Handel's Biggest Hit

Hallelujah! Handel’s ‘Messiah’ is one of the cornerstones of Western classical music. But when it had its London premiere at Covent Garden on 23rd March 1743, it was billed as “a new sacred oratorio”, lest the real title of the show seem blasphemous. To further mitigate the problem of performing religious work in a secular playhouse, librettist Charles Jenne ... Show More