Have you ever heard music so powerful it made a king stand up? In 1742, a crowd packed into a music hall in Dublin, Ireland. They were about to hear something extraordinary. George Frideric Handel had written a massive musical work called Messiah. It featured an orchestra, a choir, and solo singers performing together for over two hours. Handel had composed the entire work in just twenty-four days. He barely ate or slept while writing it. Messiah tells a story through music without any acting or costumes. This type of work is called an oratorio. The Dublin audience loved it. The concert raised money for charity, and seven hundred people attended. When Messiah was later performed in London, King George II reportedly stood up during the "Hallelujah" chorus. The music was so powerful that the king rose to his feet. Because the king stood, everyone else in the audience had to stand too. That tradition continues today. At concerts around the world, audiences still stand during the "Hallelujah" chorus. Messiah has been performed every year for nearly three hundred years. It is one of the most enduring pieces of music ever written.