MESSIAH

[john11inc]

OH MY GOD.  I HATE IT SO MUCH.

Every Christmas, Messiah, Messiah, MESSIAH.  Over and over and over again.  It makes me want to DIE.  If you are in conservatory I *know* you're sympathizing with this.  What really pisses me off is that there are these pieces:

(Playlist with the complete Vespers)

(Complete work up, but not playlisted)


Anyway, who else wishes Messiah was never written?  Who is sick to death of it?  Who wants to count down the days until we don't have to hear it again for a year with me?

[gyzzzmo]

Seems like another post that matches thalbergmad's excellent circular list of people like john11inch, who obviously doesnt get enough attention in real life.


PS, Thal's post: (point 2: now he John tells something good is garbage to try annoying people)

We seem to be trapped in a never ending cycle.

1. John appears on the forum after being banned for a while and behaves for a short period.
2. John posts recordings/sheets that he knows some people will call garbage.
3. John asserts his superiority and accuses most of the forum of being plebs.
4. Some people dare to respond and challenge him.
5. John calls us all wankers and substantiates his greatness as he once spoke to Ian Pace on the phone 3 years ago.
6. John finally loses it completely and gets banned.

Back to number one and so on.

 
 
 
 

[quantum]

Why would you sing the passion at Christmas?

[furtwaengler]

Why would you sing the passion at Christmas?

I guess the same reason a preacher would preach, "Don't Leave Jesus in the Manger," or "Every Sunday is Easter." Though I tend to think music is music and religion is religion, even when its a theme.

The past four years I've performed (harpsichord, where applicable, tenor elsewhere) and helped prepare performances of (ye ol' rehearsal accompanist):

2006: Mendelssohn's Elijah
2007: Handel's Messiah
2008: Monteverdi's Vespers
2009: Beethoven's Missa Solemnis

And I enjoyed each immensely, and never at any point grew tired of the great music I was playing. (The Monteverdi was a special challenge and thrill).

[john11inc]

Why would you sing the passion at Christmas?

Why would you sing Messiah at Christmas?  It's about Easter.

[john11inc]

(point 2: now he John tells something good is garbage to try annoying people)

/end quote.  I'm really hurt you copy/pasted something, and then came up with an awesome explanation like that.  Me John tells something good to make annoying you?  Really makes it impossible to care.

[john11inc]

I guess the same reason a preacher would preach, "Don't Leave Jesus in the Manger," or "Every Sunday is Easter." Though I tend to think music is music and religion is religion, even when its a theme.

The past four years I've performed (harpsichord, where applicable, tenor elsewhere) and helped prepare performances of (ye ol' rehearsal accompanist):

2006: Mendelssohn's Elijah
2007: Handel's Messiah
2008: Monteverdi's Vespers
2009: Beethoven's Missa Solemnis

And I enjoyed each immensely, and never at any point grew tired of the great music I was playing. (The Monteverdi was a special challenge and thrill).

Oh, that's cool that you got to do a 1610 Vespers.  From what I understand about the piece, the instrumentation is fairly indeterminate.  Did your production use a lot of period instruments?

[gep]

I would say it's not the fault of the Messiah, and/or that the over-production of the piece says anything about the quality of the work. But yes, it would seem that a piece like Messiah (and, in my country, the Matthäus Passion), among other pieces, is sort of hyped these days, with some truly abyssmal results. There are "scratch" performances, in which a bunch of would-be singers come together one day, rehearse through the day and sing the performance that same evening. You may guess the results. As for the Matthäus Passion, there are here now "sing along" performances, at which anyone from the audience may bleat along as they please whenever they feel like. How ANY selfrespecting performer can play at such a din is beyond me. But still, all that says NOTHING about the value of the work concerned.

How about The Four Seasons then? Any lady fiddler who knows how to hold a violin the right way round MUST record the pieces, and undulate across the front cover to boost sales.

And so good-quality pieces of music get played to death...

So: no, I do not regrte that the Messiah got written, but do mourn the fact that it gets hijacked...

all best,
gep

[furtwaengler]

Oh, that's cool that you got to do a 1610 Vespers.  From what I understand about the piece, the instrumentation is fairly indeterminate.  Did your production use a lot of period instruments?

