Singing Your Heart Out With Händel's Hallelujah
The Listen Guide
Messiah, HWV 56: Hallelujah Chorus
I'm Händel, and this is the listen guide to my Hallelujah. You'll hear how the joyful shout of "Hallelujah" keeps coming back between the other lines of text, and why that returning call makes the chorus feel like a crowd gathering voice by voice. Whenever you're ready, head over to the Trainer , where my fellow composers and I will teach you to recognize our pieces the moment you hear them.
---
Don't Panic, Just Listen for Three Things
When you press play, I'd suggest listening for the singers first, because the chorus carries the words and most of the excitement. Underneath them the strings keep everything moving, like a steady current that carries the voices along. The trumpets and timpani are my special occasion instruments, and they bring a bright, ceremonial ring whenever they enter. You don't need to know a single note of theory, because if you can notice who is singing and who has just walked in, you're already listening the way I hoped you would.What's in a Name?
I called it Hallelujah because that single word is a shout of praise, and the whole chorus is built around it. The other words come from the Book of Revelation, so the music had a great deal to celebrate before I wrote a single note. At the end of the manuscript I wrote the letters SDG, which stand for Soli Deo Gloria, my way of saying that the glory was not mine. So the title is really a promise, and I tried to keep it by making the word impossible to ignore.A Shape That Follows the Words
Choosing the form was less a puzzle than a matter of letting the words lead, so I shaped it to follow them. Hallelujah is a chorus inside my oratorio Messiah, not a stand-alone song, and it closes Part II like a great door swinging open. I shaped it as four sections that follow one another without any pause for breath. I'll take you through them one at a time, so you can hear where each one begins.Section 1: The Doors Fly Open
The chorus begins in D major, a key that sounds bright and sure of itself, and it never really leaves that sunny mood. The singers call out the word Hallelujah, and the orchestra answers with the full force of strings, trumpets and timpani. Nothing here is shy, and the whole opening is meant to tell you at once that this is a celebration. Listen for how the word comes back again and again, each time as though the joy has simply grown.Section 2: Everybody Sings the Same Line
Then the mood changes, and the many voices come together to sing the same tune in unison at the words "For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth". After the busy opening, this plain sound is striking, and it gives the statement a calm, solid weight. I didn't need to add anything fancy, because when a whole chorus speaks with one voice, it is already powerful. Then the word Hallelujah breaks in again over it, as if the joy simply couldn't wait.Section 3: The Music Looks Up at the King
In the middle of the chorus the words turn to the rule of a King, and I let the music rise and spread out to match. Here the voices take turns, so you can follow one line as it passes from singers to singers and builds as it goes. The feeling is no longer of a sudden shout but of something growing steadily larger. If you listen closely, you can hear the whole chorus gathering its strength for what comes next.Section 4: The Trumpets Come Back
At the words "And He shall reign for ever and ever" the trumpets return, and you'll recognize the moment as soon as you hear them. The singers repeat those words with great confidence, as if the idea were too big to say only once. Near the end I let the music slow its pace a little, so the last Hallelujah arrives with room around it. Then everything lands together in the same bright key where we began, and the roughly four minutes are over before you expect it.Your Turn, Press Play
Now it's your turn: put the music on, settle in, and let it fill the room. As you listen, you might think about the four sections and see whether you can tell where each one begins. You may also want to stand up when it starts, because the story goes that a king once did so, though nobody can prove it, and the first written mention of standing dates from 1756. I hope listening to it brings you as much joy as I felt writing it.---
So we've come to the end of the listen guide, and I hope the chorus sounds a little different to you now than it did at the start. Did you enjoy learning about Hallelujah with me? I wrote it for a room full of listeners, so nothing would please me more than knowing it has found a new one. What I love most is that this music has never stayed in one place. I meant Messiah for Easter, and yet many people now think of it as a Christmas piece. A chorus that was written as part of a larger story has since gone far beyond it, and I find that wonderful. There is also the tradition of standing up when the Hallelujah chorus begins. The story goes that a king once rose to his feet, but nobody has found evidence of it. The first written mention of audiences standing dates from 1756, and I like that a simple gesture of respect has lasted so long. There is still a lot of Hallelujah left to explore. You could listen again and follow only the trumpets, or only the moment when the voices sing together in unison. You could also hear it in its place within Messiah, where it arrives at the end of Part II and feels like the answer to everything before it. If you'd like to keep going, I invite you to click on the links provided below and explore Hallelujah further. Whichever way you listen next time, I hope you give it your full attention for those four minutes and let it surprise you again.