December, 1941
T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
Two directors of rnusie were discuss ing their plans for Christmas music one year. “John,” asked one of them, "why do you give that old Handel oratorio year after year when there are so many new and ‘up-to-date’ works?” “Because the people are hungry for it,” the other replied simply. “With its setting of pure Scripture lyrics, set to infectious music, it carries the mes sage home to the heart. Then, too, it is comparable to' the Bible as a ‘best seller.’ You must admit it draws the crowds!” Perhaps this last statement may seem a mercenary criterion to some, but people crave that which touches the vital phases of life and particularly that which reaches on into the vistas of eternity. When the chorus sings—people are moved to listen. If Handel could hear The Messiah sung today—if he could direct it from the choir gallery of a large church— would he be surprised that it has lived down through the years? In imagina tion we can see him raise his hands for the orchestra to come to atten tion. His massive white head is bent to catch the first arresting notes. His blind eyes could not see the difference in dress and customs on this two-hun dredth anniversary of his creation, but perhaps he could sense some other change. It may be that he could feel something of the appreciation of this modern audience, and perhaps he would remember the days when it had not been thus, It is doubtful whether he would re member those earliest days when as a lad of five, he had had to play secretly in the attic of his home, for fear of his father who opposed his music—nor of the time when the Duke had per suaded Handel’s father to let him study —nor of the years following when, at sixteen, he had started out on his own, nor of his great love of the opera and his attempts and failure in it. He had had youth and ambition to carry him through then. It is more likely he would remember the days just prior to his writing The Messiah, days that were filled with physical and fnental illness when he was in the depths of despair. His rivals had finally succeeded in ruining his last opera, and with ‘its failure all his fortune had gone. Physically ill, and sunk into a mental inertia, he found it impossible to write anything and was terrified lest his music was ended forever.
He would recall, no doubt', that the greatest crisis of his life occurred when he was fifty-seven; when, a failure in opera, he one day gave his atten-y tion to a manuscript which his poet- friend, Charles Jennens, had left for him. The selection proved to be the Scripture words «for The Messiah. He began to read and, suddenly, the music was coming. For the next twenty- four days he scarcely ate or rested but wrote at a feverish tension. In that amazingly short time, the work was done. Handel had given to the world an oratorio, with inspired words and with music unsurpassed. To Handel, the writing of The Mes siah meant the turning point in his life. It meant the release from the fear that was hampering and warping him. From this time on, he turned almost entirely to the writing of sacred ora torios, and the happiest period of his life began. He wrote many other oratorios and conducted The Messiah thirty-four times in all, even after he was entirely blind. But though his success in sacred music was phenomenal, his jealous con temporaries continued to fight against him, and even the Bishop of London at, one time forbade the performance of The Messiah, labeling its composer a heretic for “dragging the Bible onto the stage.” Perhaps, remembering all this, Handel would be surprised to find in 1941 that The Messiah and particularly the “Hallelujah Chorus? have become the traditional Christmas music, and that on the occasions when this oratorio is presented, many who otherwise seldom attend a church are found in the audi ence hearing the words of life through this glorious medium. Many oratorios with Biblical themes have been written,' musical settings of the highest order, but Handel’s great masterpiece surpasses them all in its direct, personal, and perennial appeal. Bach’s B Minor Mass, his St. Mat thew’s Passion may outrank this ora torio in the dizzy heights he reaches in his great and matchless contrapuntal structures; Haydn has given us in Creation a masterpiece in direct, crys tal-clear and reverent handling of a great theme; Mendelssohn’s Elijah is more thrilling in striking episode and dramatic appeal; Gounod’s Redemption touches the great central theme of the Bible in present-day, understandable idiom; but from year to year, The Mes siah is one that people turn to, and it comes to be a necessity in the life of every Christian who has come un- [ Continued on Page 464]
What Will Be Your Response?
The two-hundredth anniversary of the writing of Handel’s masterpiece, THE MESSIAH, will be celebrated this Christmas throughout the world wherever Christianity has maintained a foothold. Never before in human history has there been so pertinent an appeal from the Biblical texts set to music by the great composer, as today when prophecy is being un folded rapidly in this war-weary world, If the Lord tarries, the Christian populace will again hear these stir ring numbers, and the eternal verities that are brought out in this match less selection will be a solemn warn ing to those who reject Christ. What will be YOUR response? When the matchless strains of the “Hallelujah Chorus” are heard this year, will you, in humble adoration of the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Saviour, rise to your feet to give reverent homage to the Son of God? He is “worthy.”
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