This is another one of those occasional posts where I share some information about less-known aspects of very well-known works -- in this case, the oratorio Messiah, by Handel. The information I'm going to be sharing here is well known to most musicians, but perhaps less so to the general public, so feel free to read skippingly or to skip reading freely.
With Christmas time close upon us, the annual Messiah performances are also well underway in cities and towns, churches and concert halls, all over the globe. It's ironic that we've become so attached to the idea of Messiah at Christmas, since Handel always regarded it as a work for the Easter season, and regularly performed it at that time of year. Messiah must surely be the most widely known and most often performed major choral-orchestral work ever composed. But right in that blanket statement is a huge catch. Which Messiah?
The most unsimple fact is that there is no definitive or "final" version of Messiah from the composer's hand. Handel was an impresario and performer as well as a composer, and he constantly revised various numbers in Messiah, as well as reviving former versions of some numbers. One aria actually exists in no less than six alternative versions. Not only are there different versions, but some solo numbers are transposed from one voice type to another, while an aria in one version becomes a duet or a chorus, or a duet with chorus in another. Some solos were always performed by a castrato or a counter-tenor, while others were as regularly assigned to a female soprano or alto.
Every one of these alternative versions was created by Handel to suit the resources, players, and singers, available to him for each of his numerous performances. They should never be taken as signs that the composer was dissatisfied with his former thoughts on the subject. Indeed, Handel was such a monster of ego that it's doubtful whether he could ever have felt that his work was unsatisfactory, or anything less than perfect.
When I was growing up, we all knew what the correct text of Messiah was. We were completely habituated to the order of the numbers, the voice types assigned to each, and all the rest. Life was simple in those earlier days.
But the rapidly accelerating pace of musicological research re-shaped our thinking over the next few decades. We now know that the version which we once thought of as definitive was assembled by the English editor Ebenezer Prout in 1902, while preparing his performing materials and vocal score for the Novello publishing house. It was he who was responsible for selecting certain versions and rejecting others.
As the research and the authentic performance movement alike gained momentum, the whole question of "Which Messiah?" became harder and harder to answer. New recordings and concerts alike introduced us to some of the alternative versions. Orchestral sound became leaner, and choirs in many cases became smaller. Some recordings endeavoured to reproduce the actual conditions of certain Handel-led performances which were clearly documented at the time.
Even with all this activity, it would take a considerable time to listen through enough recordings to let you hear all the alternatives that exist. I must admit that I have not done so. Charles Mackerras's landmark recorded version in the 1960s incorporated some of the alternatives as an appendix. If anyone has gone the whole hog of recording every single possible version, I have yet to hear of it. There's a definite opening there for any ambitious recording company willing to take a flyer on a unique project.
At any rate, here are a few thoughts on some of the alternatives which I have heard.
"But who may abide" was originally written as a recitative for bass, then rewritten as a singularly dramatic aria for counter-tenor (and there's another version of that aria, in a different key, for soprano as well). While we usually hear the counter-tenor aria version, the old practice of having that version sung by a bass is simply bad tradition. That tradition arose out of Prout's conviction that an aria following a recitative ought, as a matter of course, to be for the same voice type. Handel had no such limitations in his mind.
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion" exists in an alternate form, still as a soprano aria, but in 12/8 time with a delightful bouncing dance rhythm which I quite enjoy. This is one alternative that certainly deserves to be heard more often.
"He shall feed his flock" is familiar as an alto-soprano duet, but was actually originally a soprano aria throughout. For me, the contrast of voices and the simple but inspired key change between them works much better.
The original version of "How beautiful are the feet" doesn't appeal to me as much. In place of a simple and moving soprano aria, there's a shortened duet for soprano and alto leading into a chorus which keeps on repeating the words "glad tidings" and "break forth into joy" ad infinitum and ad nauseam. That was Handel's original setting of the text. In this case, his later thoughts of a soprano aria (also transposed for alto on another occasion) are a great improvement.
The bass aria, "Why do the nations so furiously rage together?," is another dramatic showpiece. The alternative version in which the line about the kings of the earth is delivered in a brief recitative is fine in its way, but it's a pity to lose the additional florid coloratura in the second half of the full-length aria.
As a final comment on this wonderful music, it always seems a shame to me that so many performances are given with "traditional" cuts. Prout's score indicates them with a note: "This aria is generally omitted."
Handel, though, did not cut, even though he busily rewrote. After many years of listening to recordings which include a complete sequence of movements, it always comes as a rude awakening to me when a live performance leaps over the middle chunk of Part 2, with its three splendid choral movements. Even sadder, to my taste, is the regular omission of the soprano aria in Part 3, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" which is one of the greatest inspirations of the entire oratorio for the sheer beauty of the vocal writing.
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