Music to Heal the Soul

George Frideric Handel was born on this day in 1685. Handel was born in Germany, but lived most of his later life in England. He was born the same year as two other great composers of the Baroque period, J. S. Bach and Domenico Scarlatti.

Handel wrote a huge volume of music, including operas, oratorios, chamber music, harpsichord music, concertos, etc. His most famous work (and one of the most famous works of all music) is his oratorio, Messiah, based on passages from the Bible about Jesus Christ (Yeshua Messiah). The details of how Handel wrote "Messiah" are worth mentioning. The next section is quoted entirely from the book "The Spiritual Lives of the Great Composers". It's long, I know - but well worth reading.

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Audiences for Handel's compositions were unpredictable, and even the Church of England attacked him for what they considered his notorious practice of writing biblical dramas such as "Esther" and "Israel in Egypt" to be performed in secular theatres. His occasional commercial successes soon met with financial disaster, as rival opera companies competed for the ticket holders of London. He drove himself relentlessly to recover from one failure after another, and finally his health began to fail. By 1741 he was swimming in debt. It seemed certain he would land in debtor's prison.

On April 8 of that year, he gave what he considered his farewell concert. Miserably discouraged, he felt forced to retire from public activities at the age of 56. Then two unforeseen events converged to change his life. A wealthy friend, Charles Jennings, gave Handel a libretto based on the life of Christ, taken entirely from the Bible. He also received a commission from a Dublin charity to compose a work for a benefit performance.

Handel set to work composing on August 22 in his little house on Brook Street in London. He grew so absorbed in the work that he rarely left his room, hardly stopping to eat. Within six days Part One was complete. In nine days more he had finished Part Two, and in another six, Part Three. The orchestration was completed in another two days. In all, 260 pages of manuscript were filled in the remarkably short time of 24 days.

Sir Newman Flower, one of Handel's many biographers, summed up the consensus of history: "Considering the immensity of the work, and the short time involved, it will remain, perhaps forever, the greatest feat in the whole history of music composition." Handel's title for the commissioned work was, simply, Messiah.

Handel never left his house for those three weeks. A friend who visited him as he composed found him sobbing with intense emotion. Later, as Handel groped for words to describe what he had experienced, he quoted St. Paul, saying "Whether I was in the body or out of my body when I wrote it I know not."

Messiah premiered on April 13, 1742, as a charitable benefit, raising 400 pounds and freeing 142 men from debtor's prison. A year later, Handel staged it in London. Controversy emanating from the Church of England continued to plague Handel, yet the King of England attended the performance. As the first notes of the triumphant "Hallelujah Chorus" rang out, the king rose. Following royal protocol, the entire audience stood too, initiating a tradition which has lasted for more than two centuries.

Soon after this, Handel's fortunes began to increase dramatically, and his hard-won popularity remained constant until his death. By the end of his long life, Messiah was firmly established in the standard repertoire. Its influence on other composers would be extraordinary. When Haydn later heard the "Hallelujah Chorus", he wept like a child, and exclaimed, "He is the master of us all!"

Handel personally conducted more than thirty performances of Messiah. Many of these concerts were benefits for the Foundling Hospital, of which Handel was a major benefactor. The thousands of pounds Handel's performances of Messiah raised for charity led one biographer to note: "Messiah has fed the hungry, clothed the naked, fostered the orphan...more than any other single musical production in this or any country." Another wrote, "Perhaps the works of no other composer have so largely contributed to the relief of human suffering."

This work has had an uncanny spiritual impact on the lives of its listeners. One writer has stated that Messiah's music and message "has probably done more to convince thousands of mankind that there is a God about us than all the theological works ever written."

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Below are some excerpts of Messiah. I hope it encourages all of you who don't own a recording of it to get one. If you only get one piece of classical music then get this one. The message of this work is one of good news - the best news anyone on this earth could be given. God Himself loves us so much that He came down to earth and became a man, giving up His rights and privileges for a time, giving, teaching, suffering, dying, and then rising again. He took the punishment that all of us deserve, and He offers us eternal life if we believe in Him.

