Messiah, HWV 56

1. 0:01
   Opening, first violins and choir

   The first violins open with the rhythm of “Hallelujah”. Three bars later the choir enters on the word, all four parts together. The key is D major, with short choral cries and brief answering runs in the strings.

2. 1:09
   “The kingdom of this world”, bars 33–⁠41

   The quick cries stop. “The kingdom of this world” moves in measured crotchets, the choir singing together over a descending bass. At “the kingdom of our Lord” the phrase rises.

3. 1:25
   Fugue on “And he shall reign”

   The basses begin “And he shall reign” with a subject that leaps up and down through the chord. Tenors, altos and sopranos then enter in turn. Short “Hallelujah” cries recur around the subject.

4. 1:45
   “King of kings”, sopranos and altos

   “King of kings” begins on a held A in the sopranos and altos. The sopranos then rise through D, E, F♯ and G, holding each note over faster entries in the other voices.

5. 2:20
   Request to the audience, Dublin, 1742

   On 13 April 1742, the day of the first Messiah, the Dublin papers printed a request to the audience at the Music Hall in Fishamble Street. Ladies were asked “not to come with hoops” and gentlemen to come without their swords. This let more people fit into the hall, which benefited the charity.

6. 3:04
   Final plagal cadence, bars 92–⁠94

   The repeated “Hallelujah” cries break off. After a rest the choir sings the word once more in broad note values. The bass moves from G to D beneath it, and Handel places a fermata over the final D major chord.

Joins

1. 0:36
   The basses take “For the Lord”

   The basses take “For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth” on D, rising through E and F♯. The first violins double the tune low in their range, and the sopranos rest. The four-part writing of the opening divides into this melody and shorter “Hallelujah” answers in the other voices.

2. 1:44
   Upper voices hold A over replies

   In bars 49–⁠56 the fugue cadences in A major. Sopranos and altos hold A for “King of kings”, tied across the barline. Tenors and basses reply with short “Hallelujah” figures, and the strings double these replies under the sustained upper-voice note.

3. 2:18
   The basses reopen the fugue

   The sopranos end their held high G and descend towards E as the harmony reaches A major. In bar 69 the basses bring back “And he shall reign”, and the other voices take up the leaping theme again. The first violins join the sopranos’ entry.

4. 3:06
   Rest and final plagal cadence

   In bars 90–⁠94, choir and orchestra interrupt their repeated “Hallelujah” figures with a rest. The last statement begins in longer notes, and the bass moves from G to D for the plagal cadence. All four voices finish together on the D major chord, held under a fermata.

1. 0:00
   Opening declarations and imitation

   The choir begins with short, shared cries of “Hallelujah”. Soon Handel sets the parts in imitation through longer lines.

2. 0:35
   Edison Diamond Disc, 1916

   In May 1916 Edison issued this performance on Diamond Disc 80292. The singers were named on the label as the Oratorio Chorus.

3. 1:12
   Jennens’s libretto, summer 1741

   In the summer of 1741 Charles Jennens sent Handel a collection of passages from the Old and New Testaments. It told no continuous story. Part I covers prophecy and birth, Part II death and resurrection, and Part III the believer’s response.

4. 1:50
   First performance, Dublin, 1742

   For the first performance of Messiah, at the Music Hall in Fishamble Street, Dublin, on 13 April 1742, demand was so great that the organisers asked men to leave their swords at home and women to come without hooped skirts.

5. 2:40
   “King of kings” against “Hallelujah”

   Handel set “King of kings” in long notes and “Hallelujah” in quick ones. The two are sung together. One voice part holds the long notes while the others sing the shorter figure around it.

6. 3:25
   Final cadence in D major

   In the closing bars the full choir sings a last, broad “Hallelujah”. The bass moves from G to D, and the final D major chord carries a fermata.

1. 0:03
   Orchestral introduction and choral entry

   The strings play the rhythm of “Hallelujah” for three bars before the choir enters. All four voice parts then sing together, and the violins play short phrases in the rests between their repeated “Hallelujah”s.

2. 1:26
   “The kingdom of this world”

   At “The kingdom of this world” the choir’s syllables slow to crotchets. The four parts move together while the bass descends beneath them.

3. 1:52
   Entries on “And he shall reign”

   The basses begin “And he shall reign”, and the tenors, altos and sopranos follow in turn (bars 41–⁠51). The theme leaps through the chord, then runs down by step.

4. 2:05
   Royal Albert Hall concert, 1926

   This recording was made during a concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 2 April 1926. The Royal Choral Society sang with the hall’s orchestra, conducted by Malcolm Sargent.

5. 2:30
   “King of kings”, sopranos

   The sopranos take “King of kings” up to D, then rise through E and F♯ to G. Each note is held across the barline. Beneath the sustained soprano line, the lower voices repeat their short entries.

6. 3:20
   Electrola EJ 39, Good Friday 1926

   The Hallelujah is the second side of Electrola EJ 39. The first side carries “Behold the Lamb of God” from the same concert. 2 April 1926 was Good Friday, the day of the Royal Choral Society’s annual Messiah at the Albert Hall, a custom since 1876.

7. 4:01
   Final “Hallelujah”, bars 92–⁠94

   The quick repetitions stop, and a rest comes before the last “Hallelujah”. The choir now sings the word in long notes. The bass moves from G to D in a plagal cadence, and the choir holds the final chord under a fermata.