The Lyric Performing Arts Company will offer “the most performed music and message in all of history” — George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah” — at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Coggin Avenue Baptist Church in Brownwood.
A community choir, conducted by Corey Ash, director of bands at Howard Payne University, will perform the Christmas portion of the masterpiece, concluding with the “Hallelujah” chorus.
Soloists will be Dr. Celeste Church, soprano; Dr. Diana Ellis, alto; Dr. Greg Church, tenor; and Jeff Woods, bass. Dr. Allen Reed, professor of music at Howard Payne, will accompany the choir and soloists on organ.
There is no admission charge, and the public is invited. The performance will last about 70 minutes.
“We’re able to do this as a gift to the community,” said Lyric Performing Arts Company Managing Director Eric Evans. “While the concert is free to the public, it’s funded by the Arts Council of Brownwood and we are so very thankful for their support.
“This performance is simply not to be missed,” Evans continued. “The community choir that joins together for this performance is as talented as you’ll find anywhere. Additionally, I cannot say enough about the extremely talented soloists we will have performing. They do a fantastic job.”
The Lyric has offered this program to the community each December for almost a decade, and it has become among the community’s most treasured Christmas traditions.
Several portions of “Messiah” are among the most familiar of all Western sacred music, and it is certainly the best-known work of its composer. Perhaps the most famous portion is the “Hallelujah” chorus. Lyric Artistic Director Dr. Nancy Jo Humfeld, who is chair of the HPU Department of Theatre, said it is tradition for audiences to stand during its performance.
“One explanation is that the king (King George II) was so inspired that he rose in recognition of the majesty of the music and the chorus’ declaration of Christ as the King of Kings,” Humfeld said, and it was the custom of the time for subjects to stand whenever the king stood. But, Humfeld said, other explanations suggest that King George just needed to stretch his legs during the lengthy performance of the entire composition.
The annual performances by the Lyric Performing Arts Corporation have rotated among several local church sanctuaries.
“We are so glad to be singing at Coggin Avenue Baptist Church this year,” Humfeld said.
“Messiah” was first performed during Lent in Dublin in 1742, but it has become popular in America during Advent — the religious season leading to Christmas. For the performance this week, the “Christmas portion” will be sung without the Easter and Judgment Day portions.
Historians explain that Handel, a versatile theatrical composer of the baroque period, was born in Germany, enjoyed success in Italy and settled in England. In 1741, Handel became so inspired reading scriptures from the Old and New Testaments that he was overcome by their power. The music began dancing and exploding within him, he later confessed, and he shut himself in and began working night and day, often forgetting to eat, nonstop for some four weeks.
Accounts say Handel’s servants could hear his sobs and prayers as he labored over the inspired text, at one point telling them he had seen the face of God. He finished the original libretto and score in 28 days, and in the decades that followed, he revised it repeatedly sometimes to customize it for the performers available for concerts.
Music scholars generally agree that Handel composed the masterpiece by himself and completed it in less than a month, so it’s difficult to argue with the conclusion that the work was inspired.
Pictured above: Corey Ash, right, director of bands at Howard Payne University, conducts a rehearsal of the community choir that will present the Christmas portion of Handel’s “Messiah.” Photo contributed by the Lyric Performing Arts Company.
