Just listening, on and off, to The Messiah from St John's. A really happy, bouncy and (for once) actually joyful Hallelujah Chorus was received by the audience in complete silence. Presumably, they'd been asked not to respond at that point. What nonsense is this?
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I know they're supposed to stand for it, but applause? I've never heard any! -
The audience never applauds after it normally. As jean says, they stand up for it. I don't think it's the most interesting chorus in Messiah myself.Comment
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I agree, it's not the greatest chorus. Is it true that you stand because the King arrived late, or something?
Wonderfully agile singing this evening - I love it as fast as possible!Comment
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As you said, "doubtless all very authentic", but what would Handel and his musicians know, eh?Originally posted by mercia
is it a record-breaking exercise?
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The story goes that the king (George II, I think) was so moved by the chorus that he leapt to his feet - though you'd have thought that he wouldn't know he was moved by it until he'd heard it.Comment
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According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messiah_(Handel) there is no evidence that the King even attended a performance.Originally posted by Mary Chambers View Post
It's been many years since I last heard Messiah and I enjoyed this one."The sound is the handwriting of the conductor" - Bernard HaitinkComment
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Well, I stand (or sit) corrected. True, it's a fair time since I was actually at a Messiah but I was quite sure that the Hallelujah Chorus was usually greeted with a response. It seems to me that it positively calls for one, and my enjoyment of tonight's dropped several notches when it was followed by stony silence, especially given that the silence turned into a section break, complete with shuffling, coughing and retuning.Comment
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I think the 'Amen' Chorus is the best :)
I am joking ofcourse!
I will have to catch this on iplayer!!Don’t cry for me
I go where music was born
J S Bach 1685-1750Comment
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One of the best R3 live broadcasts of the year. Tip-top playing and a knowledgeable audience and no Trelawny!Comment
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I didn't say I believed the story. It seems most unlikely! The tradition must have started somewhere, though.Originally posted by Petrushka View PostComment
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I always think that king George II, stood up because of artheritic problems.Don’t cry for me
I go where music was born
J S Bach 1685-1750Comment
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That's very interesting, mercia.Originally posted by mercia
In Italy there's never been a tradition of large amateur choral societies, so you do not get the large-scale (and rather turgid) Messiahs that used to be so prevalent here. I remember in my childhood in 1950s Liverpool there were, every Christmas, three Philharmonic Messiahs and one Welsh Choral one, many of them under the baton of the most abominable of British conductors, Sir Malcolm Sergeant, and all would sell out; but it seemed to me that after that the number of performances dwindled and even disappeared until quite recently, when something on a smaller scale started to emerge.
The Italians were rather late to HIPP, but once they embarked on it they've embraced it thoroughly. I'd like to have heard Fabio Biondi. I don't know the alto soloist your reporter doesn't like, but I wonder why Biondi didn't choose a male alto.
(I used to have my father's score signed by Isobel Baillie, Kathleen Ferrier, Peter Pears, Harvey Alan, and of course Sir Malcolm, but somehow I lost it.)Comment
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I can assure you that Peter Pears's opinion of Malcolm Sargent (however it's spelt) was the same as yours - and mine! Yet he was worshipped by audiences, and by the very old choir people I've met in the past who sang with him. Very strange.Originally posted by jean View Post
Iestyn Davies is the advertised alto in Liverpool in January. I hope he turns up.
Isobel Baillie, Kathleen Ferrier.....names on my parents' 78s. I don't think I ever heard either of them live.Comment
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