The first CD in this four-volume edition features a professional recording of all the choruses from Messiah; the second includes vocal warm-ups, teaching exercises and slowed-down versions of difficult sections. The books offer advice and various learning strategies for amateur singers.

The first performance of Handel's 'Messiah' in Dublin in 1742 is now legendary. Gentlemen were asked to leave their swords at home and ladies to come without hoops in their skirts in order to fit more people into the audience. Why then, did this now famous and much-loved oratorio receive a somewhat cool reception in London less than a year later? Placing Handel's best-known work in the context of its times, this vivid account charts the composer's working relationship with his librettist, the gifted but demanding Charles Jennens, and looks at Handel's varied and evolving company of singers together with his royal patronage. Through examination of the composition manuscript and Handel's own conducting score, held in the Bodleian, it explores the complex issues around the performance of sacred texts in a non-sacred context, particularly Handel's collaboration with the men and boys of the Chapel Royal. The later reception and performance history of what is one of the most successful pieces of choral music of all time is also reviewed, including the festival performance attended by Haydn, the massed-choir tradition of the Victorian period and today's 'come-and-sing' events.

Every Easter, audiences across the globe thrill to performances of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” but they would probably be appalled to learn the full extent of the oratorio’s anti-Judaic message. In this pioneering study, respected musicologist Michael Marissen examines Handel’s masterwork and uncovers a disturbing message of anti-Judaism buried within its joyous celebration of the divinity of the Christ. Discovering previously unidentified historical source materials enabled the author to investigate the circumstances that led to the creation of the Messiah and expose the hateful sentiments masked by magnificent musical artistry—including the famed “Hallelujah Chorus,” which rejoices in the “dashing to pieces” of God’s enemies, among them the “people of Israel.” Marissen’s fascinating, provocative work offers musical scholars and general readers alike an unsettling new appreciation of one of the world’s best-loved and most widely performed works of religious music.

This is Handel's massive drama of human redemption and the most popular oratorio in the history of Western music. After 250 years (1741), it has the power to move listeners spiritually and musically. Drawing from both Testaments, Handel's Messiah has spawned groups of listeners dedicated to its performance. Musically, Messiah ranges from madrigal to aria, with an unvarying transparency of expression, imbued with humility and grace.

In 1712, a young German composer followed his princely master to London and would remain there for the rest of his life. That master would become King George II and the composer was George Freidrich Handel. Handel, then still only twenty-seven and largely self-taught, would be at the heart of music activity in London for the next four decades, composing masterpiece after masterpiece, whether the glorious coronation anthem, Zadok the Priest, operas such as Rinaldo and Alcina or the great oratorios, culminating, of course, in Messiah. Here, Jane Glover, who has conducted Handel’s work in opera houses and concert halls throughout the world, draws on her profound understanding of music and musicians to tell Handel’s story. It is a story of music-making and musicianship, but also of courts and cabals of theatrical rivalries and of eighteenth-century society. It is also, of course the story of some of the most remarkable music ever written, music that has been played and sung, and loved, in this country—and throughout the world—for three hundred years.

For families who yearn for Christmas to be a true celebration of Christ's birth on earth, the Handel's Messiah Family Advent Reader provides daily readings that are biblically-based and culturally rich. With intriguing stories explaining well-known Christmas customs, each reading features a different portion of the libretto from Handel's Messiah and offers a spiritual insight that links the story to an important principle. The book also includes a CD with portions of Handel's Messiah to enhance the experience.

This book strikes at the heart of musical performance with a study of the relationship between music and rhetoric which was much remarked upon during the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The ideas of the classical rhetoric books are traced through the Tudor classroom to the late eighteenth century. Concentrating on performance techniques that aid the communication of musical ideas to an audience, historical source material is used to demonstrate how to hold the attention of the listener and at the same time move and delight them. Quotations from the rhetoric manuals, Shakespeare and the Bible are complemented by over one hundred musical examples, drawn mainly from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, illustrating the connection between speaking and playing in the rhetorical style.

(Choral). This valuable resource is a must for every choral director that prepares a chorus to sing Handel's Messiah! In three sections, Part I - Introduction to Preparing Messiah highlights Baroque performance practice and Ideals, Practical Considerations for Performing Messiah and other helpful information; Part II includes warm-ups for 20 choruses; Part III includes Appendices with a historical context of Messiah, primary sources supporting Baroque style and expression and a recommended reading list. The director score includes the full text and warm-ups with piano accompaniments, along with a code for accessing downloadable singer parts online. The singer book includes a handy folder-sized print edition of the vocal warm-ups.

A handbook for families looking to celebrate Advent.

Handel's Messiah cannot be fully appreciated until the scripture behind the music is understood. This work looks at each of the passages of the Bible used in the oratorio.