An authority on eighteenth-century music explores the background and composition of Messiah and gives the complex subsequent history of the work. Paintings, engravings, caricatures, and facsimiles of Handel's autograph score illustrate the text. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
Luckett explores the background and composition of Messiah--the often stormy relations between Handel and his librettist, the colorful lives and personalities of the original soloists, and the circumstances of the first performance in Dublin, 1742. Paintings, engravings, caricatures, and fascimiles.
| Acknowledgements | 10 | |
| Introduction | 11 | |
| 1 | A Novel Entertainment | 17 |
| 2 | To th' Hibernian Shore | 46 |
| 3 | 'Begin the Song': Jennens's Libretto | 69 |
| 4 | 'The Ravished Ear': The Music of Messiah | 86 |
| 5 | 'That Generous and Polite Nation': The Dublin Performance | 107 |
| 6 | 'Bishops and other Squeamish People': Messiah under Threat | 138 |
| 7 | 'The Benevolent Design': The Birth of an Institution | 159 |
| 8 | 'The Universal Song': The Apogee of Messiah | 181 |
| 9 | Messiah Improved? | 205 |
| 10 | Messiah Restored? | 225 |
| A Summary of the Main Variants in Messiah | 240 | |
| Bibliography | 242 | |
| Index | 249 |
Overview
An authority on eighteenth-century music explores the background and composition of Messiah and gives the complex subsequent history of the work. Paintings, engravings, caricatures, and facsimiles of Handel's autograph score illustrate the text. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
Luckett explores the background and composition of Messiah--the often stormy relations between Handel and his librettist, the colorful lives and personalities of the original soloists, and the ...