Few works in the history of Western music have the particularity that when they are named the author is added immediately. The Messiah by Handel is one of these works. Nowadays, it may seem to the layman that Händel composed a single Christmas oratory since, year after year, in Christmas, it is interpreted ad nauseam. The truth, however, is that Handel composed up to 32 oratories and that the Messiah is not a Christmas oratory but Easter. But it is no less true that since its premiere on April 13, 1742 until a fair interpretation six days before his death (April 14, 1759), the piece was performed more than 50 times and was erected, thus, in the most well-known and successful of the composer of Halle. We are facing one of the greatest works in the history of music. In this session we've approached the nucleus of the birth of this canonical score of Western music, and also to the moment of absolute crisis experienced by Handel, who was later able to transform it and let himself be inspired by divinity.
Oriol Pérez Treviño, musicologist