No one today knows the name of one of the great, unsung heroes of the classical music canon — the composer George Frideric Handel’s tailor.

Without the garment-maker, the world would never have experienced “The Messiah,” the 283-year-old blockbuster based on the King James Bible.

The oratorio, an orchestral and vocal work often on a religious subject, is being performed this weekend by the Handel Choir of Baltimore, a 90-year tradition that would not exist without the tailor. And there would be no chance for Brain Bartoldus, the choir’s artistic director, to recount the lore of one of western civilization’s most out-of-control geniuses.

“That man was wild,” Bartoldus said. “He was almost killed in a duel.”

The then-18-year-old Handel reportedly had a violent disagreement with his former friend, the singer and musical theorist Johann Mattheson, possibly about seating arrangement at the theater where Mattheson’s opera was being performed. The two men took their argument outside. Swords were drawn.

Mattheson made a forceful thrust at Handel’s chest, only to have his blade strike a brass coat button instead. As Mattheson later recounted, his sword tip shattered upon impact.

Without that button, Handel might have not have lived for another 37 years to write “The Messiah,” which contains arguably one of the most famous song ever written.

“You could take two random dudes on the streets of Baltimore and sing them the ‘Hallelujah Chorus,’ and they will have heard it before,” Bartoldus said. “That’s just insane.”

Here are five other fun facts about the maestro and his music.

‘The Messiah’ isn’t really the story of Jesus’ life

”The word ‘Jesus’ is only said once in the oratorio,” Bartoldus said. “The word ‘Christ’ comes up maybe twice.

”Instead, Handel switches it up. He makes the story not about Jesus but about how people react to Jesus. We are the main characters of ‘The Messiah.'”

The oratorio brims with familiar human emotions, from worries about political unrest (“Why do the nations so furiously rage?”) to depression (“He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.”) to a new parent’s wonder and joy:

“For unto us a child is born,” the choir sings over and over as if it can’t quite believe its good luck. “Unto us a son is given. And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor …”

The Handel Choir’s show incorporates period instruments

The 60-member Handel Choir will perform alongside the Handel Period Instrument Orchestra, which for this performance will consist of 22 modern reproductions of period instruments, including strings, trumpet, timpani, bassoon, organ, harpsichord and bass.

These are the instruments that Handel had in mind when he wrote his score, and many sound quite different than their modern counterparts.

For instance, Bartoldus said, woodwinds weren’t solo instruments in Handel’s day, but were written to blend in with the trombones. The strings on period instruments were made from animal guts, which produces a warmer sound than modern metal strings. And in Handel’s era, trumpets were part of the percussion section.

“It’s weird to think of trumpets as percussion, but they were martial instruments meant to herald war,” Bartoldus said.

“Modern trumpets must play in this tiny, polite, suit-and-tie way that is completely antithetical to the death-and-destruction sound we’re trying to get.”

Even if you don’t catch the lyrics, the music tells you what the story is about

Lara Bruckmann’s favorite moment in “The Messiah” might be the song “We all like sheep have gone astray” — a metaphor for mankind’s resistance to God’s message.

“There are some really tricky runs in that song, but I think it’s hilarious,” said Bruckmann, a choir board member and a soprano in the choir.

“The choir is a bunch of lambs running away from God. The song goes by at breakneck speed, but it’s also kind of coy and giggly, as if the lambs are saying, ‘Catch me if you can.’”

Surviving a duel did nothing to curb Handel’s temper

In 1723, soprano Francesca Cuzzoni was rehearsing one of Handel’s operas in a second-floor music room.

She refused to sing one particular aria — and, according to musical historians, the composer grabbed Cuzzoni around her waist and seated her on the windowsill. He held both of her arms, leaned her back out of the open window and threatened to drop her to the street below if she said another word.

Not only did Cuzzoni agree to sing the aria, her subsequent performance cemented her reputation as one of the finest sopranos of her time, according to the 18th century musical historian Charles Burney.

Handel exploited a legal loophole to stage ‘The Messiah’

The first performance of “The Messiah” was scheduled in April 1742, smack-dab in the middle of Lent, when only sacred music was allowed on stage.

Handel cannily devised a workaround. As Bartoldus put it: “Handel said, ‘OK, let’s create an opera about a sacred theme.’ And to save money, it won’t have costumes or sets, and we’ll keep the instrumentation lean.”

And just like that, the musical genre known as the oratorio was invented.

If you go

The Handel Choir of Baltimore will perform “The Messiah” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Grace United Methodist Church, 5407 N. Charles St., Baltimore and at 3 p.m. at Sunday at Church of the Resurrection, 11525 Greenspring Ave., Timonium. Tickets cost $47, including fees, for adults and $12 for students, and can be bought at handelchoir.org.

Have a news tip? Contact Mary Carole McCauley at mmccauley@baltsun.com and 410-332-6704.