Scored for orchestra, chorus and soloists the Messiah is undoubtedly the world’s finest oratorio. An oratorio is a music piece that is set from biblical text. The Messiah traces the story of the Christian Messiah by incorporating prophecies, nativity, life and passion of Christ.
Handel’s use of word-painting excites nerves by rending the Messiah the exquisite air of ingenuity, grace, perspicuity, eloquence, and animation. Word painting is the musical depiction of words by mirroring music to convey the literal meaning of the text of a song. For example setting a happy melody in a major key, using low notes to express a sad mood among others. Word painting can be achieved through the use of a minor or major key to express the mode; tempo to express mode or role of a piece of music, or through melodic shape such as melismatic and syllabic word-painting to enhance the emotional impact of words. Melisma is setting a single syllable over many notes while syllabic painting entails one note per syllable.
Handel’s Portrait
There is a rare and exquisite harmony that is balanced in a lively and sober melody. Opening with the tenor aria Comfort ye my people, a first-time listener may take the same phrase to be a Come-for-tea (com-for-t) invite (an offense I was once guilty of when I first performed the tenor aria).
The text Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low; the crooked straight, and the rough places plain. (Isaiah 40:4) is set for a tenor aria
In Handel's melody, the word "valley" ends on a low note, "exalted" is a rising note on an augmented interval; "mountain" depicts a sharp rise and high leap, while "low" is another low note. "Crooked" is set to four notes of uneven quality, while "straight" is sung on a single note; "the rough places" is sung over short, separate notes whereas "plain" carries over several measures in a series of long notes. See excerpt of the score below:
In the Hallelujah chorus, low notes symbolize the world while the kingdom of the Lord is sung on high notes (And oooh the soprano parts were not written for female voices, they were set for male soprano and castrati. True that unbroken male voices are the best soprano quality, just listen to that 10-year old boy squeal…) The hallelujah section has a joyful timbre characterized by sweet arpeggios and implied chromaticism on a major scale making it the most popular movement of Handel’s Messiah.
The happy madrigal For unto us a Child is born chorus is my favorite movement of the Messiah as well as Christmas Carol. Set on the word wonderful, the upward swing and swift climb of the violin in thirds is bright and jubilant illustrating more than words could that the child was a wonderful counselor. The four parts seldom appear in unison painting a charm and graceful air. Each part sings a delicate melody that is stimulating to all musical palates. Until Christmas...
In All We Like Sheep the movement begins in unison with all voices singing "All we like sheep." However on the word astray the 4 voices disintegrate and wander away from each other almost aimlessly in running notes. The melody literally goes astray by hipping and hopping through an unlogical melodic progression. By using counterpoint, dissonant chord progression, and unresolved cadential points Handel achieves a tension that serves to make the voices more independent.
Glory to God in the highest is contrasted with peace on earth. Glory is scored for the sopranos, altos, and tenors and reaches high notes that are light in timbre and lively. Peace on Earth is sung low in pitch and by the men.
In the movement of ‘And with His stripes’ Handel uses a staggered entrance of Renaissance counterpoint to have each of the chorus' sections state this text prominently. This creates the dual impression of lash after lash on the back of Christ and his falling down with the cross during the Passion. To depict the pain from the whips, Handel composes a dissonant jump from a high note to a low one. The forbidden notes are also used in the chordal progression to reinforce pain.
The final movement (Worthy is the Lamb) sums up the message of the Messiah. The Messiah musically narrates the story of Jesus: his birth, death, and resurrection. Worthy is the Lamb concludes that Jesus is the Messiah (he is the "lamb" that is "worthy"). The text adapted from Revelation 5:12-14, is set in heaven around the "throne", with (ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands) all angels singing:
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 honor, and glory, and blessing…..
The part above mimics all angels and creatures respectively thus the singing and instrument orchestration is intense and loud.
The voices are too excited to sing in unison. There is excellent syncopation and ingenious cadences to show a leap of eras and transport the listener to a different age and new location. The final amens are set on different melodies for the different voices. This depicts the image of what it will be like in heaven hearing the multitudes sing amen in different and distinct voices. The word-painting of amen (let it be so) also expresses agreement with the whole text and underlying message of the Messiah.
The Messiah (Jesus Christ) is the reference point of historical epochs having split History into AD and BC. Surely History is His-Story. And no musician understood this better than Handel. What Einstein did with relativity, Handel achieved more with word painting.
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