“And the Glory of the Lord”…
On December 17 2017 our choir will be joined by other local choirs to present Part 1 of Handel’s The Messiah. This will be our annual Christmas Cantata (which will be held at the traditional time of 4:15 PM… in our sanctuary). The Tapestry String Quartet along with our own Sue Crispin will play the accompaniment. Jack Rowland will pull everything together by directing the music.
The “Christmas Part” of Handel’s famous oratorio is organized around a series of six Choruses (which are sung by the full choir). A set of solos introduce each chorus. In most cases, there are two solos; one is called a Recitative and the second is called an Air.
The Christmas section of the oratorio actually consists of six choruses, and the Hallelujah Chorus ends the Easter section. But- who could resist- we will end our cantata with the Hallelujah Chorus.
In the weeks leading up to our December 17 Cantata, we will provide weekly “Countdown to The Messiah” articles highlighting one of the seven Choruses that comprise the cantata.
This installment highlights the first chorus, “And the Glory of the Lord.”
Chorus 1 of 7: “And the Glory of The Lord”
Context
The oratorio opens with an overture (by our string ensemble), and then leads into two tenor solos:
- Recitative: “Comfort Ye My People”
- Air: “Every Valley Shall be Exalted”
These lyrics are based on: Isaiah 11:1-4.
The solos declare that God knows what’s going on, but that He’s ready to forgive and clean the slate. God is coming. He will calm our fears, provide comfort, and lift the weak and lowly. After the second solo, the choir replies with “And the Glory of the Lord shall be revealed…”
The Message
Most of the words of these choruses are very familiar; they come right out of the Bible. But we’re used to the King James words, and sometimes the familiarity with the words blocks us from fully appreciating their meaning. And so, the below summary of our Weekly Chorus uses Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase, The Message. The following document summaries the solos leading into the chorus and then it gives some context to the meaning…
MessiahMessage01
The Music
Here’s a video of this week’s chorus…
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For more about this year’s production of The Messiah, see the below post…
For more info about our choirs, click this button: Choir
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