Messiah

Why is Handel's Messiah actually performed in winter? An understandable question, since the work depicts the whole life of Jesus together with the Resurrection. However, Handel and his librettist weren’t entirely fair. The Christmas nativity scenes take up more space than the brief crucifixion – and the Resurrection choruses seem to almost never end, leaving us with a main impression that consists of the annunciation and the birth of Jesus, a few dark clouds in between, and then a lot of "Hallelujah." No composer was as good at writing representational music as Handel, which is why all composers after him diligently copied his festive choruses. Today we're celebrating the original: with one of the world’s finest Baroque ensembles, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.