"THE MESSIAH"

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 44, 21 February 1930, Page 8

"THE MESSIAH"

(To the Editor.) v

Sir,—ln to-night's "Post," Mr. H. Temple White is reported to have remarked, at a meeting of the Harmonic Society, that Handel's "Messiah" was given for the first time, in 1742, in aid of a charity. This statement is correct up to a point; the original work under this name was performed at the Dublin Music Hall on 13th April in that year, for the benefit of the Society for Believing Prisoners, the Charitable Infirmary, and Mercer's Hospital—a three-fold benevolent effort. ■ . :

But it is only" fair to add that the oratorio as then produced was not the: "Messiah" that we know and love to-day —far from it. After'the initial performance, Handel revised, anfj practically rewrote, the entire work; which is scarely to be wondered at, considering that the original composition was actually conceived and put on paper in twenty-four days— one of the fastest feats in musical creation on record. The first presentation of "The Messiah" in its present form did not take place until nearly a year later, viz., at Covent Garden Theatre, London, on 23rd March, 1743.—1 am, etc., L.-D. AUSTIN. 20th February.