No, my production was unbelievably horrible. This was at a small, small college that is constantly going way over itself, a choral union half of which was made up of incoming freshman who prided themselves in not being able to read music, the other half being just clueless (among these, all student soloists), a community choir which was thankfully much better, a community orchestra which has some players in it, but is overrun by people who barely know how to hold their instruments, and a long tenured director who is ambitious but doesn't take into account any of these elements. It was an amazing battle in which I was basically forced to double as much of the choral parts as I could on a malfunctioning electronic harpsichord which goes in and out, and sometimes repeats notes rapid fire just at being depressed. I remember during the concert, this director told me to use my wisdom about when and how to use these choral doublings, and I left out a solo entrance trusting it would happen....it didn't happen, nothing happened. This was one of the most miserable concert experiences of my life, and this is fairly common here. But, still I gained from personally handling the score for three months, both for the piece itself and for the jump in my already proficient sight reading ability. It sounds like a contradiction, but it still was a thrill and I still enjoyed the music immensely.

Two laments...this story is true, and I sometimes feel like this is the only job I can hold down in music. 

[gep]

No, my production was unbelievably horrible.

Hmm, it seems that not your production was horrible, but the one you had to participate in. It's a horror story, and no mistake!
Let me guess, the auditorium gave a standing ovation afterwards (because the husbands/children/
wives/nephews/whatever were "participating")? AND got angry when anyone suggested that their star-quality husband/child/wife/nephew/whatever might be just a tad below Caruso/Menuhin/Melba/Fillinnamehere?

[furtwaengler]

(Bah...I am constantly regretting posting what I do. Its a bad cycle, regretful that the story's true, knowing that it serves no purpose to write about it. Music of this magnitude is incredibly resilient. Yes it was a terrible performance, but in the moment it did communicate to those who were there. I do the most posting when I've been awake for 21 hours and refuse to sleep. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.)  

[birba]

Call me what you will,  but I LOVE the Messiah and the Nutcracker.  And yes, ESPECIALLY at Christmas.

[pianowolfi]

(Bah...I am constantly regretting posting what I do. Its a bad cycle, regretful that the story's true, knowing that it serves no purpose to write about it. Music of this magnitude is incredibly resilient. Yes it was a terrible performance, but in the moment it did communicate to those who were there. I do the most posting when I've been awake for 21 hours and refuse to sleep. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.)  

I have not the impression that you would need to apologize for, nor to regret any of your posts.

[pianowolfi]

How about The Four Seasons then? Any lady fiddler who knows how to hold a violin the right way round MUST record the pieces, and undulate across the front cover to boost sales.

So true.

[quantum]

Why would you sing Messiah at Christmas?  It's about Easter.

Messiah includes Easter themes but is not exclusively about Easter.  

[mikey6]

Not that I really want to get involved in an argument - but is it me or is there a certain amount of hypocrisy in John's posts -
In the other thread he says he's not the one that starts arguments and lists numerous threads we're forum people call certain 'new music' crap, bad etc....Now he decided it's ok to rant on the 'classics' with this thread?

1. John appears on the forum after being banned for a while and behaves for a short period.
2. John posts recordings/sheets that he knows some people will call garbage.
3. John asserts his superiority and accuses most of the forum of being plebs.
4. Some people dare to respond and challenge him.
5. John calls us all wankers and substantiates his greatness as he once spoke to Ian Pace on the phone 3 years ago.
6. John finally loses it completely and gets banned.

Back to number one and so on.

waiting for 3....

[tea cup]

The Creation ought to be a Christmas piece.

[birba]

Messiah includes Easter themes but is not exclusively about Easter.  

Absolutely NOT.  It begins with the birth of Christ!!!!!!!!!!!

[birba]

AT any rate, the bickering here has completely diverted the original thread...

[quantum]

Absolutely NOT.  It begins with the birth of Christ!!!!!!!!!!!

Explain of what is not absolute.

[birba]

Excuse me, do you have ANY knowledge of the English language?