On Thursday, December 21, 2017, 11:42:05 AM GMT, [email protected]
[FairfieldLife] <[email protected]> wrote:
Re Handel: when he composed Messiah, I believe he'd been living in
London, England next to nothing short of 30 yrs? YES
But he premiered the piece in Dublin. Later on there were London performances.
Depending on what singers were available he rewrote songs, so there are
multiple versions of Messiah. There is one that is for male voices only (in
1751), probably performed in a church.
"By 1741, when he composed “Messiah”, Italian opera was out of favour and his
fortunes were on the wane. An old friend, the musician Matthew Dubourg,
arranged for him to be invited to Dublin by three charitable societies, for a
series of six concerts."
"Handel arrived in November 1741 and took rooms at 26 Lower Abbey Street. He
gathered an orchestra and chorus, mainly from the city’s two cathedrals and
worked with them on “Messiah”. Public rehearsals generated great interest: the
notice for the first performance urged ladies not to wear hoops and gentlemen
to “come without their swords” to save space. With Handel both conducting and
playing an organ, the Dublin audience expressed its 'exquisite delight'."
