Handel appears to have "been reluctant to submit such music to the capricious taste of aristocratic London." So when William Cavendish, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, invited him to visit Dublin and permit the public of "that generous and polite Nation" hear his oratorios Handel assented at once, the more so because it was a question of assisting three benevolent institutions of Ireland (one of them the Charitable Musical Society for the Relief of Imprisoned Debtors). With his usual impulsiveness he even agreed to present "some special oratorio" solely for the benefit of the unfortunates jailed for debt. And he was happy to shake the dust of London from his feet for a while. Before starting on his Irish journey, incidentally, he composed in a fortnight part of another oratorio, "Samson", based on Milton's "Samson Agonistes" and containing that noble air of lament, "Total Eclipse", which was to affect him so poignantly some years later. For his Dublin productions he had two exceptional woman singers--Susannah Maria Cibber (also an illustrious tragic actress) and Signora Avolio, a highly trained Italian. The chorus was recruited from Dublin's St. Patrick's Cathedral and Christchurch.
"Messiah" did not receive its first hearing till April 13, 1742. Reports emanating from the last rehearsals greatly whetted public appetite and on the morning of April 13 _Faulkner's Journal_ ran the following: "This day will be performed Mr. Handell's new Grand Sacred Oratorio, called the Messiah. The doors will be opened at Eleven, and the performance begin at Twelve. The Stewards of the Charitable Musical Society request the favor of the ladies not to come with hoops this day to the Musick Hall in Fishamble Street. The Gentlemen are desired to come without their swords." Mr. Myers relates that "Handel's 'polite' audience comprised 'Bishops, Deans, Heads of the Colledge, the most eminent People in the Law, as well as the Flower of Ladyes of Distinction and other People of the greatest quality.'" The audience was transported. In some ways the heroine of the occasion was Mrs. Cibber, who sang the air "He was despised" with such tenderness and pathos that the Reverend Patrick Delany, who had harbored a bitter prejudice against actresses and singers so far forgot himself that he rose and solemnly exclaimed: "Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven thee!"