" TEE MESSIAH."

Evening Post, Volume LIV, Issue 151, 23 December 1897, Page 5

" TEE MESSIAH."

-o—+ On the 18th April, 1742, in those gooa old days when George 11. v.-as King, Handel, who had received a very pressing invitation to Dublin from the then LordLieutenant, first produced — for charitable purposes — his greatest oratorio. The impression then produced was most profound, and the great>work then obtained an enduring hold on the public mind. It was not till the 23rd March, 1749, that the work was produced in London. The audience was enchanted, enthusiasm ran high, and higher still, till as the opening strains of the " Hallelujah "chorus rang out in all their majestic grandeur the great audience rose en masse, led by tbe King, and remained standing till the final "Amen" had died away on the quivering air. That the staid British mind can still be roused by such great musical conceptions is a striking testimony to the virility and strength of Handel's creation. In the hands of Madame Carlton, Mrs. Burfoot, Mr. F. Mason, and Mr. F. S. Pope, assisted by the splendid chorus of the Festival Choral Society, patrons at the Opera House on Christmas Night should receive a rare repast of musical good things, and the funds of the society materially benefit from a production which has cost its conductor and executive officers , a vast amount of careful rehearsal and monetary expenditure.