14 Sep 1741: Handel completes Messiah

On this day in 1741, George Frideric Handel completed Messiah. (Note that the title does not use an article.)

Although it was written as an Easter oratorio – its first performance was in Dublin on April 13, 1742 – it is now most commonly performed before Christmas.

Handel was born in Germany in 1685; he moved permanently to Britain in 1712 and became a citizen in 1727.

He introduced Italian operas to London in 1711 with his Rinaldo. The tides began to turn against operas, however – the 1728 satire The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay and Johann Christoph Pepusch sealed their fate – so Handel began writing English-language pieces, such as Water Music (1717) and Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749).

Image: Facsimile of the autograph score of Messiah.