Messiah (HWV 56), the English-language oratorio composed by George Frideric Handel in 1741, is structured in three parts, listed here in tables for their musical setting and biblical sources.

The birth and death of Jesus are told in the words of the prophet Isaiah, the most prominent source for the libretto.

For Messiah, Handel used the same musical technique as for those works, namely a structure based on chorus and solo singing.

Handel used four voice parts, soprano (S), alto (A), tenor (T) and bass (B) in the solo and choral movements.

Even polyphon movements typically end on a dramatic long musical rest, followed by a broad homophon conclusion.

Handel often stresses a word by extended coloraturas, especially in several movements which are a parody of music composed earlier on Italian texts.

He uses a cantus firmus on long repeated notes especially to illustrate God's speech and majesty, for example "for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it" in movement 4.