BEWARE of misleading book titles. Messiah is so familiar that the book’s title seems ideal; “Every valley” is the third number in the oratorio, and is a tenor aria with which every music-lover would be familiar. The text is from Isaiah, and Part One of Messiah begins with Handel’s setting of various Old Testament verses that prophesy the birth of Christ.
I sat down with this book expecting to read an account of the composition of Messiah. First comes a Prologue, which is an account of Jennens (the librettist of Messiah) in 1739, his books and his writings. Next comes the introduction, which describes the author’s efforts during the pandemic to search out an old recording of Messiah to share with his wife. King then ponders on the work as he grapples with the text’s meaning. He explains that the book grew out of his search for a “deeper Messiah built by a time, place and group of individuals whose lives resonate powerfully even today”.
The book is in three parts. Part One is titled “Portents”, and we kick off with Handel’s birth and childhood, then a lively account of his trips to Italy, and here in Britain, and his first opera in London, Rinaldo (1711). So, in fact, this book is a biography of Handel, and we eventually get to Messiah in strict chronological order on page 184!
After the success of Messiah in Dublin, in 1741, and subsequent performances in London, the book ends with an account of the work’s continuing success at the time, particularly through performances at the Foundling Hospital.
Part Two, “Sorrows and Grief”, introduces us to Colley Cibber and his family, and the story of his son Theophilus, who had married Susanna Maria Arne, sister of the composer Thomas Arne and sometime singer for Handel. When it was found that the couple were living in a ménage à trois with John Sloper, various scandalous court cases ensued.
AlamyHandel, in the portrait attributed to Balthasar Denner, used in the book
We also get a long description of the exploits of the Muslim slave Ayuba Diallo, who was trafficked from West Africa to the Americas and then sold to an English gentleman (James Oglethorpe) and brought to England in 1733. More relevant to the biography of Handel was the raising of funds by Thomas Coram (with Handel and others) to build the Foundling Hospital, which opened in 1741.
“Resurrection” is the title of Part Three, and we are at the year of the hurried composition and first performance of Messiah.
The book comes into its own in the description of the relationships between the characters in Handel’s circle. Jennens, the librettist of Messiah, makes an appearance at the beginning of Part Two, and, by the time we come to Messiah, he is the dominant character.
All in all, the book is an interesting biography dealing with the various events and characters with whom Handel’s life became entangled. There are incidents here that other biographies ignore, but ultimately it offers an incomplete picture of Handel.
The Revd Ronald Corp, an assistant priest of St Alban’s, Holborn, in London, is a composer and conductor.
Every Valley: The story of Handel’s Messiah
Charles King
Bodley Head £25
(978-1-84792-845-0)
Church Times Bookshop £22.50