Part 1, scene v, no. 21 Chorus: Matthew 11:30
His yoke is easy, and his burthen is light.
This is the final chorus of Part 1 of Messiah, and ends the section containing prophesies of Christ’s birth and miracles. Following immediately after the soprano aria,”Come unto him all ye that labor…take his yoke upon you …and ye shall find rest,” Handel sets the text lightly and in a dance-like fugue. The sopranos begin it with a skipping theme on the text “his yoke is easy” followed by a light and easy rhythm on “his burthen is light.” These two phrases encompass the whole text of this chorus. There is never a moment where no one is singing. He passes the thematic material around and around, and it creates a sense of freedom from toil. This is not a heavy burden to carry, rather it is the complete opposite. We are invited to cast aside our own load and be yoked together with Christ – he will do the heavy lifting.
At 1’36” the full chorus comes together in a lovely pattern of suspensions, a device favored by baroque composers to create tension-release, dissonance-consonance. It feels like a sigh of contentment or a good massage. The chorus then sings together homophonically to the end. The final four measures slow with an exhale of relief.
Isn’t this what we all long for? To set down our heavy burdens and be free to skip for joy?
