3 Responses to Opera Company of Philadelphia “Hallelujah!” Random Act of Culture

1. Lburg says:

   December 2, 2017 at 7:24 pm

   A little known fact about “The Messiah” from https://www.bsomusic.org/stories/5-things-you-might-not-know-about-handels-messiah :

   Librettist Charles Jennens, who was a close friend and collaborator with Handel, used the biblical stories of Jesus for the Messiah’s text. Jennens described his work as “a meditation of our Lord as Messiah in Christian thought and belief.”

   But only the first third of the work was about the birth of Jesus. The second act covers the death of Jesus and the third focused on his resurrection. As such, the piece was originally conceived as a work for Easter and was premiered in the spring during the Lent season.

   By the 19th century, Messiah became a regular December staple particularly in the United States. Laurence Cummings, conductor of the London Handel Orchestra, told Smithsonian Magazine that the Christmas performance custom may have partly come out of necessity.

   “There is so much fine Easter music — Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, most especially — and so little great sacral music written for Christmas,” he said.

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2. Lucille says:

   December 2, 2018 at 12:36 pm

   It would be wonderfully fun to be caught up in such an event.

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3. John Denney says:

   December 3, 2018 at 1:29 pm

   For the third year in a row, I was a singer in a Hallelujah flash mob this past Saturday at a large mall. 🙂

   I’ve seen the video posted above, but I like this one much better. It strikes me as being more “up close and personal”, and I love the awestruck look on the face of the one kid, who seems like he’s not sure whether he should be terrified or not.

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