It's time for Handel's Messiah to appear. Why? I'm not sure.

The Messiah has become a Christmas tradition but of the three sections, only the first is related to Christmas. The text for the ever famous Hallelujah Chorus is about "the end of days" and comes to us from The Bible's last book, The Book of Revelations.

You know, the book that gave us the rapture, the antichrist, the beast with seven heads and ten horns, and giant locust-like creatures that sting people in the chest. Merry Christmas.

The Hallelujah Chorus is at the end of the second section of Handel's Messiah. The third section is about the defeat of death. The text of the third section is from the Apostle Paul's first letter to the Corinthians and his letter to the Romans except for the very last chorus which again comes from Revelations.

What of Handel's Messiah is actually about Christmas? There are four brief recitatives for the soprano and one chorus that are taken from the Gospel of Luke regarding the birth of Christ. Most of the first section is about messianic prophecies from Isaiah and Malachi.

From start to finish, The Messiah is about three hours long and of that music approximately four minutes is Christmas.

Taking this into consideration, I'm not sure why Handel's Messiah is a Christmas tradition.

I'm not saying it shouldn't be or that it's wrong for Christmas, it's just strange.

There could be an accessibility factor. The Messiah has tunes that can get stuck in your head. Bach's Christmas Oratorio does not.

A clip of the text from The Gospel of Luke. Warning: the initial closeup is a bit terrifying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0AnY9-6tV0&feature=related