Advent Calendar Dec. 7: Why Don't We Say "Handel and Jennens?"

It All Began With The Libretto of Charles Jennens, The Sine Qua Non of "Handel's" Messiah, Political Outsider, "Handel Nut," Benefactor, And Christian. He Wanted No Glory Or Money (He Had Money)

And with His stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53: 5) 

As a devout Anglican and believer in scriptural authority, Jennens intended to challenge advocates of Deism, who rejected the doctrine of divine intervention in human affairs.[14] Shaw describes the text as "a meditation of our Lord as Messiah in Christian thought and belief", and despite his reservations on Jennens's character, concedes that the finished wordbook"amounts to little short of a work of genius".[23] There is no evidence that Handel played any active role in the selection or preparation of the text, such as he did in the case of Saul; it seems, rather, that he saw no need to make any significant amendment to Jennens's work.[13]

And He Shall Purify

“Just in time for Christmas. There are all sorts of Scrooges waiting to tell you that Messiah is done to death and that we should all be listening to Rheinberger's Stern von Bethlehem instead, but you can always brush them off. I happen to like the Rheinberger, adore Berlioz's L'Enfance du Christand Vaughan Williams' Hodie, Fantasia on Christmas Carols, and First Nowell, but Handel's oratorio deserves every ounce of the affection paid to it.”

Classical Net, Steve Schwartz


This is a wonderful short clip, which includes commentary from wonderful Handel and Jennens historian and scholar named Ruth Smith:

The person who writes the libretto is called a librettist. The word “libretto” (plural: “libretti” or “librettos”) is an Italian word which means “little book”. (Google)


And if I can persuade you to “obsess” just a little bit about Charles Jennens with me, tonight, as the world collapses around us, you may enjoy this, The Man Behind Handel’s Messiah:

From Wikipedia:

”The music for Messiah was completed in 24 days of swift composition. Having received Jennens's text some time after 10 July 1741, Handel began work on it on 22 August. His records show that he had completed Part I in outline by 28 August, Part II by 6 September and Part III by 12 September, followed by two days of "filling up" to produce the finished work on 14 September. This rapid pace was seen by Jennens not as a sign of ecstatic energy but rather as "careless negligence", and the relations between the two men would remain strained, since Jennens "urged Handel to make improvements" while the composer stubbornly refused.[25]”

Jennens wrote to Holdsworth on 30 August 1745: "[Handel] has made a fine Entertainment of it, though not near so good as he might & ought to have done. I have with great difficulty made him correct some of the grosser faults in the composition .."

Dublin, 12 April, 1741: Imagine Having Been At This Concert!

”In its report on a public rehearsal, the Dublin News-Letter described the oratorio as "... far surpass[ing] anything of that Nature which has been performed in this or any other Kingdom".[44] Seven hundred people attended the premiere on 13 April.[45] So that the largest possible audience could be admitted to the concert, gentlemen were requested to remove their swords, and ladies were asked not to wear hoops in their dresses.[40] The performance earned unanimous praise from the assembled press: "Words are wanting to express the exquisite delight it afforded to the admiring and crouded Audience".[45]”

Was he running away from Jennens, subconsciously?

In any event:

The Irish loved it, but in London, (later,) they were not immediately impressed, and for a time, Handel withered a bit.

It’s safe to say, it grew on them.

”Whether Handel originally intended to perform Messiah in Dublin is uncertain; he did not inform Jennens of any such plan, for the latter wrote to Holdsworth on 2 December 1741: "... it was some mortification to me to hear that instead of performing Messiah here he has gone into Ireland with it."[38]

Ha!

Countering “Deism?”

”As a devout Anglican and believer in scriptural authority, Jennens intended to challenge advocates of Deism, who rejected the doctrine of divine intervention in human affairs.[14] Shaw describes the text as "a meditation of our Lord as Messiah in Christian thought and belief", and despite his reservations on Jennens's character, concedes that the finished wordbook"amounts to little short of a work of genius".[23] There is no evidence that Handel played any active role in the selection or preparation of the text, such as he did in the case of Saul; it seems, rather, that he saw no need to make any significant amendment to Jennens's work.[13]”

Why We Stand

”The custom of standing for the Hallelujah chorus originates from a popular belief that, at the London premiere, King George II did so, which would have obliged all to stand. There is no convincing evidence that the king was present, or that he attended any subsequent performance of Messiah; the first reference to the practice of standing appears in a letter dated 1756, three years prior to Handel's death.[54][55]”

”Too many good stories are ruined by over verification.”

—Barry Farber

This is also good, and Trevor Pinnock (below) is delightful:

I studied online texts debating the best recordings of Handel’s Messiah. I have no personal favorite, yet. I generally just listen to The London Philharmonic version, but I’m trying to expand my awareness, before the imminent end of the world.

My mother took us to hear Handel’s Messiah( during the New York years, 1990s) every year, at Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall. In my early 20s, I was often bored, I suppose, but occasionally checked my mother’s face to understand whether we liked the performance or not. If anybody sang without emotional authenticity, with mere technique, my mother would become downright angry, afterwards.

I now recall: I sat reading the words, when the music went over my head. The words stunned me before the music did.

All these years later, it feels like one of life’s central consolations, to get lost in this music and the culture surrounding it.

And my beloved, somewhat under-credited, for some reason “rubbished,” Charles Jennens.

I weep as soon as I hear this music, every version—any version.

Many people swear by this one, Trevor Pinnock:

If Pélerine weighs in, you’ll get true musical knowing on this controversy, instead of my uninformed musings.

Which is the best one? No two performances are alike, by design.

Many people love this one:

I love them all.