G. F. Handel’s Messiah and J. S. Bach’s Cantata No. 140 Wachet Auf. are two preeminent musical pieces that reign from the Baroque Era. Handel and Bach were German-born musicians trained as composers and organists, both. Handel mainly composed Italian operas, however the English-speaking people of London didn’t take kindly to music they couldn’t understand, so he began writing oratorios in the 1730’s. About ten years later he wrote one of his most acclaimed pieces, Messiah. Bach was more grounded in his German heritage, utilizing German and Lutheran styles while accenting them with Italian and French textures to compose many of his concertos. Wachet Auf. was just one of his many (more than 50) chorale cantatas. Messiah is an oratorio written
