Did you know....
- Handel was born in Germany
- His father wanted him to be a lawyer (Handel only lasted about 1 year in training)
- He moved to Italy to try his hand at musical composition in the Italian style
- At age 26, Handel moved to England, had some success and became a citizen
- By the late 1730's, he struggled with debt
- In 1737 he pushed himself and composed 4 operas in 12 months - ended up having a stroke
- Defied the doctors diagnosis and returned to composing operas
- Still in deep debt and depression
- Charles Jennens wrote the manuscript that Handel put into music
- Handel's Messiah was written in about 24 days (over 50 songs)
- It takes about 3 hours to listen to the whole oratorio
Although I love the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's rendition of Handel's Messiah, here is a great video of the Hallelujah Chorus in a food court. Just goes to show how powerful this music can be...where ever it is sung!
Charisse,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the background information on Handel. What an unbelievable job in writing the Messiah - 24 days to write over 50 songs. No wonder he was stressed and in poor health!! But what a beautiful expression of music and words he left us with. If any one song reminded us of the season it would be Handel's Messiah.
My daughter is learning about him as well in her music class at school. She has been telling me lots of little tidbits. She watched the video with me and told me that they sang this song in class. She said "We sucked". LOL! The video brought a tear to my eye! Those sopranos rock!
ReplyDeleteCindy,
ReplyDeleteI am amazed that the acoustics were so good in the video. Every time I watch it, I too get teary-eyed. Did you know the Hallelujah chorus isn't even at the end of the oratorio? I always assumed it was the finale.