Nowadays, Georg Frideric Handel’s oratorio “Messiah” is most often performed at Christmas.
But the work was given its premiere on Easter 1742, in Dublin, and the Clarendon United Methodist Church, 606 N. Irving St., returned the oratorio to its origins this weekend, with an Easter evening performance of “Messiah” Parts II and III.
Those two-thirds of the piece draw from Biblical prophecies and accounts of the days leading up to Christ’s crucifixion and the story of Christ’s passion.
The church’s orchestra provided the music, and the audience served as a chorus for the soloists, soprano Joellen Brassfield, alto Alison Enokian, tenor Bryce Westervelt and baritone James Shaffran.