messiah

Seventeen-forty-one was a very depressing year for George Frederick Handel. His latest opera failed. His Italian opera company in London was disbanded. That same year Queen Caroline passed away and the commissions Handel had received for composing music for royal occasions all but dried up. A stroke experienced several years prior not only affected him physically, but affected his music. It seemed like he had lost the genius that made his music so popular.

Late that year Charles Jennens, a poet known by few, sent Handel a manuscript with a request that Handel set it to music. When Handel read the copy, the words gripped him. Suddenly he came alive. Immediately he began to put the words to music. He labored all through that night and much of the following day. In fact, he worked day and night for 22 more days barely stopping to eat or sleep.

When his composition was finished he sensed that it would be a true masterpiece. His "Messiah" was performed the following year and was an immediate success.

The words that Jennens wrote that inspired Handel and lifted him out of the pit of despair were about the Saviour: "He was despised and rejected of men. He looked for someone to have pity on him, but there was no man. He trusted in God. God did not leave his soul in hell. I know that my Redeemer lives. Rejoice. Hallelujah!"

I would dare to suggest that it was the period of disappointment and despair that prepared Handel in heart and spirit to write this masterpiece of musical genius. How grateful we are that he invested his pain wisely.

By Dick Innes, Daily Encounter www.actsweb.org/detoday . Used by permission.

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