Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Messiah (Handel) - 2

Messiah (Handel)

 * This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page.

The result was: scheduled for Today's featured article/April 13, 2022 by Jimfbleak - talk to me?  14:01, 5 March 2022 (UTC)



Messiah (HWV 56) is an English-language sacred oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel. Its text was compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. It covers episodes related to the Messiah mostly in verses from the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation. Handel structured the work in three parts, each in scenes as in Baroque opera (title page pictured). Part I covers prophecies, the birth of Jesus and his work, Part II is focused on his Passion, while Part III deals with the resurrection of the dead. Messiah was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 in a Lenten concert, with a small orchestra of trumpet, oboes, strings and continuo. After an initially modest reception, the oratorio became one of the most frequently performed choral works in Western music, often adapted to large orchestras and choirs after Handel's death. Mozart's arrangement Der Messias to a German text modified the instrumentation. The famous Hallelujah Chorus, concluding Part II, is often performed individually.
 * Most recent similar article(s): Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1, 25 March
 * Main editors: Brian Boulton, Tim riley, Gerda Arendt
 * Promoted: August 2011
 * Reasons for nomination: Rerun, last 13 March 2013. I left the image - can't get better than the title in the composer's handwriting, but tried to say a bit different things, for those who remember ;) - Reasons: 1) We can't show enough of Brian Boulton's work. 2) This year is not only a "roundish" anniversary of the oratorio's first performance (280 years), but also a year in which the date falls in Lent, as for that first performance. A bit of education that it wasn't meant for Christmas, nor Easter. The work's longest movement is He was despised. - Comment: I am biased towards this article as it was the first FA in which I participated, generously invited by the two principal authors which I remember fondly. I am aware that this is rather close to the Bach cantata, but if we can have only one of the two, the cantata could wait another year. It is rather close to Kathleen Ferrier (to come the same month, on her 110th "birthday"), but those are different topics. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 10:31, 10 February 2022 (UTC)
 * Support as nominator. Gerda Arendt (talk) 10:31, 10 February 2022 (UTC)
 * Support. Gog the Mild (talk) 18:20, 13 February 2022 (UTC)