The Messiah

1015 Words3 Pages

The Messiah

Handel’s classic piece, The Messiah is undoubtedly the best selection as our classes choice for the time capsule. It has all the workings of a true musical masterpiece and a beautiful message that all should know. Our song should be chosen as a piece that has lived, will live on, and does justice to music. That is The Messiah.

Many of you (including myself) didn’t quite realize who Handel was, let alone know his oratorio The Messiah. Once Joel began to play it in class, the common phrase shifted from, "What?", to, "Oh, the hallelujah song." It is a piece that nearly anyone, of any generation, knows at least by its famous chorus, Hallelujah. That is a lot to say for one song.

How many of your parents actually know anything about the music you listen to? Most of the music of today just kind of fades in and then back out, which is just not the case with The Messiah. For more than 250 years, this great and most popular of oratorios has survived and endured numerous revisions and reorchestrations in performances ranging from "cast of thousands" to today's emphasis on "authentic" performances, a practice employing period instruments and small all-male choral ensembles(Wilson).

When Christmas season roles around, everyone can count on hearing Handel’s own personal favorite The Messiah. This is the kind of song we need, something that links us through common knowledge and feeling, past and present.

Handel combines the sheer grandeur and power of his German roots with the color of his Italian experience, joining this with the unique flavor of the English language(Alexander). His music can thus be powerful, it can be colorful and lively(like the wonderful "For unto us a child is born" chorus), or it can be stirri...

... middle of paper ...

...apacity for self-renewal. We become aware that it bestows on us the special gift of aesthetic and spiritual grace.

There is not one portion of this song that should make us disregard it. Think of your favorite song. Now think of what time span it has touched or will touch. Okay, think of its actually artistic quality. Lastly, think of what message, what feeling it’s trying to convey. I doubt it it compares in all aspects to the Messiah. I think you’ll agree this is the song that deserves the spot in the UTD time capsule.

Works Cited

Alexander, Sean.

http://www.ao.net/~jmo/john/music/handelt.html).

Del Rio, Chris.

http://www.inkpot.com/classical/messiah.html.

McEown, Nathen.

http://www.psg.com/~patf/bach/messiah.html.

Mulchevy , Michael. "Ved Head." Rolling Stone June 1995: 46-48.

Wilson, Jason.

http://www.hartfordchorale.org/Messiah.html.

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