2 Tenor Arias from Messiah (414.01)

2 Tenor Arias from Messiah (414.01) (Messiah was first performed at St Patricks Cathedral in Dublin in 1742, where the Dean was novelist Jonathan Swift. He had been difficult about the event, had it delayed and insisted that profits from the performance be donated to a hospital for the mentally ill. Despite this problematical debut it has become Handels most popular work. It is performed in its entirety on an annual basis by choral societies throughout the world and arias and choruses from it are frequently performed in mixed programmes. It was famously written to texts by Charles Jennens, in only 24 days though, in the practice of the time, Handel recycled many of the movements from earlier works, not all of them his own. It is in 3 main parts: Part 1 covers Advent and the Christmas, Part 2 tells the story of the Passion and Part 3 is mostly about events in the Book of Revelation. Performance note: This version is designed to be used as accompaniment to the usual choral version. The markings are for the Watkins Shaw edition but, with little alteration, could be adjusted for other editions. Piccolo and D/E flat trumpets are required for the upper parts. Since the ensemble is mostly replacing a small string group, it should at all times ensure that the style is very light, taking great care to avoid thickening the texture and so covering the vocal lines. In particular the higher trumpet parts should be played without forcing and the inner continuo parts, mostly in the trombones, should be clearly articulated but without much resonance. Where notes are marked staccato this should be considered as an indication that the style should be light and the notes slightly detached - no hint of sostenuto - but on the other hand, not too short or heavily articulated. The tuba doubling of the bass line at the lower octave should also be treated with care; it should add richness in the tuttis but avoid any heaviness of style.)