Text Painting in Handel

A detailed Summary of Text Painting in Handel

Handel's Messiah is a piece to be studied for many different reasons. The music is beautiful, the melodies brilliant, but most of all, the text painting is so apparent that it is hard not to comment on it. In the first 8 movements of the Messiah the text painting is a prominent characteristic for analysis. In each movement there are many examples of Handel's brilliance in explaining the words, taken directly from the bible, using the music.

In movement two, "Comfort Ye My People," there were a few words that stood out because they were given such musical importance. One of these words was iniquity. Every occurrence of this word, meaning wickedness, was flagged by 7th chords or diminished chords and in one case by a chord that I couldn't even figure out. This shows the wickedness of the word and the fact that Handel wanted to drill this word into the heads of the listeners. Another word was warfare. On this word, Handel wrote sequences starting at measure 21 to show the building and intensity of the warfare of which this section is talking about. The word is also set to fast running notes which can be seen as the fast running and on going pace of the warfare. This movement is a very g

ood example of the text painting genius of Handel's Messiah.

The next movement is a short recitative for alto. There is not much to say about the text painting in this piece, but it is important to notice that this recitative is the first that is set over only a basso continuo. It is the only secco recitative in the section that I studied. It is also the shortest. Movement Nine comes right after the short recitative and is called, "Oh Thou that Tellest Good Tidings to Zion." There are many interesting sections in this piece, and I think that this movement out of all of the other movements that I studied has the most obvious text painting. The first place that the text painting is made obvious is the word "up." Every time the words "up" or "high" or "mountains" appear, they are set in higher pitches. The word "mountain" is always set in long drawn out melodies of tied fast notes. Another interesting thing is the instrumental sections. There is a pattern of six 16th notes that are repeated in almost every instrumental interruption. The first three notes in this pattern are high and the last three are low. This pattern actually sounds like a person going over the mountains, and if you look at it in the score, it sort of resembles a mountain range, but that may be sort of a stretch. In that same section there is a short section with the text, "Lift up thy voice with strength." This section is set as a sequence, which makes it sound like the soloist is trying to do just that. In the next section the word "arise" is repeated. This word is always set in rising pitches so that it sounds like rising. After this section, the word "glory" is introduced. This word is the word in the piece that is held out the longest. It is set using eighth notes of fluctuating pitch. The last section of the solo is ridden with the word "risen." This, as in every rising word, is set in sequence and the pitches of the word itself rise and fall. The chorus that follows the aria shares the same word painting characteristics. The chorus repeats the same themes and phrases that are in the aria.

The text painting in this piece is very apparent. Handel uses this technique so well to highlight for the listeners those words that are the most important or meaningful.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1534
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Music