Hallelujah Chorus – Charles Jennens and George Fredrich Handel

I think like most observers, or more appropriately listeners (since the subject is music), I have thought that the great composer George Fredrich Handel was the creator of the Hallelujah Chorus. After all, how many of us have attended performances of ‘Handel’s Messiah’ just to hear this celebrated chorus at the end of Part II? Even hymnals credit Handel with the words, as well as the music, to this seminal work. But, that is only partly true, in fact. Charles Jennens (see the picture) was Handel’s collaborator and librettist (the writer of the words in any musical piece like an opera or oratorio like Messiah) on many productions in the 18th Century. The words in the chorus must have inspired both Handel and Jennens, both avowed Christians. What was it that made Jennens draw upon particular verses in the Bible for the words he chose?

It’s said that Jennens wanted to convince some religious adversaries (deists) in England who did not believe in Jesus’ divinity, and so he wove different scriptures together to compose a case for Christ in Messiah. Jennens chose stirring words from the Bible’s final book (Revelation 11:15; 19:6,15) for the libretto, which he then coaxed Handel to envision with music. What a challenge! How does one make music that properly addresses seeing the Lord of the universe, the way the beloved apostle saw Him in heaven? Inspired is probably too tame a word to describe what Handel must have experienced in his musical vision.

Multiple sources relay that Handel needed a boost emotionally when he began to compose Messiah’s music in 1741, and that he and Jennens were in close contact while Messiah was being brought to fruition. Handel may even have stayed at Jennens’ home during the process, a period one might imagine was pretty lengthy. Indeed, Handel apparently told his partner Jennens that he estimated it would take him a year to complete the project. Instead, in an amazing feat of energy, Handel finished Messiah in less than a month. At one point, with his depression transformed into ecstasy, Handel was overcome – “I believe I have seen the face of God!”

I wonder what Jennens’ reaction must have been, knowing the words he chose, mingled with Handel’s composition, had brought the great composer into God’s presence. To see King George II and the entire gathered assembly rise at the chorus’ performance must have been a heady experience too. (The Messiah oratorio, of which “Hallelujah Chorus” is the most well-known part, was actually premiered in Dublin, Ireland, rather than in London, England.) But, given what the beloved apostle wrote, it’s no wonder that spectators felt obliged to stand. We all will, someday. The next time you stand for Hallelujah Chorus, think of it as a warm-up for what’s to come.

 See these sites for the story of Handel’s and Jennens’Messiah: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_(Handel)

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/131christians/musiciansartistsandwriters/handel.html?start=2

http://gfhandel.org/messiah.htm

The following site is a brief biography of the Librettist (composer of the song’s words), Charles Jennens: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Jennens


See also the book Messiah, The Composition and Afterlife of Handel’s Masterpiece, by Jonathan Keates, Basic Books; Hachette Book Group, New York, 2017.