For the third consecutive year, the Bottom Line will present "The Downtown Messiah". Fast becoming a New York tradition, this year the Downtown Messiah extends its musical boundaries even further. Under the direction of Richard Barone, arrangements of Peter Kiesewalter (The Angstones), and choral direction of Margaret Dorn (The Accidentals), the DM occupies a unique landscape, where two hundred and fifty years of straight ahead performances of Handel's masterpiece collide head on with the potent influences of jazz, rock. experimental, folk, blues and gospel that make New York the most exciting musical city in the world. In the past two years, audiences have been treated the Southern Baptist raveups by David Johansen and Catherine Russell, avant guard guitar stylings by Gary Lucas, extended jazz excursions from Peter Kiesewalter and all around thrilling choral work by some of NewYork City's best voices. This year we can expect inspired interpretations from guitarist extraordinaire Vernon Reid and the always inventive and unconventional Jane Siberry, as well as offerings from the returning cast. As unusual as it gets, The Downtown Messiah remains true in spirit to the original, honoring its longevity and timelessness. For those of you unfamiliar with the history of Handel's great work, we offer the following short lesson.

Some Notes on Handel and the Messiah

George Frideric Handel was born February 23, 1685 in Halle, Germany. In 1711, Rinaldo, his first Italian opera for English audiences, played to full houses for 15 nights, launching Handel's career and giving him a place in society. In 1713, he was commanded by Queen Anne to write a Te Deum to celebrate the Treaty of Utrecht. The queen awarded Handel an annual stipend of 200 pounds, and he became the best paid composer of his day.

But later years were marked by financial and artistic reversals, and by 1737 he was bankrupt.

One of Handel's longstanding admirers was Charles Jennens, a wealthy sometimes poet. For years, Jennens had tried to interest Handel in setting his verses to music, and had once sent the composer a dramatization of the Biblical story of Saul and David. Handel had written an oratorio for the work, but it had not been successful. In November of 1741, Jennens sent Handel a new manuscript, which was also based on a Biblical story. This time, however, the text was the Bible - Jannens had taken passages from the Old and New Testaments and artfully strung them together to represent the story of Christ's birth, life and resurrection. Handel found himself responding to Jennens' work with powerful enthusiasm.

The composer had been asked by the Lord Lieutenant of Dublin to present a work for charity, and Handel decided that this new piece, which Jennens called Messiah, was appropriate. Handel began working on Messiah on August 22 1741. Twenty-three days later it was finished. Unique among Handel's oratories, Messiah is more religious than his other work; the text is purely scriptural and does not tell a story in the conventional sense. Rather, it is a meditation on Christ's life and ultimate triumph, and a celebration of redemption.

The premiere of Messiah became a major event. Dublin's most important newspaper asked ladies to refrain from wearing hoops in their dresses, and requested that "gentlemen come without their swords," so 100 additional people could squeeze into the Fishamble Street theater where the new work would be unveiled.

On April 13, 1742, with Handel at the harpsichord, Messiah was played for the public for the first time. Before it was finished, it moved its audience to tears. Reviewers, too, were elated, and the next performance drew such a large audience that the glass in the theater's windows was removed so the concert hall would not overheat. By the end of its first presentation, the proceeds from Messiah raised some 400 pounds for Dublin's hospitals and enabled 142 jailed people to pay their debts and leave debtors prison.

But when Messiah premiered in London, it suffered a different fate. Shocked and outraged that the "Bible" was being sung on stage by actors as entertainment, church leaders railed against it in sermons. And audiences who came seeking entertainment were disappointed that this new oratorio had no action and featured no flamboyant arias.

Nevertheless, Handel continued to offer Messiah for charity every year. Eventually, London audiences began to embrace it as well. According to legend, when King George III first heard the oratorio he could not restrain himself -- as the trumpets rang out in the Hallelujah chorus, the monarch rose to is feel. With their king standing, everyone in the audience dutifully followed suit, and a tradition was born: to this day audiences stand during the Hallelujah chorus.

Blind during his last years, Handel continued to compose, conduct and play the organ. On April 14, 1759, one week after attending a performance of the oratorio, the man who gave the world Messiah died - seventeen years, virtually to the day, after Messiah's premiered in Dublin.

You can relive the experience as The Downtown Messiah will be performed on Friday, December 15. The show features Richard Barone, Gordon Chambers, Margaret Dorn, David Johansen, Pete & Maura Kennedy, Gary Lucas, Ann Marie Milazzo, Vernon Reid, Terre & Maggie Roche, Catherine Russell, Jane Siberry, and an All-Star cast of musicians. Showtimes are at 7:30 and 10:30 PM.