The Messiah by George Frideric Handel

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The Messiah by George Frideric Handel

On Sunday, December 16th, my friend Erin and I went to see a performance at the D'Angelo Performing Arts Center. It was called "The Messiah," written by George Frideric Handel. One of the reasons we decided to go was that I needed to get a couple performances under my belt for my music appreciation class, but also because it was getting to be Christmastime and we wanted to get in the spirit. When it was over, we were both very happy we had decided to get out of bed and head to the PAC.

Although I had heard of The Messiah, I had never actually heard it before, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. But right from the beginning, when we first heard the singing from overhead, I knew that it was going to be an interesting performance. It was so beautiful the way the choir came down from above with their candles and long white robes; it looked like a group of angels. I'm sure that's the way it was supposed to appear to the audience, because that set the mood for the rest of the show. The orchestra was really amazing, especially because I love the sound of violins. I really liked how they switched from solos to the choir and back to solos again. I think it's funny when the tenor or the choir would make one word last really long by repeating one syllable over and over so it sounded like laughter.

This was the first performance I had watched since beginning my music appreciation class, and right away I began to notice some of the things we had discussed in class. For example, I recognized that the part where the choir chanted about Emmanuel was the recitative. I also was really excited that I could recognize some of the tempos of the music, like the parts where it was allegro or adagio. I have not been able to recognize things like that since I stopped playing in band four years ago, and it was nice to know that I could learn it again in a quick time. The melodies and textures of the songs were very pleasing to the ear, which I think is one of the reasons so many people are familiar with the work and go to see it every year.

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