Handel's Messiah

                                     

Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Friedrich Händel (Halle, Modern Germany, 1685). The text was compiled from the King James Bible and the Coverdale Psalter. It was first performed in Dublin in 1742, and received its London premiere a year later.

Handel moved to England in 1712, and became a naturalised British subject in 1727. His reputation in England had been initially established through his compositions of Italian opera but he turned to English oratorio in the 1730s in response to changes in public taste. 

The text is an extended reflection on Jesus as the Messiah called Christ. It has a three-part structure: In part I the text begins with prophecies by Isaiah and moves to the annunciation to the shepherds. In part II Handel concentrates on the Passion of Jesus and ends with the very famous Hallelujah chorus. In Part III he covers Paul's teachings on the resurrection of the dead and Christ's glorification in Heaven.  

For your own pleasure, here are the two last scenes of Part III of the oratorio:  

AIR (soprano)

If God be for us

who can be against us?

Who shall lay anything

to the charge of god's elect?

It is God that justifieth,

who is he that condemneth?

It is Christ that died,

yea rather that is risen again,

who is at the right hand of God,

who makes intercession for us.

CHORUS

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain,

and hath redeemed us to God by his blood,

to receive power, and riches, and wisdom,

and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

Blessing and honour, glory and power

be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne,

and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever.

Amen

Check the Spanish translation here