Handel's Messiah

It had been a hot day, that August 21, 1741. The streets of London were melting. And even the night was still sultry. Georg Friedrich Handel could not sleep, was tossing and turning in his bed. Anyway, he was not in the best of spirits: his operas were no longer in demand and he had suffered partial paralysis. His energy was gone. But staring into the darkness like this, he suddenly saw something shadowy white laying on his writing desk. Yes, it had come that day. A new libretto. That Jennings had once again been very diligent. Ah, why not glance at it anyway. Handel got up, walked over to the table, flicked the first page. And lo and behold: "Comfort ye," was the first thing he read. Comfort ye; something in him began to flow, flow, flow. And within about three weeks, the entire oratorio Messiah was on paper.