Handel's Messiah by Candlelight, Royal Festival Hall

Picture the scene in London when the German composer George Frederick Handel wrote at speed in his lodgings in Brook Street in Mayfair, trying to keep up with the insatiable public demand for opera and hurrying from the church where he played, St George's, Hanover Square, to the theatre in Covent Garden, before dashing to Dublin for the first performance in 1742 of Messiah.

All this was done by candlelight, of course, and in the spectacular but constricting dress of the day – frock coat, breeches, buckled shoes for the men, vast paniered Mantua dresses so wide doorways had to be altered, for the women. The V&A's exhibition Opera: Passion, Power and Politics captures this ornate world brilliantly.

At the Royal Festival Hall, the Mozart Festival Orchestra under Hilary Davan Wetton recaptures this mood in its Christmas performance of Handel's great oratorio Messiah. Soloists are the soprano Jennifer France, mezzo-soprano Rebecca Afonwy-Jones, tenor Nick Pritchard and bass George Humphreys, also in 18th-century attire, with the City of London Choir, on a stage bathed in candle-light.

Handel's Messiah tells the story of Christ, from the prophesy of his birth, the Nativity, through to his crucifixion and resurrection. It includes wonderfully colourful and profound arias and stirring choruses. The Mozart Festival Orchestra's is one of several notable performances in London this Christmas. See others below, and click here for the Culture Whisper guide to Messiah.