its famous “Hallelujah” is by no means the only Hallelujah chorus Handel wrote. Nor was it the first. Saul was one of Handel’s earlier oratorios—first performed in 1739, three years before ...

Though in popular culture the “Hallelujah” chorus has come to signify any kind of jubilant celebration. In Handel’s Messiah it is specifically a celebration of Christ’s ultimate ...