What Will Inspire You to Create Your Masterpiece?

“Poetical composition results from two intellectual phenomena, meditation and inspiration. Meditation is a faculty; inspiration is a gift. All men, to a certain degree, can meditate; very few are inspired. Spiritus flat ubi vult. (‘The spirit blows where it will.’)” Victor Hugo

Earlier this week I enjoyed the BBC’s 2006 presentation of George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah”. The host of the presentation, Verity Clark, noted that Handel composed perhaps the most famous, most-performed and best-loved piece of choral music in the history of Western Civilization in 24 days! As I listened again to the sacred oratorio, the beautiful orchestration, the complex interweaving of voice and music over the course of a 2 ? hour performance, I could not believe Handel created his 259-page original score for this masterpiece in his London flat in just 24 days.

To what do we attribute such concentrated genius? It’s as if a uniquely stunning gemstone appeared instantaneously out of the ether rather than from the earth over the course of eons. When asked how he composed the “Hallelujah Chorus”, “Messiah’s” best-known piece, the devote Handel said “Whether I was in my body or out of my body I know not. God knows it!”

Charles Jennens, the author of Messiah’s text, commissioned Handel to compose music to accompany his libretto telling the story of Jesus Christ, from prophecy of his birth to his resurrection. Handel created the music between theatrical seasons. While Handel often worked at a feverish pace and churned out a prodigious catalogue of varied and beautiful music during his 74 years, nothing he composed approaches the brilliance of “Messiah”.

Inspiration, whether of Divine origins or not, can impel us to work as never before. We work harder, with greater focus, and the work we produce seems to just flow out of us. We leave our bodies and go to another place, a locale we’ve never visited and one to which we shall never return. But what we bring back from that sojourn is something truly special. 

How do we generate such inspiration? Perhaps we need find only a worthy goal, an audacious dream, to waft the embers of meditation into blazing inspiration. What vision will propel you to create your masterpiece?