Handel’s Messiah Trivia

1. What holiday was Handel’s Messiah initially intended for?

• Halloween
• Christmas
• Valentine’s Day
• Easter

*The piece was first performed on the stage of Musick Hall in Dublin on April 13, 18742.

2. How long did it take Handel to compose Messiah?

• Between three and four weeks in August and September 1741
• Three years from 1738-1741
• Three months in 1741
• One week in the summer of 1741

3. Who prepared the text for Messiah?

• Librettist Charles Jennens
• George Frideric Handel
• Lorenzo da Ponte
• Oscar Hammerstein II

4. What is the narrative of Messiah?

• The first part is the prophesy of the birth of Jesus Christ, the second exalts his sacrifice for human kind, and the final section heralds his Resurrection.
• The first part is the Resurrection, the second is the prophesy of Christ, and the third is his sacrifice for humankind.
• The Christmas holiday and Easter
• The birth of Jesus

5. Where and when was Handel’s Messiah premiered?

• Musick Hall in Dublin on April 13, 1742
• Muick Hall in Dublin on April 13, 1745
• London on April 10, 1742
• London on April 13, 1742

6. What charity did Handel choose for annual performances of Messiah?

• American Heart Association
• St. John’s Hospital
• London’s Foundling Hospital
• The Scot’s Charitable Society

7. In what language is Handel’s Messiah sung?

• German
• French
• Italian
• English

8. How many movements does Handel’s Messiah have?

• 23
• 43
• 63
• 53

9. Which of the following composers was enlisted as an investor in the Royal African Company, one of Britain’s two official slave trading companies?

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Ludwig van Beethoven
• George Frideric Handel
• Sergei Prokofiev

*In early 2013, historians discovered a printed list of the investors in the Royal African Company, one of Britain’s two official slave trading companies. The list named composer George Frideric Handel. It is now believed that Handel benefitted from his investments, which allowed him to compose Messiah.

10. What are topics included in the book titled “The Lives of G.F. Handel” written by Dr. David Hunter and his research about Handel?

• Handel’s name was in a printed list of investors in one of Britain’s official slave trading companies.
• The broad relationship between slavery and the history of classical music.
• How profits from the brutality and the horror of the Middle Passage benefitted Handel’s career
• All of the above.

11. How many narratives from formerly enslaved persons in the United States were captured via sound recording technology?

• 22
• 30
• 56
• 100

*These recordings are available through the Library of Congress’ “Voices Remembering Slavery: Freed People Tell Their Stories” collection.

12. How many songs or song fragments can be heard in the Library of Congress’ collection “Voices Remembering Slavery: Free People Tell Their Stories?”

• 24
• 34
• 44
• 54

13. How many narratives of formerly enslaved persons were documents by the Federal Writers’ Project between 1936 and 1938?

• 2,300
• 3,400
• 1,000
• 500

*These narratives are available through the Library of Congress’ “Born in Slavery: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936 to 1938” collection.

14. What was the first year that the Christian church in Rome observed the Feast of the Nativity on December 25, and what other celebrations did Christmas coincide with at the time?

• 336, the winter solstice and the Roman Festival of Saturnalia
• 356, the winter solstice and the Roman Festival of Saturnalia
• 406, the Persian Empire’s establishment
• 305, the winter solstice and the Roman Festival of Saturnalia

15. What is the musical genre of Handel’s Messiah?

• Oratorio
• Opera
• Musical Theater
• Mass