When it comes to our December issue, no topic it seems has the power to set the pigeon among the cats more effectively than the perennial popularity of Handel’s Messiah. Our choral columnist Ben Stein simply states that he is going to assume that the readers of this column need no urging from him to find a Messiah performance (and then goes on to talk about an admittedly interesting array of other choral events over the holidays and beyond. Our early music columnist Dave Podgorski is slightly less categorical proffering that from his vantage point, Tafelmusik’s sing-along Messiah and Aradia’s Dublin Messiah are the only two Messiahs in Toronto he thinks you need to see. (And like Stein goes on to talk about an equally interesting array of other musical options.) Even CD reviewer Hans De Groot, after singing the praises of a new CD of Messiah from the Boston Handel and Haydn Society (liberally laced with Canadian vocal and instrumental talent, I might add) feels it necessary to add the remark that when asked to review the recording, his first thought was: Another Messiah – who needs it? (Before going on to say that in this case, he couldn’t have been more wrong.)
Our experts notwithstanding, there’s something about Herr Handel’s 24-day opus that continues to captivate, year after year. This year we have scoured the listings and come up with 32 performances by 20 organizations. Five period-instrument groups account for ten performances. Nine modern instrument organizations offer a further 14. Two organizations serve up four performances accompanied by organ. And a further four give single performances that include excerpts from the work.
For myself I can’t remember my first performance of the Messiah (or even if it was a full performance). What I do remember is that somewhere in some hall where a lot of singing was going on in the usual “us and them” audience-singer relationship, there was a sudden thunder of scraping chairs as everyone in the audience stood up and starting singing along at what up till then had been the usual. I remember that there were enough repetitions of the word hallelujah that it didn’t much matter whether I hit them all, and that when I sat down again, I was a more joyful listener (for ever and ever) than when I stood up.
I remember hobnobbing with one of the region’s greatest boosters (and presenters) of the Messiah, Grand Philharmonic Choir’s former longtime conductor Howard Dyck in the lobby of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts (aka the opera house). I think I said something about wondering what the secret was to the enduring popularity of Handel’s Messiah. As best as I can remember, his reply in a stage whisper was “It’s the music, stupid!”
And of course he’s right. It’s the music. And more than that, it’s the music’s ability to shift its shape and the size of its grandeur to accommodate almost any combination of musical forces – the bigger, the better.
So, pace Ben, Hans and Dave, here from the cheerful night crew at The WholeNote is a handy guide to the various incarnations of Handel’s Messiah lurking among the almost 700 listings in this issue.
Happy hunting.
PERIOD INSTRUMENTS
Dec 06 07 Chorus Niagara. Messiah: A Niagara Holiday Tradition for 50 years.
Dec 17 18 19 20 Tafelmusik. Handel: Messiah.
Dec 21 Tafelmusik. Handel: Sing-Along Messiah.
Dec 20 Aradia Ensemble. Dublin Messiah.
Dec 20 Guelph Chamber Choir. Messiah.
MODERN ORCHESTRA
Dec 05 Elmer Iseler Singers. Handel: Messiah.
Dec 06 Grand Philharmonic Choir. Messiah.
Dec 06 Orchestra Kingston. Messiah Sing-Along.
Dec 07 Elora Festival and Singers. A Village Messiah.
Dec 12 Cathedral Church of St. James. Handel’s Messiah.
Dec 15 16 Uxbridge Messiah Singers. 18th biennial rendition of Handel’s Messiah.
Dec 16 17 19 20 21 Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Special: Messiah.
Dec 20 Musikay. Messiah.
Dec 21 Grand River Chorus. Singalong Messiah.
EXCERPTS OR PARTS
Dec 06 Etobicoke Centennial Choir. Sacred Traditions.
Dec 07 St. Anne’s Anglican Church. Cantate: A Neighbourhood Christmas Concert.
Dec 13 Pax Christi Chorale. Children’s Messiah.
Dec 13 Mississauga Symphony Orchestra. Hallelujah! Messiah and Friends.
WITH ORGAN
Dec 12 14 Cellar Singers. Messiah.
Dec 14 15 Peterborough Singers. Handel’s Messiah.
