We are pleased to present the holiday favourite Handel's Messiah.
Composed over the course of just 24 days in 1741, the oratorio — a large composition for orchestra and voice that often focuses on religious themes and, unlike an opera, eschews the use of costumes and scenery -- Messiah was written by Handel with some lyrical help from his longtime friend, librettist and Anglican minister Charles Jennens.
Written at a time when Italian opera’s popularity was on the wane, Handel made the calculated decision to use English for Messiah in the hopes of appealing to a broader audience. After the piece was first performed for the public to a standing-room only crowd in Dublin in 1742, it was immediately clear that Handel’s gambit had paid off: The performance netted a princely sum of £400 — about £100,000 in today’s sterling.
However, the piece and its performance weren’t just a financial success. Concertgoers and critics alike fell in love with it immediately, leading one member of the press to write that: "Words are wanting to express the exquisite delight it afforded to the admiring and crowded audience".
London Pro Musica Choir was founded in 1970 as a chamber choir, organized and run by its members. LPMC was the first, and remains the oldest, unaffiliated concert choir in London with a current membership of approximately 40 singers.
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