Messiah Oratorio HWV 56

When, in 1741, Handel was forced to admit that the London audiences were sick of hearing Italian opera, he thought back to what he had learned from his teacher Zachow in Halle. At this difficult time, an invitation to Dublin gave him the opportunity to create something completely novel: a sacred oratorio without action, an intimate confession of faith instead of superficial pomp. What is often lost in mass performances, the choir and orchestra of...