Handel’s Messiah

Saturday, 14th of January 1854.

A little over a century after it was premiered in the Musick Hall in Dublin, at the Broadway Tabernaole, for the first according to the archives, the New York Philharmonic performed part of Handel’s Messiah for the first time. The section they chose to perform was the Aria “Rejoice Greatly”. The solo in the Aria was performed by M. S. Brainerd.

This iconic piece was originally written for charitable causes. Many of these causes related to charitable hospitals. (https://web.stanford.edu/~ichriss/HRD/1742.htm)

This differs from many other premieres. Music at this point was for the entertainment for the elite. The fact that Messiah was not written to merely be entertainment is interesting. There does not seem to be such a big push for charity at the time, but I digress.

In the programme after the list of all of the performers, there is a note. This note reads, “The Band of Directors are happy to announce that the favourite Vocalist, Miss M. S. Brainerd has kindly volunteered her services for this occasion”. The memo can be describing two things in my opinion. Either Ms. Brainerd loves Messiah so much to the point where she would jump up to every possible chance to perform it. Or maybe that Messiah is well known to the point where solo-ing on it isn’t very important. Otherwise it could be that it is so unknown that no one wants the solo and therefore it becomes hacky-sac or a game of hot-potato and Ms. Brainerd was unlucky enough to land with it. With the way that Messiah is still a classic, I’d like to believe that Ms. Brainerd volunteered because she enjoys performing Messiah so much that she jumps onto any occasion where she can perform her favourite piece.

Volunteering for a part does not seem to be a big thing. Usually musicians kill each other to get a certain part during the auditions. It is rare to find a “volunteer’s tribute” (ahahaha I’m so old). It also makes me wonder certain things. Mainly,

Why volunteered? Was the person who was supposed to perform the solo not willing or incapable? Did they die or get injured right before the performance? Most of the bands and orchestras I’ve performed with make volunteering into a certain part almost blasphemous.