Nos. 13-17 - Pastoral Symphony; Recitative - “There were shepherds abiding in the field”; Recitative - “And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them”; Recitative - “And the angel said unto them”; Recitative - “And suddenly, there was with the angel”; Chorus - “Glory to God”
Luke 2:8-11, 13-14
”And there were [in the same country] shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
For most of us in America over a certain age, this passage always calls up fond memories of Linus Van Pelt’s recitation in the middle of “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Linus’ simple peroration, “that’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown,” could stand as a fitting one-line description of Messiah itself. A good deal of the remarkable staying power of this work is that Handel created a sort of aural icon of the Incarnation - a melding of evangelism and artistic achievement which remains unmatched. Bach’s passions, which might be Messiah’s closest relatives in this area, were intended for a churchgoing “audience,” or really a congregation, a sort of captive audience. Messiah, like Handel’s other oratorios, was sung in public places, intentionally not in official church services. Also, as I mentioned earlier, Messiah’s organization of texts was specifically designed to emphasize Christ’s dual natures, fully human and fully divine, to combat the fashionable trend of deism (as well as unitarianism and other non-Trinitarian philosophies) that was a strong part of English society at the time.
One of my favorite moments in Messiah has no text at all - the “Pastoral Symphony,” a moment of serenity that sets the scene for us before the angel’s dramatic announcement to the shepherds. Handel sets a series of gently rising and falling scales in C major, the key of purity and innocence. (Keep an ear out for these scales; they will return shortly.) From here, a quick series of recitatives narrates the action - the only time in Messiah where Handel uses the Biblical narrative of any part of Jesus’ life, which is completely the opposite of what Bach does in his Passions. The strings give a sort of halo to the angel’s appearance, as well as to the “multitude of the heavenly host.”
Finally, we get the first revelation of glory in D major, trumpets and timpani included, when the host of angels sings “Glory to God in the highest.” It is a fitting dramatic touch by Handel, the accomplished opera composer, to save his most powerful orchestration for the moment where the previous half-hour’s prophetic material is fulfilled. He also opposes loud proclamations of “Glory to God” with quiet tone-painting of “and peace on earth.” A particularly clever touch is the evaporation of the strings into the atmosphere at the end of the chorus, as the shepherds watch the angels disappear into the heavens and wonder at what just happened.