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ANTIOCH
Echoing the beginning notes of "Lift up Your Head" from Handel’s Messiah, the hymn tune ANTIOCH, to which we sing "Joy to the World" also seems to borrow from the instrumental interludes of the recitative "Comfort Ye" from the same composition.
Lowell Mason, who is listed in many hymnals to be the arranger of the tune, was deeply immersed in the music of the classical composers, including Handel, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. He seemed to have been so influenced by Handel that he wasn’t sure where the dividing line came between his work and that of George Frederick Handel. However, this hymn tune first appeared in the 1839 collection of which Lowell Mason was the editor, lending strength to the case that Mason was actually the composer of the tune.
Lowell Mason named this tune after the New Testament city of Antioch in Syria, where disciples were first called Christians (Acts 11:26).