through Hell and Resurrection" (movements 31–32) Scene 3: "His ascension" (movement 33) Scene 4: "God discloses his identity in Heaven" (movements 34–35) Scene 5: "Whitsun, the gift of tongues, the beginning of evangelism" (movements 36–39) Scene 6: "The world and its rulers reject the Gospel" (movements 40–41) Scene 7: "God's triumph" (movements 42–44) Part III "A Hymn of Thanksgiving for the final overthrow of Death" Scene 1: "The promise of bodily resurrection and redemption from Adam's fall" (movements 45–46) Scene 2: "The Day of Judgment and general Resurrection" (movements 47–48) Scene 3: "The victory over death and sin" (movements 49–52) Scene 4: "The glorification of the Messianic victim" (movement 53) Music By the time Handel composed Messiah in London he was already a successful and experienced composer of Italian operas, and had created sacred works based on English texts, such as the 1713 Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate, and numerous oratorios on English libretti. For Messiah, Handel used the same musical technique as for those works, namely a structure based on chorus and solo singing. The orchestra scoring is simple. Although Handel had good string players at his disposal for the Dublin premiere, he may have been uncertain about the woodwind players who might be available. The orchestra consists of oboes, strings and basso continuo of harpsichord, violoncello, violone and bassoon. Two trumpets and timpani highlight selected movements, in Part I the song of the angels, Glory to God in the highest, and with timpani the closing movements of both Part II, Hallelujah, and of Part III, Worthy is the Lamb. Only two movements in Messiah are purely instrumental: the overture (written as "Sinfony" in Handel's autograph) and the Pifa (a pastorale introducing the shepherds in Bethlehem); and only a few movements are a duet or a combination of solo and chorus. The solos are typically a combination of recitative and aria. The arias are called Airs or Songs, and some of them are in da capo form, but rarely in a strict sense (repeating the first section after a sometimes contrasting middle section). Handel found various ways to use the format freely to convey the meaning of the text. Occasionally verses from different biblical sources are combined into one movement, however more often a coherent text section is set in consecutive movements, for example the first "scene" of the work, the annunciation of Salvation, is set as a sequence