Tag: Hallelujah Chorus

A Canticle for Advent: Every Breath Hallelujah

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Madonna and Child by Orazio Gentileschi
Madonna and Child by Orazio Gentileschi

I’ve heard about this baby boy
Who’s come to earth to bring us joy
And I just want to sing this song to you
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
With every breath I’m singing Hallelujah
Hallelujah

A couple came to Bethlehem
Expecting child, they searched the inn
To find a place for You were coming soon
There was no room for them to stay
So in a manger filled with hay
God’s only Son was born, oh Hallelujah
Hallelujah

The shepherds left their flocks by night
To see this baby wrapped in light
A host of angels led them all to You
It was just as the angels said
You’ll find Him in a manger bed
Immanuel and Savior, Hallelujah
Hallelujah

A star shown bright up in the east
To Bethlehem, the wisemen three
Came many miles and journeyed long for You
And to the place at which You were
Their frankincense and gold and myrrh
They gave to You and cried out Hallelujah
Hallelujah

I know You came to rescue me
This baby boy would grow to be
A man and one day die for me and you
My sins would drive the nails in You
That rugged cross was my cross, too
Still every breath You drew was Hallelujah
Hallelujah
by Cloverton (original version by Leonard Cohen)

We just returned from one of our favorite music events of the season: the Lynden Christian Schools Christmas Choral Concert conducted by Ryan Smit.  At the end of the concert,  before the traditional “surround-sound” version of “Peace, Peace” and “Silent Night”, Ryan had asked each high school chorus member to choose one person in their life who would join them in singing the Hallelujah Chorus from “Handel’s Messiah”.   Over sixty members of the community — siblings, parents, grandparents and various special others,  then joined the chorus in singing “Hallelujah” with each breath.

I didn’t learn the Messiah until I was over fifty years old and regret not having learned it when I was 15 so that I could have sung it all my life.   It is a wonderful sight and sound to see people from multiple generations singing this beautiful chorus together.  May every breath we draw be Hallelujah.

lc
Tonight’s Lynden Christian High School/Community Chorus

 

Lenten Meditation–Forever and Ever

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photo by Josh Scholten http://www.cascadecompass.com

These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them:
for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings:
and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
Revelation 17:14

Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting:
“Hallelujah!  For our Lord God Almighty reigns. ”
Revelation 19:6

There were great voices in heaven, saying,
“The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord,
and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.”
Revelation 11:15

We hear various portions of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah all year round, usually in a non-religious context, like a commercial or cartoon, using this beautiful work to celebrate something other than the everlasting kingdom of the Lord.  Handel would be shocked at how mundane the word “Hallelujah” has become largely because of the popularity of his work.  It has become the staple of flash mob venues at Christmas, in food courts, train stations and malls, simply because it is so well known.

But it is not at all well understood.  This is far from a paean to Christmas, and is not meant to represent the “heavenly host” praising Jesus’ birth.  It actually is a celebration of the Messiah conquering death itself.  This is a battle cry about the defeat of evil, not at all a lullaby to a new born baby.

And so it should be the rallying cry for the faithful.  It should be sung from the rafters of department stores and gymnasiums and the greatest cathedrals.  It is a marvelous song to sing at full tilt,  each part intersecting and playing with the voices of the other parts.  It cannot be sung without a smile, a shiver down the spine and quickening of the pulse.   Even if the tradition of standing for the Hallelujah Chorus was started because King George II needed to stand up to stretch his legs after the lengthy first two sections of the libretto, it is worthy ever after of our standing attention.

So too should we attend to the story of Handel’s creation of his Messiah in a mere 24 days.  He was depressed, destitute and desperate for the work.  When he finished writing “Hallelujah Chorus”, his assistant, who had tried shouting to rouse Handel from the room where he had sequestered himself, walked in to find Handel in tears.  When asked what was the matter, Handel held up the score to “Hallelujah” and said “I thought I saw the face of God.”

When we hear these words, read them and sing them, so do we.

Forever and ever.

Moments from Messiah

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An announcement goes out in September:
help perform Handel’s Messiah for Christmas

From pre-teens to late-seventies,
seven dozen motley singers gather weekly

All we like sheep that have gone astray,
are brought together by patient Choral Society leadership

A talented director, a pianist mastering complex accompaniment,
soloists with voices transcending all earthly bounds

Beginner singers learning to count rests and measures without
speaking, tapping, nodding or moving any body part

Keeping mouths round and voices resonant,
instructed to smile broadly if notes go too high or too low

Remembering to look up,
never buried in the score

Immersing in the music in between rehearsals,
even scripture readings float into arias

Practicing impossible runs of notes
in the shower and the car

Waking in the night to strains of the Hallelujah Chorus
yet the house is completely silent

Performance night is delight,
pure privilege to share this majestic masterwork

With an appreciative community who come,
young and old,  to listen rapt

With glistening eyes, grateful smiles and glad hearts,
ready now to take on Advent in all its glorious expectancy

But thanks be to God, who gave us Handel, now departed 250 years,
who continues to move us, always, every time,  through his music.

************************************************************************************

(Reprint of my 2008 poem in honor of the Lynden Choral Society)

One small town
Containing more churches than banks,

A ninety year old choral society
With a Christmas tradition of singing Handel’s Messiah,

Sixty-some enthusiastic singers recruited without auditions
Through church bulletin announcements

Farmers, store clerks, machinists, students
Middle schoolers to senior citizens

Gather in an unheated church for six weeks of rehearsal
To perform one man’s great gift to sacred music.

Handel, given a libretto, commissioned to compose,
Isolated himself for 24 days, barely ate or slept

Believed himself confronted by all heaven itself
To see the face of God,

And so created overture, symphony, arias, oratorios
Soaring, interwoven themes repeating, resounding

With despair, mourning, anticipation
Renewal, redemption, restoration, triumph.

Delicate appoggiaturas and melismata
Of astounding complexity and intricacy.

A tapestry of sound and sensation unparalleled
To be shouted from the soul, wrung from the heart.

This group of rural people gathers to join voices
Honoring faith foretold, realized, proclaimed.

Ably led by a forgiving director with a sense of humor
And a nimble organist with flying feet and fingers.

The lilting sopranos with angel song,
The altos provide steadfast support,

The tenors echo plaintive prophecy
The base voices full and resonant.

A violinist paints heaven-sent refrain
In parallel duet of counterpoint melody.

The audience sits, eyes closed
As if in oft repeated familiar prayer.

The sanctuary overflows
With thankfulness:

Glory to God! For unto us a Child is born
And all the people, whether singers or listeners, will be comforted.