The Hallelujah Chorus from The Messiah has defined Christmas since the first time I sang it in high school chorus.
There’s something about the power and majesty of Handel’s music that just does it for me. And I love the tradition of everyone standing for The Hallelujah Chorus.
This time of year there’s always a community sing-along Messiah somewhere, and last night, armed with newly-purchased choral sheet music, I dragged hubby 10 miles north to an LDS church that hosted two hours of sing-along. Yep, me, the Legal Eagle and about 80 Mormons.
There, we got our fix of the best Christmas music ever written.
Fortunately, the Legal Eagle loves choral music and he actually reads music. (He played the trumpet in his youth. Ladies, I highly recommend hooking up with a guy with an embouchere.)
Beautiful voices, friendly people, a great evening. My favorite sight: a tenor reading the score off his Ipad. It was a lot lighter than my thick paper booklet, that’s for sure.
I’d really like to get back to singing in church choirs, except that I have a book to finish, trips to take and way too many unwatched programs on the DVR, not to mention I’d have to actually join a church.
No one does The Messiah better than the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Seeing them perform it live is one of my bucket list items.
Here they are on video. Ignore the Easter note at the end (Handel covers the whole Messiah story in his oratorio) and enjoy The Hallelujah Chorus with me. BTW, it was first presented in Dublin in 1742. Click HERE for some history of the oratorio.
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Singing in church choirs is really a blessings !