MUS2323

Basic Conducting

SCORE ANALYSIS

Title of work: Hallelujah Chorus

Composer and birth/death dates: George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Date of composition: 1741

Voicing and/or orchestration: Tromba I-II, Timpani, Violin I-II, Viola, SATB, Tutti Bassi

Language: English

Translation:  
N/A

Period and style: English Baroque, sacred oratorio

Tessitura: S: moderate/difficult, D4-A5

A: moderate/difficult, G3-D5
T: moderate/difficult, D3-A4
B: moderate, G2-D4

Difficulty assessment: Moderate

Biography of composer and work:

Georg Friedrich Handel was born on February 23, 1685 in Halle, Germany. As a child, Handel’s
father saw potential in the boy’s musical abilities, and so found an organist to train him. During
his musical instruction, Handel learned the organ, which included fugues, canons, and
counterpoint, and also was introduced to the more modern compositional practices found in
Germany and Italy. By the turn of the century, Handel was working all across Germany as a
talented violinist, organist, and composer. His first two operas were produced shortly thereafter.
Just one year after his first opera was produced, Ferdinando de Medici, from Italy, invited
Handel to work there, which Handel then accepted, composing sacred music, cantatas, and
oratorios in the Papal states. In 1712, Handel decided to move to London after receiving a
position as a composer for Queen Anne. From there, he became George Frederic Handel, a
composer working in English, becoming renowned all across Europe for his work.

In all, Handel composed 42 operas, 29 oratorios, 16 organ concerti, and more than 120 other
works. His most famous work, however, is the oratorio Messiah, most notably with the
Hallelujah chorus. The piece is written for SATB choir, soloists, as well as a small orchestra,
although later versions, including reworkings by Handel himself, had varied instrumentations.
What challenges must be faced in interpreting and performing this work?

Especially with a piece that people are familiar with, every choir member will bring in their own
preconceived notions of what this particular song is supposed to sound like, so enacting
uniformity will be a challenge. In addition, people’s ideas of what they think the song sounds
like will likely confuse them upon first look of their actual part, leading to a first rehearsal
riddled with a few setbacks. Some of the stylistic challenges when performing this piece include
attention to Baroque performance practice, cuing in the rapid polyphonic sections, attention to
dynamics through extended phrases of similar melodic and lyric content, keeping consistent
tempo through both the lively and more legato passages.