George Frideric Handel’s Messiah was first performed in Dublin in 1742.
The premiere took place on 13 April 1742 at the New Musick Hall in Fishamble Street. Handel had traveled to Dublin after composing the oratorio in London in 1741, and the performance was organized as a charitable event supporting local hospitals and a prison relief organization.
Messiah is an English-language oratorio with a libretto compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. Unlike an opera, it does not use staged scenery and costumes to present a conventional dramatic action, although its texts tell a broad sacred narrative.
The work later became strongly associated with Christmas, but its three parts cover the prophecy and birth of Jesus, the Passion and Resurrection, and the Christian idea of redemption. Its best-known chorus is the “Hallelujah,” which appears near the end of Part II.