Baroque Music Montana, along with Roots in the Sky, will bring the entirety of Handel’s Messiah to the Bozeman and Missoula stages on March 28, 29, and 30. These performances mark only the second time in Bozeman’s history that the complete Messiah will be presented in its entirety.

Composed in England by George Friderick Handel in 1741, the Messiah has been performed around the world nearly continuously since 1743, with audiences never tiring of it, even after almost 300 years.

When Handel’s Messiah is performed and the famous Hallelujah Chorus begins, audiences always rise to their feet to honor this song. There is a story that King George II was so impressed with the majesty of this song that he rose to his feet, and the audience was therefore required to stand up as well, thus explaining why, to this day, audiences always stand for the Hallelujah Chorus. While there is no evidence this actually happened, it does testify to the powerful influence that Handel’s Messiah has on western culture.

The Messiah is an oratorio, a genre of music that became popular in the early part of the 17th century, during the Baroque music period. An oratorio is similar to an opera, but is presented as a concert, as compared to the drama, staging, costuming, dancing and characters that create an opera.

The structure of the Messiah roughly mimics Handel’s three-act operas, with the acts unfolding in three sections: 1) Prophecy and Fulfillment,  2) Suffering, and 3) Redemption; all together, these three parts tell the entire Passion Story of Jesus. Today, the Messiah is often thought of as an Easter piece, but it is most often downloaded, played, and performed at Christmastime.

George Friderick Handel (1685 – 1759) was born in Halle, Germany, but achieved fame and fortune in England, where he became famous for his compositions of Italian operas. As time went by, however, Italian operas fell out of fashion in England, and Handel responded by turning to oratorios. By the time Charles Jennens, his close friend and librettist, sent him the libretto for what was to become the Messiah, Handel had written five oratorios for the English audience.

Upon receiving Jennens’ libretto, Handel went into what some of his peers described as “an ecstasy,” and composed the entire 260-page score in only 24 days, often going without food and sleep.

Jennens drew from the Old and New Testaments of the King James Bible, and also from The Coverdale Psalter as he wrote the libretto. A devout Anglican, he saw his libretto as a way to address the suffering of poverty, illness, and war during his time. He sought words of peace, awe, and hope for a weary world.

Baroque Music Montana (BaMM) and Roots in the Sky present this production with a 21-member orchestra accompanying a small chorus, along with a quartet of gifted guest soloists, much like it was in Handel’s day, when it was performed with a 25-piece orchestra. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Messiah was often performed using large orchestras, with up to 2,000 members!

In addition, the orchestra will be playing period instruments that date back to the Baroque period. Baroque stringed instruments produce a softer, less brilliant sound compared to modern instruments, and are often tuned slightly lower than modern instruments. The period bows use gut strings (often sheep), rather than steel; the bows are also shaped differently; accordingly, they are also played slightly differently than are modern instruments.

Directed by Andrew Major, Roots in the Sky’s small chorus and guest soloists, along with BaMM’s orchestra, will provide audiences with a unique experience, enabling them to hear the Messiah in a sound and style very much like what they would have heard in Handel’s first production in Ireland in 1742. This will be the very first period instrument performance of the Messiah ever done in our entire multi-state region.

BaMM Artistic Director Carrie Krause encourages everyone to come out and hear this magnificent piece of music: “Handel’s Messiah is filled with beautiful music. Come hear favorites including Comfort Ye My People, the Hallelujah Chorus, and My Redeemer Liveth, just to mention a few.”

Bozeman performances of the Messiah will take place Friday, March 28 at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, and at Hope Lutheran Church on Saturday, March 29; both performances in Bozeman start at 7:30 pm. Saturday’s performance on March 29 will be filmed by Montana PBS and broadcast during the holidays.

The last performance will be in Missoula on Sunday afternoon, March 30 at St. Paul Lutheran Church, starting at 2:30 pm.

A 30-minute pre-concert talk by Dr. Lindsay Strand-Polyak will be held one hour before each concert. Strand-Polyak is Artistic Director of Los Angeles Baroque, Adjunct Professor of Baroque Violin at Claremont Graduate University, and Director of the San Francisco Early Music Society’s Baroque Workshop.

Tickets are available at Baroque Music Montana’s website at www.baroquemusicmontana.org