When I was a teenager in Tennessee during the 1980s, Christmas officially launched the day after Thanksgiving: holly wreaths hung on front doors, shoppers thronging local malls. My father busied himself in the kitchen, assembling tins of Chex mix and pecan-freckled cheeseballs, gifts for friends in our Baptist congregation. On Christmas Eve, we felt a frisson as the choir rose in the sanctuary’s loft, belting out George Frideric Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus,” a centerpiece of their Advent repertoire.
Georgetown University academic Charles King evokes the sacred upswell of the “Hallelujah Chorus” and other songs in his spirited, pitch-perfect “Every Valley,” the story behind the creation of the composer’s “Messiah.”
In the early 18th century, Baroque music tapped Italian structures, such as operas and arias, while innovating with orchestras, dissonances and tempo. A handsome prodigy from Saxony, Handel (1685-1759) was broad-shouldered and feisty, famed for sarcastic asides.
After training in Germany and Italy, he fell under the spell of London, newly emerged from decades of political strife. In 1723, with financial support and the imprimatur of King George I, he settled into a Mayfair townhouse, his residence for the rest of his life, composing opera seria (“serious opera”).
King showcases eccentric Charles Jennens, a melancholic Leicestershire squire who used his immense wealth to acquire paintings and build a formidable library. He also played harpsichord competently. Intrigued by ancient biblical texts, he filled notebooks with verses lifted from the King James translation.
“Jennens had selected passages from Isaiah and the minor prophets, then from the Gospels and the book of Revelation ... at every turn it would have been impossible to miss the connections between the cosmic and contemporary,” King observes. “A light would shine on those who walked in darkness. A lame man would leap like a deer. A just government would at last rule the land.”
These conceits became the underpinnings for Handel’s oratorio and a collaboration that enervated and frustrated both men.
“Every Valley” beautifully captures the dynamic that seeded the masterpiece. Jennens aimed for a bold narrative of a sacrificial savior, from annunciation through resurrection. (Indeed, “Messiah” debuted in Dublin the week of Easter, 1742.)
