f Chandos, who had a chapel in connection with
his palace, a short distance out of London, as it then was. In this
place Haendel had already produced a number of elaborate anthems and
one oratorio--"Esther." In the stress of his present circumstances,
after a few weeks, he remembered the oratorio of "Esther," and
immediately brought it out in an enlarged form. The effect was
enormous. Whatever the English taste might be for opera, for oratorio
their recognition was irrepressible. "Esther" brought him a great deal
of money, and he presently wrote other oratorios with such good effect
that in a very few years he had completely paid up the enormous
indebtedness of his operatic ventures. At length, in 1741, he composed
his master work--the "Messiah." This epoch-marking composition was
improvised in less than a fortnight, a rate of speed calling for about
three numbers per day. The work was produced in Dublin for charitable
purposes. It had the advantage of a text containing the most beautiful
and impressive passages of Scripture relating to the Messiah, a
circumstance which no doubt inspired the beauty of the music, and
added to the early popularity of the work. In later times it is
perhaps not too much to say that the music has been equally useful to
the text, in keeping its place in the consciousness of successive
generations of Christians. In this beautiful master work we have the
result of the whole of Haendel's training. The work is very cleverly
arranged in a succession of recitatives, arias and choruses, following
each other in a highly dramatic and effective manner. There are
certain passages in the "Messiah" which have never been surpassed for
tender and poetic expression. Among these are the "Behold and See if
There Be Any Sorrow Like His Sorrow," "Come unto Him," and "He was
Despised." In the direction of sublimity nothing grander can be found
than the "Hallelujah," "Worthy is the Lamb," "Lift up Your Heads," nor
anything more dramatically impressive than the splendid burst at the
words, "Wonderful," "Counsellor." The work, as a whole, while
containing mannerisms in the roulades of such choruses as "He shall
Purify," and "For unto Us," marks the highest point reached in the
direction of oratorio; for, while Haendel himself surpassed its
sublimity in "Israel in Egypt," and Bach its dramatic qualities in the
thunder and lightning chorus in the St. Matthew Passion; and
Mendelssohn its melodiousness in his "Elijah"; f