Handel’s Messiah came back to Chester Cathedral on Saturday. 268 years after it was rehearsed there!

Messiah is one of Handel’s most famous works and is considered to be one of the greatest works in the history of music. It premiered in Dublin on 13 April 1742. However – owing to bad weather delaying the ferry crossing to Ireland – Handel rehearsed the piece in Chester Cathedral.

In his earlier London years Handel had already achieved considerable fame and success, particularly with his operas, but by 1741 things were not so good. Performance costs had risen and he was losing money fast. He was suffering from insomnia, depression and rheumatism. His operas were loudly denounced by influential churchmen as profane and unseemly, and theatres such as the Covent Garden Theatre, which Handel ran at the time, were regarded in some quarters as the low haunts of dubious characters.

So when Handel received an invitation from the Duke of Devonshire to go to Dublin and produce a series of charity concerts, he readily accepted. After all, Dublin in the 18th Century was one of the important musical centres of Europe, and he would take Messiah with him and produce it there.

On his way over to Ireland he was delayed at Chester because the winds were wrong for crossing the Irish Sea, so he used the time by rehearsing Messiah with some singers from Chester Cathedral, but the results were not good. On one occasion, having asked the cathedral organist to recommend any choristers who could sing at sight, Handel auditioned a printer named Janson, who was supposed to have a good bass voice. Janson, however, was useless. Handel in fury said, ‘You scoundrel, didn’t you tell me that you could sing at sight?’ to which the hapless printer replied, ‘Yes, Sir, and so I can, but not at first sight!’

On Saturday 22nd May The 18th Century Concert Orchestra and the Chester Cathedral Nave Choir provided a glorious performance of Handel’s most famous work and a fabulous time was had by all who attended.