Table of Contents

Preface; References to Messiah editions; 1. The historical background; 2. From composition to first performance; 3. The first London performances; 4. Revival and revision; 5. Messiah in other hands; 6. The Work: design; 7. The Work: individual movements; 8. Handel's word setting; Appendix 1. The libretto of Messiah; Appendix 2. Messiah sources; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Reviews

"Handel scholarship has come long way...notably in important articles on "Messiah" and its versions by Donald Burrows published in Music and Letters in 1975 and 1985. (The material has been pulled together admirably in Mr. Burrows's new Cambridge Music handbook on the oratorio.)" New York Times "...the music lover who would like to know more about Handel and Messiah will find succinct history of English oratorio, a genre that Handel himself invented under circumstances and for reasons that remain unclear to this day, and a concise survey of the evolution of the genre to 1741 (Ch. 1). ...presents for the first time in English a clear and detailed chronology of the composition and the events leading up to the first performance of Messiah on 13 April, 1742." Charles Michael Carroll, The Eighteenth Century