Today\u2019s performers of popular music get excited when their songs get played on radio, Pandora, Google Play, Spotify, downloaded, or whatever other way people listen to music these days, for a few weeks.\u00a0To become a really popular song or piece of music requires sustainability. In other words, there needs to be a demand from the public to listen to it over a period of time.<\/p>\n
Particularly this time of the year, Christmas, it is not difficult to hear a particular work of music that was written 277 years ago.\u00a0To put this into perspective, the year was 1741, the United States was hardly a dream, people were walking around in powdered wigs in England, and the King James Version, long accepted as the authorized version of the Holy Bible, was a little over 100 years old.<\/p>\n
In 1741, a popular composer of music that was mostly sung in secular pubs and theaters throughout Europe, was nearing bankruptcy and complete failure.\u00a0German-born composer George Frideric Handel was then 56 years old and living in England.\u00a0He had experienced earlier musical successes as a composer and musician, but was ready to call it quits, being destitute and seemingly headed for debtor\u2019s prison.\u00a0But that\u2019s when a wealthy friend of his, Charles Jennings, handed Handel a libretto based on the life of Christ, taken entirely from the Bible.\u00a0Handel also received a commission from a Dublin charity to compose a work for a benefit performance.\u00a0Having nothing to lose, he set out to compose perhaps one last piece of music on August 22, 1741.\u00a0What happened from there is what many consider nothing less than a miracle!<\/p>\n
In 24 days, Handel completed 260 pages of music and a complete orchestration of what he simply titled\u00a0Messiah<\/i>.\u00a0Sir Newman Flower, one of Handel\u2019s many biographers, summed up the consensus of history: \u201cConsidering the immensity of the work, and the short time involved, it will remain, perhaps forever, the greatest feat in the whole history of music composition.\u201d<\/p>\n
During those 24 days of composing, Handel never left his house.\u00a0A friend who visited him during this time found him in his room sobbing with intense emotion.\u00a0Later, as Handel groped for words to describe what he had experienced, he quoted St. Paul, saying, \u201cWhether I was in the body or out of my body when I wrote it I know not.\u201d<\/p>\n
He had just finished writing the \u201cHallelujah Chorus\u201d.\u00a0Interestingly enough, this chorus known throughout the world, is only No. 44 of 53 selections in the entire work of Messiah<\/i>.\u00a0The piece which actually ends all of Messiah\u00a0<\/i>is a great Amen chorus; I think \u201cThe Great Amen Chorus!\u201d<\/p>\n
This amazing work of music is actually an oratorio, meaning a work of music that tells a story, and covers the entire life of Christ as told by the Holy Scriptures.\u00a0I would agree that I doubt anyone will ever top a feat such as this in the history of music.\u00a0The length, complexities of the music, and the libretto (words) fit to the music is an amazing feat.<\/p>\n
As a singer, this music requires skill beyond what an average singer would utilize today.\u00a0We have 60 volunteer singers who have worked with amazing diligence to acquire the skill to accomplish a performance of Part I of Messiah\u00a0<\/i>as well as the \u201cHallelujah Chorus\u201d and \u201cThe Great Amen\u201d.\u00a0I could not be more pleased with the amount of dedication and perseverance these volunteer singers have given.<\/p>\n
This Sunday, December 9, you will have the opportunity to hear a very accomplished performance of the portion of Messiah<\/em> typically attributed to the Christmas season.\u00a0It all begins at 7 p.m. in the sanctuary of First United Methodist Church in Van Wert.\u00a0Admission is free (a free-will offering will be accepted during the \u201cPastoral Symphony\u201d — approximately half-way through) and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.\u00a0Doors to the church will be open to the public by 6 p.m.\u00a0<\/span>Child care will be provided for infants through children 4 years of age.<\/p>\n Four outstanding soloists from Chattanooga and Knoxville, Tennessee, as well as Akron, will be joined by a professional orchestra from northern Ohio and southern Michigan.\u00a0I have the honor of conducting the performance.\u00a0The Van Wert County Foundation has made this possible in cooperation with First United Methodist Church.<\/p>\n Any music that has lasted 277 years and is as popular today as it was when it premiered in 1742 in Dublin, Ireland, must be worthy of hearing.\u00a0<\/span>I invite you to experience this performance of a miraculously inspired work of music.\u00a0We all trust it helps make your Christmas season one of hope and peace.<\/p>\n FIN\u00c9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today\u2019s performers of popular music get excited when their songs get played on radio, Pandora, Google Play, Spotify, downloaded, or whatever other way people listen to music these days, for a few weeks.\u00a0To become a really popular song or piece of music requires sustainability. In other words, there needs to be a demand from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-04 04:27:29","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110268\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}