Last night I sang in the chorus of Handel's Messiah for the umpteenth time in my life......a privilege for me as I believe this to be a divinely inspired work that seems new to me each time I sing it, which is every year..........:-)
However, in rehearsal last week I (goofing off while the tenors took a chewing) was reading the preface of the Watkins Shaw edition and noticed on one page where it says "words selected from Holy Scripture by Charles Jennens." Now I know Handel did not write this in English, but are the scripture passages that we sing the same ones that Handel used? Or am I totally confused and did he only write this music and someone else put the words to it?
Just curious, Leslie
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