Hello, and welcome to episode 21 of Giants of the Faith. My name is Robert Daniels and I'm the host of this podcast where we focus on individuals from the age of the Church who have lived out their faith in a unique or interesting way. These are people who are giants in the history of Christendom and each is in my personal Christian Hall of Fame.

Today we're turning our attention to the man who composed perhaps the greatest work of Christian art known to man. I'm referring, of course, to George Frideric Handel and his Messiah.

George Frideric Handel was born on February 23, 1685 in what is now Halle, Germany, and was then a part of the kingdom of Brandenburg-Prussi. He was born to parents George and Dorothea and raised in a Lutheran home. George the elder was an interesting character. He was 63 years old when little George was born and he worked as a barber-surgeon. Yes, his work involved giving out shaves and haircuts as well as performing amputations and bloodlettings. Incidentally, Johann Sebastian Bach was also born in 1685, in March, making it a pretty good year for the music world. We'll definitely return to Bach in a future episode.

Back to Handel. George's father, who I'll point out again could shave your beard and then cut off your pinkie, wanted George to go into practicing law. Even as a young boy this path was set before George. He preferred music, however, and told his father so. He liked the range of emotions and ideas that could be conveyed through the arts. Dad wasn't happy about and basically forbade him from going down the path of the artist but George was not dissuaded. Somehow young George snuck a small clavichord (think tiny piano) into a small room on the upper floor of their home and taught himself to play at nights, quietly, after the family was abed. 

One Sunday, when George was eight years old, as the church service ended he climbed up on the organ bench and began to play. His family was amazed at the skill with which he played - even his father had to admit that George was gifted. By the age of nine George had begun to compose his own music. His mother, Dorothea, recognize his talents and began to encourage a musical career, even signing up young George for music lessons with the local church organist. But his father was not persuaded that music was a practical career choice and eventually George enrolled in a school of law in 1702, even though his father had died a few years earlier.

Law could not hold his interest, though, and after a year or so Handel left school to become the organist at the Halle Cathedral for the German Reformed Church that met there. In 1704 Handel moved on to Hamburg where he took a position in the Hamburg Opera House orchestra as violinist. It was here that his first operas were published and performed. 

Handel secured an invite to Italy from the Medici family in 1706 and took up work composing sacred music and cantatas, as operas were out of fashion there and banned by the Pope. He enjoyed a string of successful compositions and performances and his fame began to grow.

He attracted the attention of another George, the Elector of Hanover, and in 1710 joined him as his Kapellmeister, or choir director. This position was particularly important because, in 1714, the Elector became King George I or Great Britain and Ireland and this did much for Handel's prestige. Handel preceded George to London and settled there permanently in 1712.

The next 25 years of Handel's life was a blur. He wrote many famous pieces - including Scipio and four anthems for the coronation of George II. One of these four, Zadok the Priest, has been used as the coronation anthem for every British monarch from George II to the present. But financial ruin was always at his doorstep. One year, in an effort to stave off his creditors, Handel composed four operas in a single year - a monumental feat.

Handel was pushing himself to such an extent that he suffered a stroke in 1737 at the age of 52. The physician that attended Handel, Dr. Jenkins, said at the time, "He will never work again. We may be able to save the man, but we have lost the musician."  Handel's right arm was paralyzed. He couldn't walk, he couldn't write, nor could he speak. His physician suggested he go to Aachen to soak in the hot springs there and so he did. Day after day he sat in the hot springs for far longer than his doctors said was safe. After a week he could shuffle around. After two weeks he began to move his arm. After six weeks he had regained control of his body.

The day before he was to leave Aachen he made his way to the church. He approached the organ and began to manipulate the keys with his left hand. Tentatively, he raised his right hand to the keys and with great joy found that he could play. Slowly, at first, but then more quickly. The music poured forth from his soul. A man that had never been particularly devout had found inspiration. "I have come back from Hades," he said.

His vigor for composing returned and during this period he wrote Saul and Israel in Egypt as well as several operas. Circumstance turned against Handel, though. The queen died and performances were suspended in mourning. The nation went to war with Spain and a spate of particularly bad weather kept the performance houses empty. Handel's finances sank. On the verge of insolvency and debtor's prison a benefit concert saves him but does not erase all of his troubles.

