Easter, Not Christmas, and, No, George Stayed Seated (Were He There at All)

Here are a few things you might not know about Handel’s great oratorio, “Messiah.” First, despite being a Christmas tradition, it was written for Easter. The climactic Hallelujah follows Christ’s Resurrection and Ascension. Second, King George II never did stand up for the Hallelujah Chorus ­— let alone rise at the sight of a courtesan or leave for the bathroom — and may never even have attended a performance of it. So don’t stand up when all those people who believe these tales do. However, an Irish clergyman, one Rev. Delaney, did jump to his feet at the première in Dublin. So moved was he by the words in the aria “He was despised” that he shouted “Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven.” (Sorry, I just report the news, I don’t make it.) Soon enough — who knows how or why? — standing for the Hallelujah became the custom, as did performing Messiah at Christmastime. And so, too, has the Messiah sing-along become an annual holiday ritual, though its origins are equally lost in the mists of time. It does represent a rare occasion in modern musical life when the boundaries between players and audience get blurred, and music-making becomes everyone’s business. (We need more of this kind of thing in our culturally stratified times.) This year Tri-Corner residents get not one, but two chances to partake of Handel’s glorious music. On the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 26, Berkshire Bach hosts its annual Messiah Sing, free and open to the entire community, at 4 p.m. at the First Congregational Church in Great Barrington. Good will donations gratefully accepted. Visit www.berkshirebach.org for more information. And on Friday, Dec. 2, St. Andrew’s Church in Kent will host its very first Messiah sing-in at 7:30 p.m., as part of its “Music in the Nave” series with the Sherman Chamber Ensemble. The sing-in plus a reception afterward is $20 and benefits the St. Andrews Music Fund. For information, call 860-927-3486. Copies of the complete score are obtainable online: Berkshire Bach has scores to borrow. Hallelujah!!