Hallelujah!

From August 22 through September 12, 1741, George Frideric Handel composed in London a rough score of Messiah, consisting of some 250,000 notes written with quill pens. (Presumably, he wasn't spending much of his time during those 24 days watching television or on the internet.) One of the earliest performances of parts of Messiah in the New World took place in October of 1770 at Trinity Church, at the same location at the foot of Wall Street currently occupied by Trinity in its second reconstruction consecrated in 1846.

Handel conceived of Messiah as an oratorio to be performed during Lent, just prior to Easter. In recent years, performances of this retelling of the life of Christ have become part of the Christmas tradition. Often such Christmas-season performances consist of "Part One, The Prophecy and Birth of Christ Our Redemption," including only the Hallelujah chorus from "Part Two, Redemption's Cost: The Passion of the Scorned, Suffering Lamb; His Resurrection and Ascension," and omitting entirely "Part Three, Redemption Fulfilled; Thanksgiving for the Defeat of Death." 

Christmas-time performances of the entire Messiah have become critically acclaimed and popularly anticipated annual events at Trinity Church. This year, two performances were scheduled: one for yesterday afternoon, which Susan and I attended; another for tonight. Prior to yesterday's performance, an uncomplaining line of people stood in a cold rain, occasionally moving forward a step, waiting to squeeze through the one open door to pick up tickets purchased on the internet-- or even in mostly vain hope of being able to buy tickets-- at a table staffed by distracted volunteers. When the performance began, I doubt that there was an empty space in a pew or an unoccupied folding chair in the aisle (where we sat, near the front) of this beautifully proportioned, perfectly maintained, Neo-Gothic church. 

This year, Trinity Church's Messiah is sung, as it has been for many years, by the Trinity Choir, accompanied on period instruments by the debuting (in current configuration) Trinity Baroque Orchestra. The guest conductor is Jane Glover, Music Director since 2002 of Chicago's Music of the Baroque and now also Artistic Director of Opera at London's Royal Academy of Music. Yesterday's performance was broadcast live on WQXR 105.9, and tonight's will be recorded and available on video at trinitywallstreet.org. 

To my tone-deaf, untutored ears and dim vision, yesterday's performance of my favorite"Christmas music" was completely satisfying: expertly and charmingly conducted and performed, in an appropriate and sublime space. Not only did a number of the sopranos, altos, tenors, and basses take turns singing the solos, but also the facial expressions of the entire choir were consistently appropriate to the passage at hand.  The orchestra not only employed period instruments, but also it was sized as sparely as the ones for which Handel had composed Messiah. A medium-sized church, Trinity's undistorted resonance flattered the enunciated words in the lovely voices of the singers and the precise and spirited playing of the musicians. 

In spite of the solemn nature of Parts Two and Three, it was manifest that not only the members of the audience, but also the singers, musicians, and conductor were excited, proud, and happy to be part of this august occasion. Amidst the audience's still thunderous applause, we filed out, pulling on our coats against the cold and rain, crossed lower Broadway in winter's early darkness, walked down the stairs into the subway, and thence home. My Christmas season, my favorite time of year, had begun.

Hallelujah!