|
OPINIONS
April 18, 2019 |
 |
 Wingate Lassiter |
Did you know: Handel's
"Messiah" written for Easter, not Christmas
Like many of you who appreciate Classical music, especially of the Baroque variety, I look forward each Christmas season to hearing grand orchestral and choral recordings of Handel's Messiah. It starts out with a "Christmas section" based largely on Old Testament prophecy, but that's only about a third of the oratorio. The bulk of the music is about the persecution and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Mostly, it's a masterpiece intended for Easter more than Christmas. Matter of fact, it was first performed in April of 1742.
And yet, we hardly hear any parts of Messiah during the Easter season.
Even so, it's an unequaled work of art regardless of when it's heard. And it carries a fascinating "back story."
For one thing, Handel wrote this piece "on the fly," taking just three to four weeks to complete the 259-page score. One musicologist notes "some uncorrected errors or blotted out notes but remarkably few mistakes given the speed of Handel's writing." I've read before that Handel must have been overcome with divine inspiration because he wrote Messiah in so little time with hardly any time to rest.
He wrote Messiah in English, and at the time was the pre-eminent composer in the United Kingdom. Yet he was actually German-born. (Guess some of Bach and Brahms rubbed off on him.) That was new information to me.
Oh, and I just read that the story about King George II standing up for the "Hallelujah" chorus is more legend than fact. "Various experts" say there's no evidence the King was even in attendance for the premiere performance.
Well, it doesn't really matter whether the King started that tradition. Standing up during that triumphal piece always seems a most appropriate thing to do.
Why can't Easter be like
Christmas?
Speaking of Easter, I wish it were on the calendar more consistently, like Christmas, rather than the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Spring Equinox. Sometimes Easter comes this late in April; other times it slips into March.
One thing that would help, on a side note, is for North Carolina's public schools to take their "spring break" the same week every year rather than moving it all over the place to line up with Easter.
The State of Georgia, where my daughter teaches school, takes spring break the first full week of April every year, regardless of Easter's date. But then Georgia is more enlightened than the Tar Heel State with its school calendar, starting school earlier in August so a full semester can be finished before Christmas holidays.
Still hoping the N.C. General Assembly will come to its senses regarding that.
Won't you join the
conversation?
We welcome your comments, suggestions, and questions about what you see in the Smithfield Weekly Sun --- and perhaps what you don't see that you'd like to see. All it takes is a simple e-mail sent to editor@smithfieldweeklysun.com.
We'll confirm receipt of your correspondence and, if any or all of it is appropriate for publication, we'll ask your permission to print before we "go to press." If we publish your submission, all we will show is your name. Your e-mail address and place of residence will not be shared.
To make things simpler, please sign up as a subscriber if you haven't already done so, using the online form below:
RETURN TO THE SMITHFIELD WEEKLY SUN FRONT PAGE