MAC Community Choir Gets a "Handel" on the Holidays
Mineral Area College's Community Singers and MAC Singers will present the holiday classic "Messiah" on Sunday, Dec. 8, featuring 60 performers under the direction of MAC Vocal Music Instructor Harry Cecil.
The performance will take place at 4 p.m. at Memorial United Methodist Church at 425 North Street in Farmington. Admission is $5, and the group will be joined by The Rosewood Ensemble, a St. Louis-based professional string quartet.
"This is our exciting bi-annual event," Cecil said. "There are very few musical compositions that are as popular and renowned as this masterwork. Unlike other pieces that were popular during their time, went away, and then reemerged through 20th century scholarship, Handel's 'Messiah' was impactful in its inception, impactful after his death, and is still one of the most commonly performed oratorios in the world today! For our performance we will present Part I of 'Messiah,' the scriptural landscape that leads up to the birth of Christ."
In 1741, George Frideric Handel constructed the oratorio "Messiah" as a biblical chronicle following the full life of Christ; and although the work was first performed near the end of the Lent season - a few weeks before Easter - during Handel's life, it became popular following Handel’s death to perform the work during the Advent season leading up to Christmas.
Handel's Messiah was not the first oratorio that he composed nor was it his final, but it was his most significant. Through various positions and numerous countries, Handel had gained exposure to many compositional styles, in which he employed most all of them in this masterful work. Handel used his experiences with the Italian opera and Italian oratorio; he married this with his exposure to the German cantata and the English anthem. This profusion of music germinated into over 50 numbers, three sections, and over 2½ hours of music. "It is nothing short of divine intervention that Handel completed this work in less than three weeks," Cecil said.
Receiving its debut in Dublin in the spring of 1742, Handel's "Messiah" endured much in terms of scrutiny, professional conflicts, continuous changes to the performing forces, and many revisions. Despite some suffrage, this work became a performance staple to Handel, and traditionally concluded his concert seasons. In fact, the April 6, 1759, performance of "Messiah" was the last live concert Handel heard of his own music, dying only a week later. After Handel, the annual end-of-season performances were sustained for nearly the next 20 years. With advancements in publishing and the development of choral societies, "Messiah" has lived on in concert series, festivals, churches, and schools for the last two centuries.
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Date and Time
Sunday Dec 8, 2013
December 8, 2013
4:00 PM
Location
Memorial United Methodist Church
425 North Street
Farmington, MO 63640
Fees/Admission
$5 Per Person
Contact Information
Harry Cecil, Director of Choirs: (573) 518-2230
