Libretto
Handel’s Messiah (Extracts)
Libretto
ACT 1
PROPHECY AND BIRTH
Overture (Orchestra)
No. 3 - Aria (Tenor)
Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill made low, the crooked straight, and the rough places plain. (Isaiah 51: 4)
No. 4 - Chorus
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 40: 5)
No. 8 - Recitative (Alto)
Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Emmanuel, God with us. (Isaiah 7: 14; Matthew 1: 23)
No. 9 - Aria (Alto and Chorus)
O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up into the high mountain; O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God. (Isaiah 40: 9)
Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. (Isaiah 60: 1)
No. 13 - PIFA (Pastoral symphony)
No. 18 - Aria (Soprano)
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; Behold thy King cometh unto thee! He is the righteous Saviour and He shall speak peace unto the heathen. (Zechariah 9: 9 & 10)
ACT 11
THE PASSION
No. 22 - Chorus
Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world (John I: 29)
No. 23 - Aria (Alto)
He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He gave his back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, he hid not his face from shame and spitting. (Isaiah 53: 3; 50: 6)
No. 24 - Chorus
Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows! He was wounded for our transgressions! He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him. (Isaiah 53: 4 & 5)
No. 27 - Recitative (Tenor)
All they that see Him laugh Him to scorn; They shoot out their lips and shake their heads, saying: (Psalm 22: 7; [Book of Common Prayer])
No. 28 - Chorus
He trusted in God that He would deliver Him; let Him deliver Him if He delight in Him. (Psalm 22: 8; [Book of Common Prayer])
No. 29 - Recitative (Tenor)
Thy rebuke hath broken His heart. He is full of heaviness. He looked for some to have pity on Him, but, there was no man, neither found He any to comfort Him. (Psalm 69: 21; [Book of Common Prayer])
No. 30 - Aria (Tenor)
Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto His sorrow. (Lamentations 1: 12)
No. 31 - Recitative (Tenor)
He was cut off out of the land of the living; for the transgression of Thy people was He stricken. (Isaiah 53: 8)
No. 32 - Aria (Tenor)
But Thou didst not leave His soul in Hell; nor didst Thou suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption. (Psalm 16: 10)
THE RESURRECTION
No. 33 - Chorus
Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory?
The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is this King of Glory?
The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of Glory! (Psalm 24: 7-10)
CHRIST TRIUMPHANT- THE SPREAD OF THE GOSPEL
No. 36 - Aria (Alto)
Thou art gone up on high. Thou hast led captivity captive and received gifts for men, yea, even for Thine enemies, that the Lord God might dwell among them. (Psalm 68: 8 [Book of Common Prayer])
No. 40 - Aria (Bass)
Why do the nations so furiously rage together, and why do the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers take counsel together: against the Lord and His Anointed. (Psalm 2: 1 & 2; [Book of Common Prayer])
No. 41 - Chorus
Let us break their bonds asunder; and cast away their yokes from us. (Psalm 2: 3)
No. 42 - Recitative (Tenor)
He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh them to scorn; the Lord shall have them in derision. (Psalm 2: 4; [Book of Common Prayer])
No. 43 - Aria (Tenor)
Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. (Psalm 2: 9)
No. 44 - Chorus
Halleluja!: for the Lord God. Omnipotent reigneth, the kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign for ever and ever. King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Hallelujah! (Revelation 19: 6; 11: 15; 19: 16)
ACT III
THE LIFE OF THE WORLD TO COME
No. 45 - Aria (Soprano)
I know that my Redeemer liveth and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. (Job 19: 25-26)
No. 46 - Chorus
Since by man came death: by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam, all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15: 21-22)
No. 47 - Recitative (Bass)
Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. (1 Corinthians 15: 51-52)
No. 48 - Aria (Bass)
The trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15: 52-53)
THE ADORATION OF THE LAMB
No. 53 - Chorus
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his blood, to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour and glory and blessing. Blessing and honour, glory and power be unto him, that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 5: 12-13)