Good Friday Concert: Messiah as Handel first heard it

The centenary of the birth in Bradford in 1911 of the great British musical scholar Watkins Shaw reminded us of the debt owed by so many to this intensely practical musicologist, whose trail-blazing work on a new edition of Messiah over sixty years ago re-kindled in many a desire to perform the work in accordance with the composer’s own practice.

A number of the composer’s first versions of famous numbers he subsequently altered will be given a rare outing on this occasion, including the lyrical And lo! the angel of the Lord came upon them and the original, lengthier, setting of Rejoice greatly in Part One and, in Part Two, the duet and chorus account of How beautiful are the feet in Part Two followed by the tenor solo Their sound is gone out into all lands.

Messiah (Watkins Shaw Edition)

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

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