Sunday, December 27, 2015

Rejoice greatly, 
O Daughter of Zion!
from 
Messiah 

by 
George Frederick Handel

sung by 
Diana Damrau
conducted by
Zubin Mehta 

 Rejoice, Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion!
Behold, thy King cometh unto three.
He is the righteous Savior, 
and He shall speak peace unto the heathen.
Rejoice greatly , O daughter of Zion.
Shout, O dauther of Jerusalem.
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee.
~ . ~ § ~ . ~

 Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
transcribed for piano by
Myra Hess
performed by 
Dinu Lipatti

~ . ~ § ~ . ~
Posted by at

12 comments:

  1. Ducky's hereDecember 27, 2015 at 12:15 AM

    I must be one of the few who is most moved by the Amen from Messiah.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FreeThinkeDecember 27, 2015 at 5:43 AM

      Greetings of the Season to you, Ducky! May the quiet, contemplative prayerful, reverent aspects unite with the jubilant, extroverted, earthly and exhibitionistic to form a more perfectly balanced perspective on life for all of us in the New Year.

      AMEN! ;-)

      Delete
    2. Always On WatchDecember 27, 2015 at 7:21 AM

      Duck,
      I, too, love the Amen. But as a chorister, by the time that we got to that chorus, I was exhausted and didn't appreciate the Amen until I had "retired" from the Choral Arts Society of Washington.

      Delete
    3. FreeThinkeDecember 27, 2015 at 8:15 AM

      With all due respect, AOW, I'm very much afraid our Eternally Adversarial Acquaintance was trying to say in his characteristically flippant, sarcastic way that he liked Messiah best when it was OVER.

      Forgive me, if I misjudge you Ducky, but that is the way you come across at least 85% of the time, so naturally we've come to expect it of you.

      Best wishes for 2016 anyway. Believe it or not we like you, even if it is in spite of yourself. ;-)

      Delete
    4. Agnes DayDecember 27, 2015 at 11:12 AM

      Maybe Ducky meant exactly what he said: that the Amen chorus from the Messiah is very beautiful and moving. And it is. Perhaps it is you who is being flippant by assigning negative motives to his comment? Amen.

      Delete
    5. FreeThinkeDecember 27, 2015 at 2:59 PM

      Obviously you don't know our Ducky, Aggie.

      I'm glad you appreciate Messiah, of course, but WHAT ABOUT the PART I POSTED? And what about Myra Hess's superb transcription of Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring?

      We post wonderful things here in good faith ALL the TIME, yet most choose to ignore them and try to talk about something else.

      I'm not going to pretend it doesn't annoy me, but it mystifies me even more.

      Happy New Year!

      Delete
  2. ThersitesDecember 27, 2015 at 8:29 AM

    Sounds like AoW might have been saying the same thing...

    ...that she couldn't appreciate it until after her 'singing it' days were 'over'.

    Channeling/living the 'god' is a little different than merely listening to it. You don't get to feel the 'Amen' until the last note is sung. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FreeThinkeDecember 27, 2015 at 3:01 PM

      I disagree, but haven't sufficient energy to write the dissertation it would take to tell you why.

      Delete
  3. Always On WatchDecember 27, 2015 at 4:56 PM

    Singing in a chorus such as the Choral Arts Society of Washington is hard work. 'Nuff said.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. FreeThinkeDecember 28, 2015 at 6:31 AM

      To do ANYTHING well that's really worth doing always requires a great deal of hard work, AOW, –– but that should never show in any successful performance.

      At any rate, there's no financial incentive to devoting oneself to either the performance or the composition of serious music. If one does not love it with all one's heart, strength and mind, it would be best to stay away from the field altogether.

      Delete
    2. Always On WatchDecember 28, 2015 at 7:37 AM

      I have found that, as a church organist or a chorister, I couldn't fully appreciate the music because I was too busy striving to get the audience to appreciate the music.

      Delete
    3. FreeThinkeDecember 28, 2015 at 4:22 PM

      I understand, but for me there has never been any greater joy and satisfaction in life than giving a successful performance. Success being measured by how I felt about it at the time –– not by "audience reaction."

      I hasten to add it only happened a small number of times.

      Delete

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