Abbey Marie
12-13-2007, 06:03 PM
I was reading today about Handel writing Messiah, and this paragraph jumped out as a description of a man truly filled with God's Spirit. Anyone who has been to a Messiah performance can probably attest to how moving the piece is. The reason, IMO, is because the music is the manifestation of the author's spirit-filled, divine in origin, inspiration.
At the end of August, Handel sat down in the little front room of his three-storeyed house... For more than three weeks he did not leave the house. The first part of Messiah was finished in seven days; the second in nine days. When Handel's servant brought him food, he returned later to find the food untouched and Handel sitting before the score of the Hallelujah Chorus, with tears streaming down his face.
"I did think I did see Heaven before me, and the great God himself", he said.
The third part, begun with the text that Handel's young sister loved so much, before her death, "I know that my Redeemer liveth", was written in six days.
The whole 265 pages... were written spontaneously, with hardly any corrections, in a the notes leaning forward in urgency.
...
And then 100 years later, the effect on a King:
On the centenary of Handel's birth (Westminster Abbey was filled with) over 500 choir and musicians, and the consequent great shout of 'Hallelujah!' brought (King George) to his feet. He remained standing until the end of the Chorus, and then called for a double Amen.
From: Westminster Abbey: Its Links With the Famous by Carolyn Scott
At the end of August, Handel sat down in the little front room of his three-storeyed house... For more than three weeks he did not leave the house. The first part of Messiah was finished in seven days; the second in nine days. When Handel's servant brought him food, he returned later to find the food untouched and Handel sitting before the score of the Hallelujah Chorus, with tears streaming down his face.
"I did think I did see Heaven before me, and the great God himself", he said.
The third part, begun with the text that Handel's young sister loved so much, before her death, "I know that my Redeemer liveth", was written in six days.
The whole 265 pages... were written spontaneously, with hardly any corrections, in a the notes leaning forward in urgency.
...
And then 100 years later, the effect on a King:
On the centenary of Handel's birth (Westminster Abbey was filled with) over 500 choir and musicians, and the consequent great shout of 'Hallelujah!' brought (King George) to his feet. He remained standing until the end of the Chorus, and then called for a double Amen.
From: Westminster Abbey: Its Links With the Famous by Carolyn Scott