What Easter Oratorio was completed in just 24 days?

It often left the composer sobbing and is considered one of the greatest musical feats in history. ☰✕ [Piano]( [Vocal]( [Choir]( [Strings]( [Woodwinds]( [Brass]( [Band & Orchestra]( [Digital]( [Piano]( • [Vocal]( • [Choir]( • [Strings]( • [Woodwinds]( • [Brass]( • [Band & Orchestra]( • [Digital]( USE CODE TUNE15 AND SAVE 15% AND EARN $5 CASH BACK*! Handel completed an astounding 260 pages of orchestration in only twenty-four days. During that process, he didn’t leave his house, and friends often found him sobbing with emotion. Considering the immensity of the work, some have considered it one of the greatest musical feats in history. [Messiah, HWV 56 Oratorio in 3 parts By George Frideric Handel]( George Frideric Handel's Messiah was originally an Easter offering. It burst onto the stage of Musick Hall in Dublin on April 13, 1742. The audience swelled to a record 700, as ladies had heeded pleas by management to wear dresses "without Hoops" in order to make "Room for more company." Handel's superstar status was not the only draw; many also came to glimpse the contralto, Susannah Cibber, then embroiled in a scandalous divorce.   The men and women in attendance sat mesmerized from the moment the tenor followed the mournful string overture with his piercing opening line: "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God." Soloists alternated with wave upon wave of chorus, until, near the midway point, Cibber intoned: "He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." So moved was the Rev. Patrick Delany that he leapt to his feet and cried out: "Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven thee!" A year later in London, the King of England attended a performance. As the first notes of the “Hallelujah” chorus began, he was so overwhelmed he rose to his feet, beginning a tradition that has continued for more than two hundred years. Its subsequent performances for charity did more to feed the hungry and transform the lives of the poor than any other single musical achievement.   Now, of course, Messiah is a fixture of the Christmas season. Woe to the concert hall in the United States or Britain that fails to schedule the piece around the holiday, when, as well, CD sales and Web downloads of the oratorio soar. For many amateur choirs, the work is the heart of their repertoire and the high point of the year. [Messiah Basso Continuo Part By Watkins Shaw]( Organ and Choir [Messiah By George Frideric Handel]( SATB Vocal Soli [Messiah By George Frideric Handel]( Full Score [Messiah Study Score]( Study Score [SHOP ALL MESSIAH](   LEARN [Messiah Understanding and Performing Handel's Masterpiece]( Messiah Understanding and Performing Handel's Masterpiece   This book on Handel's Messiah reflects Helmuth Rilling's remarkable skills, both as a conductor and as an educator. It is literally a 'study-guide' for conductors and performers which shows the step-by-step thought process Rilling uses in preparing a score - a methodology which can be applied to any work. More importantly, Rilling challenges the reader to probe Handel's thinking - to consider ways of more effectively communicating the deeper layers of meaning found within this masterwork. [Learn More]( WATCH [[ratio]    ]( The Royal Choral Society has performed Handel's Messiah on Good Friday at the Royal Albert Hall every year since 1876.  SHARE Do you have a tradition of performing the Messiah, a video or story?    Share it with us!  You could win a $25 Gift Card! [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [LinkedIn]( [TikTok]( Stay Connected: [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Instagram]( [TikTok]( [Blog]( [Blog]( Sheet Music Plus | 918 Parker St. | Suite A11 | Berkeley, CA 94710 | United States [Unsubscribe]( *Emails containing a $5 coupon code will be sent to eligible customers on or before April  25, 2022.