- For unto us a child is born
- Glory to God/Rejoice greatly
- Surely He hath born our griefs/And with His stripes we are healed/All we like sheep have gone astray
- Hallelujah chorus
- Since by man came death
- The trumpet shall sound

I'd recommend this recording of Messiah. It's full of interesting dynamic contrasts, excellent interpretations, and continuo played by the lute instead of the harpsichord, which is unusual but sounds really great.

Another very popular and great work is his "Water Music", 3 suites for a medium-sized ensemble, originally performed for the King and his company as they floated down the Thames river. See an interesting, brief re-enactment of this here. There are so many refreshing, uplifting pieces in these suites, I have to link to a few more:
- Bourree
- Allegro/Andante
- A couple of Menuets and Gigues.

I'd highly recommend this recording of the Water Music, which includes also Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks, another great work of his.

Other works to listen to include:
- Concerti grossi from Op. 3 and Op. 6
- Music for solo keyboard (harpsichord or piano), including the "Harmonious Blacksmith" suite

Two Birthdays

Luigi Boccherini was born today in 1743 in Italy. I only know one piece by him, which is quite well-known - the minuet movement of his String Quintet in E major, Op. 13, No. 5. It's quite a delightful little piece, sounding somewhat like Mozart.

Another of his pieces shows up in the end of the movie "Master and Commander: Far Side of the World" - "La Musica Notturna Delle Strade Di Madrid No. 6, Op. 30"

That's all I have to say... other than today is my birthday, too (30th)!

Italian Baroque Music

The composer Arcangelo Corelli was born today in 1653 in Italy. Corelli was writing music a few decades before J.S. Bach, and had an influence on him. He was a skilled violinist, and supposedly some violinists today can trace their student-teacher-lineage back to Corelli.

Some of his most popular works include the 12 Concerti Grossi from Op. 6, one of which (No. 8) is called the "Christmas Concerto" - listen here to the 1st and 2nd movements, here for the 3rd and 4th movements (the 3rd movement was featured in the movie "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World"), and here for the 5th and 6th movements.

I find his music very refreshing and uplifting - it is very structured and disciplined, yet has rich harmonies, surprising key-changes, and depth of emotion. The Christmas Concerto represents some of the finest orchestral music from the middle Baroque period of classical music - I hope it uplifts you as it does me.

The Happy One

Felix Mendelssohn was born today in 1809 in Germany. His grandfather, Moses Mendelssohn, was a famous Jewish philosopher. After Felix became a noted musical genius, his father supposedly made the statement, "Formerly I was the son of my father: now I am the father of my son." Felix means "the happy one", and his life was indeed quite happy, until near the end, when he suffered from bad health; sorrow over the death of his beloved sister contributed to his early death at age 38.

Mendelssohn was another child prodigy akin to Mozart. He wrote a lot of good music at quite a young age. One of his best and most original works, the Overture to Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, was written when he was only 17 years old. Woodwinds dialogue with the violins, who play a very flittering, soft melody in the beginning reminiscent of fairies before the whole orchestra comes in with a very triumphant section, and the piece goes on from there.

Mendelssohn also wrote a lot of piano music, including 2 piano concertos (they're charming pieces, but not among the greats), and a whole host of pieces called "Songs without words", which are delightful and span a range of emotions. One of the best is the "Spinning Song" - watch Artur Rubinstein's hands fly on this one. On the more serious side (pun intended) are his "Variations Serieuses", a masterful set of variations on a theme that sounds almost like a sarabande by Bach.

Mendelssohn also wrote some lovely chamber music. My favorites are his two piano trios. The Piano Trio in D minor is an incredibly powerful piece, requiring some really fast and light hands on the pianist's part. He also wrote an Octet for Strings when he was 16 years old, showing his genius at a young age.

He wrote great orchestral works also. Here is the opening to the "Italian Symphony", a work written in his early twenties. Possibly his most popular and beloved work is his Violin Concerto in E minor. Listen to the 1st and 3rd movments here. This is one of the most beautiful, perfect violin concertos ever written (though I still maintain the Beethoven violin concerto is "The" perfect violin concerto).

Finally, a comment about Mendelssohn's important role in the history of music. He performed a real service to the musical world by "resurrecting" music that had sunk into oblivion, namely that of J. S. Bach and Schubert, who nowadays are probably more famous than he.