The Composer Who Found His Voice Again

In April 1737, George Frideric Handel collapsed in his London home. A stroke paralyzed his right side and, by some accounts, temporarily clouded his mind. The man whose operas had filled Covent Garden sat silent, his composing hand useless. Physicians offered little hope. London's musical world moved on without him.

Handel traveled to the hot springs at Aachen, and there — against all medical expectation — his strength returned. His fingers found the keys again.

Yet the fuller restoration was still coming. Four years later, broke and nearly forgotten, Handel received a libretto compiled entirely from Scripture. In a legendary burst of inspiration, he composed Messiah in roughly twenty-four days. When he reached the Hallelujah Chorus, his servant reportedly found him in tears, saying, "I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself."

The man who had been silenced became the vessel for one of history's greatest expressions of praise.