specific prophecy about the virgin birth of a Messiah by expanding more verses from different chapters of the prophet. 8 Behold, a virgin shall conceive "Behold, a virgin shall conceive" () is rendered in a short alto recitative, to be "called Emmanuel", translated to "God – with us", sung with a rest after "God". This very prophecy is quoted in the Gospel of Matthew (). 9 O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion As if the good news was spreading, the solo alto begins "O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion" (), and is taken over by the chorus. It is the first music in a swinging 6/8 time. Coloraturas accent the words "mountain" and "glory", and the words "God" and "Lord" are set in long notes. The choir voices enter in imitation, as if gathering, but soon sing together, starting with "arise" () on a pronounced "ascending fourth"—a signal observed by musicologist Rudolf Steglich as a unifying motif of the oratorio. 10 For behold, darkness shall cover the earth In stark contrast, the bass sings the continuation in an accompagnato "For behold, darkness shall cover the earth" () on a background of the strings playing mysterious repeated motifs in major and minor seconds, until the text switches to "but the Lord shall arise" (which the voice presents as a melisma of two measures), followed by coloraturas on "glory" and an upward octave leap to proclaim in the end "and kings [to the brightness of thy rising]". 11 The people that walked in darkness Although the text "The people that walked in darkness" is taken from a different chapter of Isaiah (), Handel treats the aria as a continuation of the accompagnato by similar motifs. The darkness is illustrated by the bass and the celli in unison, starting with the seconds of the movement before and proceeding in uneven steps, carefully marked for irregular phrasing. On "have seen a great light", the melody begins to leap, and finally reaches on the word "light" a long high note which the voice holds, while the celli continue their movement. The next occurrence of "darkness" is a broken downward melisma. In the second verse of the text, the gloom of the beginning is intensified by similar unsupported figures on "shadow of death", but once more relieved by "upon them has the light shined", again with the voice singing independently. The aria