Handel and Haydn Society

The Handel and Haydn Society is an American chorus and period instrument orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1815, it is the third oldest musical organization in the United States and the oldest continually performing arts organization in the United States.

The Handel and Haydn Society was founded as an oratorio society by a group of Boston merchants and musicians. The Society premiered on December 25, 1815, at King's Chapel with a chorus of 90 men and 10 women. In its early decades the Society hired what musicians it could afford and used unpaid amateurs to complete the orchestra or sometimes substituted organ for orchestra.

The Handel and Haydn Society has given a number of notable American premieres, including Handel's Messiah in 1818, and Haydn's The Creation in 1819. It presented the U.S. premieres of musical settings by many baroque and classical composers, including Mozart and Bach.

Membership from the start and well into the 20th century was limited to men, though the chorus, which was first dominated by male voices, was soon roughly balanced between male and female.

From its earliest years, Handel and Haydn participated in music festivals and civic celebrations to commemorate significant historical events. For the visit of President James Monroe in 1817, the H+H orchestra performed a march composed for the occasion by their concertmaster. In 1826, H+H joined the services in Faneuil Hall marking the deaths of President Adams and Jefferson.

The Society has performed Handel's Messiah annually since 1854. It gave the first United States performances of Verdi's Requiem in 1878, just four years after its world premiere, and of Handel's Joshua on Easter Sunday 1876.

It released its first commercial recording, Handel's Messiah, in 1955, made its television debut in 1961, and in December 1963 presented the world's first televised performance of Messiah.

Toward the middle of the 20th century, the Handel and Haydn Society began adopting the practices of the historically informed performance movement, striving for vocal and instrumental authenticity.

In 1967,Thomas Dunn, an expert in baroque performance practice, became the Society's Artistic Director and transformed its large amateur chorus into a smaller professional musical ensemble.

Christopher Hogwood succeeded Dunn in 1986, and under his direction the Society's orchestra began using period instruments in their performances. The Society has since remained committed to historically informed performance practice. Wikipedia