George Frideric Handel Messiah

[elleng]

https://weta.org/listen-live

[pangaia]

1. I played three of them this year.

For a timpanist, the hardest part is waking up in time to play the three chorus that include timpani.




But it was fun as I used Baroque reproduction timpani and repro- sticks... on calf heads.. which is a marvelous sound..

One of the performances actually WAS a ball to do as it also included period reproduction strings(including bows) oboes and trumpets... And a very small chorus.. about 25.. perfect.

I never have liked those gargantuan performances with 300 singers, 15 1st violins, etc...

Here is the Choir of King's College with a small orchestra using period repro-timpani, trumpets and oboes.
It is a pretty "Historically Informed Performance --referred to as HIP. :&gt )

Also, notice the occasional cadential vocal trills .. Almost nobody ever does this
The strings.. small group- looks like 5,5,4,2,1-- but modern instruments, I think.

There is a very good argument that Bach actually wrote his cello suites for the Violoncello da spalla-- in which case Handel MAY also have envisioned that instrument..Who knows?.. In any case, the bass in this orchestra is too big. :&gt ))
I have a CD of the Cello Suites being played on the 'cello da spalla and the sound is absolutely stunning...

You can see the 'cello da spalla here, as well as period repro strings and bows.. and also a SMALLER bass. :&gt )

Thanks for the post....

[elleng]

2. ;)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Another good performance is by "The Sixteen," a small British ensemble.

It's clean, clear and devoid of bombast. Performances like those of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (Feh! Ptui!) shall live in infamy.

[pangaia]

8. My kind of Baroque performance.

[janterry]

3. This radiowest 'film' about that one moment in the Messiah

is really interesting. It's only 5+ minutes - here's a 'blurb' from the 'film'

There’s a little-known story behind an aria in Handel’s famous oratorio Messiah. Meet 18th-century actress Susannah Cibber. Having her sing on stage was akin to Handel asking the Whore of Babylon to perform. You’ll never hear “He Was Despised” the same way again.

You can watch it here:

https://films.radiowest.org/film/messiah

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Interesting story. Handel's singers were quite the crew of divas.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/whine-women-and-song-the-bitter-rivalry-of-handels-divas-816644.html

The exhibition will also tell the tale of another bust-up involving the hot-tempered Cuzzoni, who reportedly refused to sing one of Handel's arias because he had originally written it for someone else. Her refusal so incensed him that he threatened to dangle her from a window unless she changed her mind.

It is said that the aria was originally written for the singer Maddalena Salvai.

According to the historian John Mainwaring, Handel responded to Cuzzoni's refusal to sing at rehearsal with a threat of his own, announcing: "Oh! Madame, I know well that you are a real she-devil, but I hereby give you notice that I am Beelzebub, the chief of devils."

He is then believed to have taken her "up by the waist and, if she made any more words, swore that he would fling her out of the window", according to Mr Mainwaring.

[elleng]

6. HAHA!

Chief of devils!

[pangaia]

10. Yuiyoshida would like that !!

[pangaia]

7. Great story.

Similar stuff still goes on, albeit without the panache.

[pangaia]

9. Good performance...

Baroque bows, sounds like gut strings.. maybe Baroque instruments.. can't see well enough nor hear well on my tablet.

Can you tell?

[blaze]

15. I had to google

because I had never seen those big ass violins before!!

Which led me to chin cellos which led me to baroque violins!

So, to answer your questions, I would say yes. To gut strings and Baroque instruments.

Thanks to DU for my ongoing education.

[pangaia]

16. I just looked again at the "radio west A MAN OF SORROWS"

Looks like modern string instruments with Baroque bows.. I can see modern strings- steel, wound etc.-

Plus it is an modern day cello playing the continuo bass line

If you look at the close-ups of the instruments in LA PETITE BANDE video I posted, those are ALL modern day reproductions of Baroque instruments. You can also see the gut strings.. The violins and violas are flatter than modern instruments. And it is a 'Baroque bass," much smaller..

I am NO EXPERT, just a "retired" percussionist and interested from the period timpani standpoint.
Plus, I happen to know one of the people in La Petite Bande and also a woman who specializes in Baroque violin who lives in Europe.... LOL

Here's another gem. With Garrison Keillor playing transverse flute. And there is a guy at my gym who looks exactly like Sigiswald Kuijken.

[nmgaucho]

11. The First Noel-Mormon Tabernacle Choir

[link:

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[The Velveteen Ocelot]

12. To each his own, I guess.

[raven mad]

13. It's not the Christmas holidays until I hear The Messiah!

Very first one was at "The Shining University on the Hill" (University of Alaska Fairbanks) in 1971. Standing ovation!! I couldn't NOT stand!

Thank you for wonder, warm memories, and just plain great music.

[malthaussen]

14. My favorite version of the "Hallelujah Chorus"

-- Mal