Get a Handel on things

Last night we started to get in the Christmas spirit by attending a performance of Handel's The Messiah. Some observations:

• While I enjoy classical music, I'm certainly no afficionado. So while I'm sure The Messiah is probably viewed by many as the classical equivalent of Top 40 pop music, I don't care--I find it to be beautiful and moving.


• We almost laughed when one of the soloists, a guy around our age, started to sing and sounded exactly like a woman (turns out he was the alto...as if I would know what that was). I know there are long traditions of men singing like this (castrati and Japanese kabuki and all that), but there's still nothing to prepare you for the first time you hear a beautiful, high voice coming from someone who looks like he could be a local football player.


• I've always liked the cello, but this time I really watched one of the cellists throughout the concert and I'm even more impressed than I was before. She was working it! And it amazed me how much she looked to the conductor for cues...to the uninitiated (e.g., me), the conductor seems superfluous--they all have the sheet music, so why do they need a guy with a baton throwing his arms around? But you could really see that whatever he was doing, the cellist took it very seriously. Or maybe she just has a crush on him.


• Despite being a two-and-a-half hour performance, there were no intermissions. Instead, between parts the conductor simply sat down, the musicians re-tuned their instruments, the audience fidgeted and stretched, and a couple of minutes later they were back at it again. It was quite efficient, but after sitting that long on wooden chairs in an old church we each had a serious case of booty-lock.


• The audience was so much more stoic than in the States, and I'm not sure if that says more about the seriousness of the Swiss or the lack of culture in the States. When the Hallelujah chorus began, for example, I expected everyone to stand up like they would at home, but nope. And surely when the chorus finished, everyone would be swept away by the joyousness of it and erupt in an ovation, right? Nope. They finished in silence, and there was no applause until the very end of the performance. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose, just a bit different.


• You had to like the drum (tympani?) player. He basically only played in two pieces all night--the Hallelujah chorus and the finale. And yet, every time the orchestra was playing he would tweak the tension on his drums, tap them with his fingers, put his ear to them, tweak them some more, etc. I suppose if you only get to play twice you want it to be really good.

(Wow, I don't think I've ever said that much about classical music in my life.) Anyway, now that we've done that, I think I can officially get into the holiday spirit since we don't have Thanksgiving as a traditional starting point here.