What would Christmas be without Handel’s Messiah? Jubilantly premiered in 1742, the work is not just an oratorio, but an institution, as Christmassy as plum pudding and as English as Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
The oft-repeated story that King George II shot to his feet when the Hallelujah Chorus broke out marks such a glorious moment that you feel that if it’s not true, well it should be. More
