Anthology of Snippets

Today I start my day with the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus from George Frideric Handel’s Messiah. I believe this is a perfect way to start a day, in particular, a Sunday. Don’t you think so too? After this, I reckon I will listen to ‘And The Glory Of The Lord’ part of the oratorio. Unfortunately, I cannot locate the full Messiah version, so I only have snippets. However, should you wish to listen to the oratorio, you can do so by listening here: Messiah. The sound quality there is not as wonderful as hearing the whole piece blasting on headphones.

HALLELUJAH! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
The kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ: and He shall reign for ever and ever.
KING OF KINGS, and LORD OF LORDS, HALLELUJAH!

~~

Last week was quite hectic. In more than one instance was I tempted to drop from the face of the earth and just let life pass me by. Of course, that is impossible – although temptation was just great. Today, I plan to spend my day as peacefully as I can. Ironically, here I am typing away at my blog. Wonderful.

But see, you cannot blame me for blogging, after all this is my favorite stress relieving method. This, and listening to music. I am sure I may shock some people for my musical preference today, but little did you know, I actually love listening to classical music, Gospel music, among other genre of music. I am all about diversity and the “anything goes” lifestyle. It just depends on my mood.

Today I start a segment in my blog called “Music Appreciation.” I already started a category on songs of the past thingy, which features songs that remind me of specific people. But this one is different. I plan to frequently post some facts, snippets on different tunes that I currently am listening to, as well as the artists and composers or anything relevant to the said song. As you can see, I have chosen George Frideric Handel’s Messiah.

Messiah is George Frideric Handel’s most famous oratorio. It is based on a liberatto by Charles Jennens. In the piece, the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus is the most popular. I am quite aware that the said chorus often graces our lives during Sundays or in Christmas.

Messiah was composed in just 24 days during a time when Handel was at the peak of his musical prowess, but he was heavily in debt and depressed. It has been altered a lot to suit the singers, the opera, and other instances.

As for the ‘Hallelujah’ chorus, it concludes the second part (the oratorio is composed of three parts). A custom or practice in many parts of the world is to stand whenever this part of the performance is reached. Tradition goes that King George II had risen to his feet as soon as the first notes of the chorus were played. As royal protocol has demanded, when a monarch stands, so dose everybody else who is in the monarch’s presence. This caused the audience to stand up as well. This was then followed for centuries. As for the reason why the King stood up, it is quite unknown. some say it is because King George II accepts that he is subject to the Lord of Lords, and as is the custom, one stands in the presence of royalty as a sign of respect. Some other reasons have emerged, but none as profound as this.

And that is the first entry for our “Music Appreciation.” Come back later or in the next few days to see if I have added any more posts into this category – that is if you liked it.

Have a blessed Sunday!!