He was despondent. Why would God save him only to let him founder?, he wondered Handel took to late night walks through the city streets. He'd stop in at churches to pray or taverns to drink. He considered throwing himself into the Thames as a means of escape.

On the evening of August 21, 1741, he returned from one of his walks to find a package on his writing desk. He opened it to find a letter from Charles Jennens, the Christian poet. Jennens had included hid latest work and hoped that the great Handel would set it to music. Handel thought he was being mocked and angrily turned in to bed. But he couldn't sleep. So he got up and began to read Jennens' work. It was Messiah. 

The first words, Comfort ye my people, spoke to his soul and gave him purpose. He was gripped by the words Jennens had written down - mostly taken straight from scripture. Quickly Handel took up his pen and began writing. He worked through the night and did not leave his study for three weeks. He worked as a man inspired setting Jennens' words to music. He'd found his calling, his reason for being recalled from the point of death. He took no visitors and hardly spoke a word to his servants. His mind was swept away in the music.

Finally, on September 14 he completed his work.  When he finished he collapsed on his bed. His greatest work complete he slept the sleep of the dead. He lay there for 17 hours before his assistant, fearing he'd taken ill, went searching for Dr. Jenkins. When he finally returned with the doctor they found Handel up and eating like a starving man. When he saw the doctor he moved to his harpsichord and began to play.

He played and sang through the entire oratorio while the doctor stood dumbfounded. “Good heavens, I never heard anything like that before," Jenkins said when Handel was finished. "You must have been possessed by the Devil!” Handel's reply? “No, I think it was God who possessed me.” 

Messiah was first performed in Dublin, Ireland, on April 13, 1742. Before the performance Handel was approached by some charitable men and asked if the proceeds from the first performance might be given to a debtor's prisoner's relief fund and to support Mercer's Hospital. Handel agreed and said that he would never take any profit from Messiah. Profits would always go to the sick and needy. "I will never take money for it, never," he said. "It shall always go to the sick and the prisoners. For I was sick myself, and it cured me; I was a prisoner and it set me free.”

Messiah was a success. Audiences thrilled to experience it. When it opened in London in 1743 King George II was so moved during the Hallelujah Chorus that he stood in respect. And when the King stands everyone stands. A tradition that continues to this day.

Messiah did not solve all of Handel's problems. He still struggled financially but he was a changed man. He had met God in the music and he would never bow to man again. He continued to perform and present Messiah each year and always donating the proceeds to charities. Even as an old man and blind he would stand and conduct the performance, singing along with gusto.

His final performance came on April 6, 1759. As he returned home, led by friends, he knew his life was nearing its end. April 13th would be Good Friday and would mark 17 years since Messiah was first performed. He wanted to honor the work that had saved his life by dying on the same day. He nearly succeeded but passed from this mortal plane on April 14, 1759 at the age of 74. He was buried in Westminster Abbey and given a full state funeral which was attended by more than 3,000 people. In all, Handel composed 42 operas, 25 oratorios, and more than 140 other works. He was no theologian, nor was he even particularly religious for much of his life, but his ultimate work, Messiah, has something of the Divine in it. And for that, he is a Giant of the Faith.

This ends another episode of Giants of the Faith. I hope you've enjoyed it. If you have any comments or corrections or even any suggestions on figures you'd like profiled please send them along to podcast@giantsofthefaith.com. I'd be glad to hear what you think of the show. As this episode is being published it is almost Christmas so I'd like to wish you and your family a very Happy Christmas from me and mine. Until next time, God bless!

RESOURCES

MIT Concert Choir: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Handel_-_messiah_-_44_hallelujah.ogg

CBN: https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2011/december/handels-messiah-inspires-listeners-transcends-time

Christianity.com: https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1701-1800/messiah-and-george-frideric-handel-11630237.html

Christianity Today: https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/musiciansartistsandwriters/george-frideric-handel.html

The Handel Institute: http://gfhandel.org/handel/messiah.html

The New Statesman: https://www.newstatesman.com/2014/01/handel-messiah-matter-life-and-death

The Tabernacle Choir: https://www.thetabernaclechoir.org/messiah/george-frideric-handel-a-brief-history.html

Intro Music: Country Strumstick Mountain Hop, by Andy Slater