Messiah

Handel once remarked, “I should be sorry if I only entertained them; I wished to make them better.” This captures the spirit of Messiah: a work intended not just to delight, but to inspire.

The piece also features more choruses than nearly any of his other oratorios, and its soloists serve as narrators or commentators rather than characters in a drama. Yet none of these unusual traits diminish its emotional or spiritual power. (Interestingly, Handel and his librettist Charles Jennens never used the word “The” in the title—it was simply Messiah.)

The oratorio unfolds in three parts—The Advent of the Messiah, The Passion of Christ, and The Resurrection—tracing the central story of the Christian faith. But its sincerity and grandeur rise above any single belief system.