Quote:
Originally Posted by trisigma212
The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah (music major here...hence my hatred). First, its completely inappropriate since its supposed to be performed at Easter. For the 10 years of my life that chorus made me its bitch, we did the HC at every single holiday concert. At this point I have the alto, tenor, and soprano parts memorized. There's a radio station here that plays the entire oratorio on christmas day.
|
Quote:
Originally Posted by MysticCat
Preach. Give me "And the Glory of the Lord" or "For Unto Us a Child is Born" any day.
And thank you for calling it Messiah instead of The Messiah.
|
Since this thread got bumped ...
I actually have no problem with the Hallelujah Chorus being performed at Christmastime. It's definitely associated with Easter rather than Christmas:
Quote:
|
"The kingdom of this world / Is become / the kingdom of our Lord, / And of His Christ, and of His Christ"
|
because Jesus died on the cross for our sins. But it's arguably the most memorable and powerful movement in the oratorio.
Last weekend, the chorale that my husband and I just joined performed Handel's
Messiah for the first time. (Edit to clarify: It's not the first time the chorale has performed it, but it's the first time my husband and I have performed it.) We performed the entire thing - Christmas, Good Friday / Easter, the Second Coming. I have to say that it was awesome to see everyone in the audience stand up when we got to the Hallelujah Chorus.
(And it was rather amusing to see some people leave immediately after. Uh, folks, there are a few more movements to go, including "I know that my Redeemer liveth" and "Worthy is the Lamb / The Great Amen". Oh well, their loss.)
I'm an alto, so obviously I know that part. I know the soprano part by virtue of having heard it so many times - my parents played a recording of
Messiah every year during Christmas and Easter breakfasts. And my husband is a tenor, and sings FREAKING LOUD, so I've probably learned the tenor part by osmosis. LOL.
</threadjack>