What Version of Messiah Do You Perform?
by David Schildkret
| Text © 2008 David Schildkret.
If this content is used to prepare a concert program or
other published/presented work
please credit David Schildkret, ASU School of Music, and Music Director,
Mount Desert Summer Chorale (also include the URL of this web page).
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Handel performed Messiah more often than any of his other
works, and being a man of the theater, he tended to make changes when he
revived a piece (“new and improved” has always been appealing). There are more alternative versions for many
of the various movements in Messiah
than for any other piece by Handel, and possibly more than for any other
standard work. For a long time, no one
worried much about these alternate versions, and a kind of conventional
practice arose. But the work of Handel
scholars in the 1950s raised interest in the various revisions, and nowadays a
performer must deal with a fairly large menu of choices in creating a version
of Handel’s Messiah.
There were several reasons Handel
made changes in Messiah. The earliest set of revisions occurred
between the composition of the piece in August and September of 1741 and the
first performances in April of 1742.
Apparently some of the Dublin
singers in the premiere production were not equal to the challenges he had set
for them, so Handel reworked some of the solos.
Most of these changes were abandoned when Handel performed the work
later on in London. For the London
performances, Handel tended to make changes when new singers joined the
cast. Frequently, these later versions
became his favored choice. A good
example is “Rejoice greatly,” the brilliant soprano aria in Part One. Originally, it was written as a da capo aria in
a lilting 12/8 meter. At an early stage,
probably before the first performance, Handel shortened the aria and removed
the da capo (though the revised version retains the shape of a da capo aria—it
has a written-out but condensed return to the opening material). At a still later stage, he changed the meter
from 12/8 to the more virtuosic 4/4 meter that we usually hear today.
Other notable changes are the two
versions of the little instrumental piece that introduces the Nativity Scene in
Part One, the Pifa (named for the pifferari,
or pipers, associated with Christmas in Italy). Originally, this was an 11-measure
interlude. Later, Handel expanded it,
turning the original 11 measures into the opening part of a da capo and writing
a second section. This was the version
Handel performed most often, but towards the end of his life, he returned to
the shorter version. The aria for the
bass in Part Two, “Why do the nations” has two different endings. In the earliest version, it is an aria all
the way through. But probably before the
Dublin
premiere, Handel wrote a recitative ending for the piece, and he tended to use
both versions about equally.
Sometimes the changes involved
assigning a piece to a different voice part.
“Rejoice” was sung, at least occasionally, by a tenor. One aria, “But who may abide” (cut from our
performance), was performed at one time or another by all four voice
types—soprano, alto, tenor, and bass, though in different versions. Sometimes assigning the piece to another
voice required putting it in another key, and Handel tended to do this rather
freely, even when it disrupted the tonal plan of the work.
Something like half the solos in Messiah were revised at one point or
another, though Handel made changes to only one of the choruses (and that was
because of changes he made to the preceding solos). Evidently Handel was satisfied with the
choral writing, even though it was somewhat less elaborate, calling for fewer
voice parts, than the choral writing in his other oratorios. The arias, on the other hand, tended to
change more frequently because of the need to adapt to new soloists.
So what’s a modern performer to
do? Many of the alternate versions,
though not often heard, are quite exciting (the 12/8 “Rejoice” is particularly
nice). Even if one uses the standard
versions, there are still important choices.
For example, in the midst of Part Two, there is a crucial sequence of
four solos (“Thy rebuke,” “Behold and see,” “He was cut off,” and “But thou
didst not leave his soul in hell”) that can reasonably be assigned to either
the soprano or the tenor, and Handel did not have a standard or typical
solution.
We are using an edition of Messiah prepared by Alfred Mann that
makes most, but not all, of the choices for us.
Professor Mann favored those versions that Handel tended to use most
often, with a few exceptions. Finding
evidence that Handel returned to the shorter Pifa at the end of his life, this
is the version that Mann provides. He
also gives only the recitative ending for “Why do the nations.” In most cases where there are alternatives, Mann’s
edition offers the more familiar versions.
We will follow all of Professor
Mann’s choices, but there remain a few decisions to be made. In the sequence of four solos in Part Two, we
will use a solution that Handel himself often employed: the tenor will sing the first two and the
soprano will sing the third and fourth pieces.
We will use the shortened Pifa and bass aria, and so on.
We are making a few cuts as well,
both for practical reasons (Messiah is
a long piece for the choir to learn in 24 hours of rehearsal spread over 6
weeks) and for reasons of length. Where
possible, we have chosen the shorter alternative, and we are trimming the da
capo arias to just a recap of the opening instrumental section. We are cutting a few scenes as well.
Rather than cut individual
movements, which makes the piece very hard to follow and disrupts its flow,
I’ve chosen to cut scenes. In Part One,
we are cutting three pieces: the
recitative “Thus saith the Lord,” the aria “But who may abide,” and the chorus,
“And he shall purify.” This was one of
the choruses I wanted to cut to make the task more manageable for the choir, so
the preceding solos had to go as well, because they form a unit. In Part Two we are cutting two
recitative-aria-chorus sequences, the one that deals with the Ascension and the
one that deals with Pentecost. A final
cut occurs in Part Three, where the last recitative-aria-chorus sequence is
omitted (you will notice that the group recitative-aria-chorus forms the
backbone of Messiah, though Handel
departs from this pattern rather dramatically for the first half of Part
Two). Making cuts in Messiah is not pleasant—all the music is
beautiful, and the drama is conceived as an integrated whole—but it can be done
if the task is approached with a certain amount of care and respect. I hope we’ve accomplished that in our
version.
