It seems to have been a happy coincidence for the cultural heritage of Dublin city that the premiere of Messiah was given in "Mr Neale's Great Room" in Fishamble Street. Initially invited to Dublin by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, William Cavendish, it was by virtue of the success of Handel's first subscription series of concerts which secured him the necessary royal permission to stay to give a second series. He was also lucky enough to be able to obtain the services of musicians employed at Dublin Castle and singers from Christ Church and St Patrick's cathedral, including his male soloists.

His luck was to turn again amidst preparations for Messiah.

Dean Swift of St Patrick's cathedral had issued a memorandum to his sub-dean and chapter on 28 January 1742, withdrawing any licence for the cathedral's vicars choral to "assist at a club of fiddlers in Fishamble Street".

In April, Handel advertised the new oratorio as being "for relief of the Prisoners in the several Gaols and for the Support of Mercer's Hospital in Stephen St and of the Charitable Infirmary on the Inns Quay" and this charitable element allowed the men of St Patrick's to participate once again. Clever Handel? We can only speculate as to any ulterior motive on the composer's part but he did perhaps feel indebted to the nobility, "the many bishops, deans, heads of college and the most eminent people in the law", who had subscribed for each of the six nights of the first series and much of the second. That the premiere of Messiah was postponed by a day "at the desire of several persons of distinction" seems to further this argument.

Nonetheless, the premiere did indeed happen; 700 people heard the work in its first performance on 13 April 1742 and the rest, as they say, is history.

Eager to understand why Messiah is so popular and so steeped in Christmas tradition, I spoke to Monica Hugget, director of the Irish Baroque Orchestra, with whom, in company with the Resurgam choir, she gave two performances of the work this week.

"To put it quite simply, " Hugget said, "it's in English. This makes it accessible to the Englishspeaking world, where, in the 19th century, there was a huge cultural upswing of interest in choral singing and choral societies. Messiah is a very choral-oriented piece. It's tremendous fun for the chorus . . .

they don't just sit there, they are really in the action."

Hugget also pointed out a certain sociological factor that may have influenced Handel.

"Although he was German, when he came to England he understood the English middleclass mentality.

"They didn't want to feel a lot of pain, certainly not in their music, so Handel wrote to suit his audience and in this oratorio we find comfortable, happy, singable music, which lends itself terrifically to the spirit of Christmas."

It is also surely a good time of year to give charity concerts and the Messiah is very often performed to this end, as was its first performance.

No matter how much I analyse it, Messiah is here to stay. And as long as this epitome of oratorios remains popular, there will be turkeys on the musicians' tables.

Beats playing 'Jingle Bells' anyway, that's for sure.