Sunday, December 8, 2013

George Fredrick Handel's Messiah Concert:Tremont Temple Baptist Church, Boston

Donna and I usually spend Sunday evening at Park Street, but his week we skipped the weekly service to attend a performance of Handel's Messiah. As I can be interested in the history of architecture, after I told Donna that we could stop at any church at any time when she felt the need to pray, even if the church was empty, we have visited several of the "historic churches of Boston", She liked the Temple and was impressed. I was looking forward to going because I've known that Charles Dickens, John Gilbert and Jenny Lind performed there. We were invited by the Orchestra Manager, who is a friend of Donna's and her supervisor as a church librarian; so it was a nice "Hello". On Handel, I prefer Classical to jazz and blues and listen to British Rock- the violins in the middle were furious in 16th notes that may have been 32nd notes and I do like elaborate composition. The choral at times was gorgeous (overdubbed parts?) at first listen. Donna sings in church every week, so there was added the hymn Come All Ye Faithful and Angels We Have Heard On High. I tried to explain that I had read a novel entitled The Memorial Hall Murder where the detective Hamilton Dow solves a mystery revolving around a performance of Handel's Messiah where there is a mysterious murder in Mem 201 and Memorial Hall explodes during the performance. Now I can see that the two works of art are very separate, a mystery novel where the Dean jumps off the church roof and a religious masterwork of orchestral and choral music.

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Scott Lord