All this talk of Handel's Messiah puts me in mind of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", which goes in part:
They say there was a sacred chord,
That David played to please the Lord,
But you don't really care for music do ya?
It goes like this: The fourth, the fifth,
The major fall the minor lift,
The baffeled king composing Hallelujah!
Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
I have this tribute cd of his music I love listening to, much more than I do him singing his own music (bless his heart).