Handel’s oratorio style differed sharply from Bach’s in that it was less severe and more distinctly vocal. His long experience in writing for the stage led him instinctively to assume a more direct and intimate form of musical speech than that adopted by the great Cantor in his church-music. Next to Bach he was the greatest master of counterpoint of his time and many of his choruses are perfect examples of vocal fugue, but he depended far more than did Bach upon solid chord-movement for some of his most massive and grandiose effects. His general choral style represents a happy combination of the homophonic and contrapuntal principles, both operating in the immediate interests of expressive dramatic utterance, as witness the magnificent ‘Hallelujah’ chorus in the ‘Messiah.’ Deeply expressive arias, often with folk-song simplicity of melody, and massive, highly organized and often elaborately constructed contrapuntal choruses are the two salient musical features of his best oratorio style. ‘Messiah.’--Probably no other musical composition is held in such universal affection as is Handel’s ‘Messiah’ and its popularity (in the best sense of the word) seems to increase with the years. Performances of it have steadily become more and more frequent during the last fifty years and with many choral societies in America, England and Germany, it has become an annual musical event at the Christmas season, though just why this particular season should have been chosen, it would be hard to say. Not only was Handel in many respects the greatest of oratorio writers, but this oratorio was his greatest work, free from traditions or limitations. It was written to a text which he himself selected from the Bible, though it was arranged by Charles Jennens, who had previously collaborated with him on _L’Allegro_. The very conception of the work itself is one of the sublimest that could engage the attention of the human mind--the great events in the life of the Saviour--and it struck down into the depths of his deeply religious nature. Volumes of sermons and criticisms have been preached and written upon the ‘Messiah’ from every conceivable religious and artistic angle. In England it has taken a place of devout veneration that is almost a fetich. Yet Ernest Walker, the English critic, declares that ‘if it was necessary for us blindly to bow the knee for all time to one single work, no doubt the "Messiah" was our wisest choice.’