Preparing for Handel's MessiahPreparing for Handel's Messiah
Chicago Symphony Orchestra article
The text of Messiah was assembled by a clergyman and man of letters named Charles Jennens, who drew primarily on texts from the King James translation of the Bible. Ranging freely over both the Old and New Testaments, he compiled a libretto in three sections, illustrating the themes of Jesus' birth, passion and resurrection, and his promise to believers. In some places, as in the opening recitative, the meaning has become a little obscure with time. In others, the words of the King James version still speak with wonderful directness. And in some places, as in the passage from Corinthians including the words, "This corruption must put on incorruption, and this mortality immortality," obscurity and poetic eloquence seem to go hand in hand.