Prepared beforehand: The miracle of Handel’s ‘Messiah’

Georg Friedrich Handel’s “Messiah” is one of the best-loved works of music heard during the Christmas holiday season. But this masterpiece almost did not happen.

The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) was a series of conflicts between various nations, mainly in Central Europe, involving religious, territorial, dynastic, and commercial rivalries. It was one of the longest and most destructive wars in European history, costing an estimated 4 to 8 million lives from battle, famine, and disease.