657. Whose “Messiah” Is It Anyway?

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: This episode traces Handel’s Messiah from its emotional power and Dublin/London origins to later transformations, including Mozart’s reorchestration, Victorian mega-performances, HIP renditions, and modern debates over its anti-Jewish theology. Jane Glover’s conducting and personal devotion frame the piece as both a historical artifact and a living, evolving work.

Main Topics: Jane Glover’s lifelong bond with Messiah (Priority: 5/5): Glover recounts hearing Messiah at age nine in Lincoln Cathedral and realizing Handel’s music felt instinctively familiar and central to her life and career. Handel, London, and the Foundling Hospital (Priority: 5/5): The episode visits Handel’s house and the Foundling Museum to explain how charity concerts at the Foundling Hospital helped make Messiah enduringly popular in London and why Handel’s bequest of the score mattered materially and historically. Afterlife of the work: Mozart, Bernstein, and large-scale adaptations (Priority: 4/5): The discussion shows how later musicians reorchestrated or restructured Messiah to suit changing tastes, from Mozart’s tasteful instrumentation changes to Bernstein’s radical reordering and casting choices. Historically informed performance vs. modern tradition (Priority: 4/5): The episode contrasts 18th-century pitch, gut strings, and smaller ensembles with 19th- and 20th-century megachoir versions, then explains how HIP performers sought a leaner, more historically grounded sound. Messiah and antisemitism (Priority: 5/5): A major segment examines the libretto’s theological framing, arguing that some of its biblical selections and interpretations reflect anti-Jewish Christian supersessionism, while also noting why the work remains cherished and how it can be read critically. The conductor’s craft and living performance practice (Priority: 4/5): Glover describes conducting without a score, the variability of Messiah across venues and ensembles, and her goal of shaping the emotional arc so that frailty, comfort, and transcendence are felt in performance.

Key Arguments: Messiah persists because it is not only great music but also a work with a powerful institutional history, especially through the Foundling Hospital charity performances. Handel’s score bequest to the Foundling Hospital was both an artistic gift and an economic one, helping sustain the concerts that promoted the work. Mozart’s version demonstrates that Messiah has long been treated as a living score, open to respectful adaptation rather than fixed museum preservation. The Victorian and early-20th-century tradition of massive Messiah performances reflected not just devotion to Handel but also imperial self-celebration. Historically informed performance offers a different sonic world because pitch, orchestration, and string material materially alter the character of the music. The libretto should be understood within 18th-century Christian theology, but that theology contains anti-Jewish implications that modern listeners should confront. A critical awareness of antisemitic history need not require abandoning the work; instead, it invites listening with context and moral scrutiny. Jane Glover’s conducting philosophy emphasizes communication, fidelity to the composer, and shaping the emotional and rhetorical meaning of the music rather than merely beating time.

Data Points: Messiah performances conducted by Jane Glover: over 120 - Glover says she has conducted Messiah more than 120 times. Age when Glover first heard Messiah: 9 - She first encountered the work at Lincoln Cathedral as a child. Years Handel lived in Brook Street house: more than 35 years - His London home is now the Handel-Hendrix House museum. Year Handel moved into Brook Street: 1723 - Handel settled in the Mayfair house in 1723. Year first London Foundling Hospital performance: 1749 - Handel performed the Hallelujah Chorus for a charity benefit there. Handel’s age at death: 74 - He died at home on April 14, 1759. Time between Dublin premiere and Handel’s death: 17 years and 1 day - The episode notes the precise span from the first Messiah performance to Handel’s death. Pages delivered to Foundling Hospital: 1,054 pages - A fair copy of the score and parts of Messiah were delivered after his death. Funds raised by Foundling concerts: £7,000 - The charity concerts raised substantial money for the hospital. Approximate modern value of Foundling bequest: millions of dollars/pounds - Guests estimate the score’s value in today’s terms as worth millions. Years Handel had not written near end of life: 7 or 8 years - Jane Glover notes Handel had stopped composing in his final years. Handel’s sight loss: totally blind by 1753 - His blindness is discussed alongside his final years and church attendance. Mozart’s reorchestration year: 1789 - Mozart revised Messiah 30 years after Handel’s death. Initial 1784 commemoration ensemble size: over 400 choir members and a couple hundred orchestral players - The first big commemorative performance used very large forces. 1830s Abbey festival size: over 600 musicians - Festival performances in Westminster Abbey grew even larger. Crystal Palace mass performance size: about 2,700 singers - Mid-19th-century mega-Messiahs became imperial spectacles. Modern pitch standard: A=440 Hz - Used as the contrast point with 18th-century pitch. 18th-century pitch standard: A=415 Hz - Historically informed performances aim for this lower pitch. Bernstein Messiah performance year: 1956 - Bernstein led the New York Philharmonic in a restructured Messiah at Carnegie Hall.

Pivotal Quotes: "I have conducted over 120 performances of Messiah, which I have loved since I was nine years old." — Jane Glover: Glover explains the depth and longevity of her connection to the piece. "It’s a little bit like having your house redecorated." — Jane Glover: She describes Mozart’s reorchestration of Messiah as a transformation that preserves structure while changing color and texture. "If we were to avoid reading or listening to any of the anti-Jewish material of the last 2,000 years, we wouldn’t have much left." — Susannah Heschel: Heschel argues for critical engagement with canonized works that contain troubling theology or history.

Implications: The episode urges listeners to hear Messiah as both sublime music and a historically embedded, morally complicated artifact—one that can still be performed, loved, and questioned at the same time.