Mount Desert Summer Chorale

About the music in our 2007 program

The Messiah in August? Isn't it a Christmas piece? Notes for the 2007 MDSC performance of Messiah Messiah occupies a unique place both in Western music and in Handel's output. It contains some of the most familiar music ever written (think of the "Hallelujah" chorus), yet as a whole it is not well-known. A dramatic analysis of Messiah It's a long piece with many nuances. Each movement has a unique absolutely distinctive character, and it's important to understand the dramatic context of each. Which version of the Messiah do you perform? There are more alternative versions for many of the various movements in Messiah than for any other piece by Handel, and possibly more than for any other standard work. To stand or not to stand? (and other performance traditions in Messiah) Perhaps the most familiar Messiah tradition is that of standing for the "Hallelujah!" Chorus. Exactly how this came about is a bit of a mystery. An annotated Messiah bibliography of print and web resources. [Articles written by David Schildkret] [For discussions of works presented in earlier years, click the "Past Concerts" link at left.]