The Hallelujah He Could Not Hold Back

In the autumn of 1741, George Frideric Handel was a broken man. His health had failed him — a stroke years earlier had briefly paralyzed his right arm. His London operas were flopping badly. Creditors circled. Debtors' prison loomed as a real possibility. Then came an invitation from Dublin charity organizers asking for a new oratorio. Handel took the libretto — a collection of Scripture passages about the life, death, and resurrection of Christ — and retreated to his London study.…