For a number of years, Ted and I have made the Bach Society’s Candlelight Christmas Concert a part of our celebration of Christmas, and we did so again this year.

The head of the Bach Society (I don’t know his title) did a little introduction before the concert started and he was pretty funny–not something we’ve come to expect at this event.  He told us that we’d be hearing from the Bach Society Choir and also the Bach Society Children’s Choir.  (A misnomer, in my opinion, since these are high school kids.  I would call it a “youth” choir, rather than a “children’s” choir.)  These students get voice training, music education, and character education.  Bach Guy followed this information with “Hopefully, one of them will run for President” and got a round of applause from the audience for his reference to character.

It is not unusual for audience members unfamiliar with classical music concerts to applaud after each movement of a selection, rather than waiting until the entire piece is finished.  Before leaving the stage, Bach Guy asked the audience to please hold applause until the end of the entire musical piece–Handel’s Messiah.  He said the performance would be so outstanding that applause after each movement would keep us in the venue until midnight.  He then promised we would know when the piece was over.

Of course, the well-known closing of the Messiah is the “Hallelujah Chorus,” for which everyone stands.  Why?  Because at the London premiere of  Handel’s Messiah in 1743, King George II stood.  According to royal protocol, when the king stands, everyone must stand until the king is seated, so the audience stood as well.  No one knows why King George stood.  My theory is that he might have thought the piece was over and was preparing to leave, then awkwardly stood in place while the orchestra and choir finished the “Hallelujah Chorus.”  If so, he was probably glad he stayed until the end, since the final chorus is the most stirring part of the entire Messiah.

 

For the second half of the performance, the concert hall is darkened and each of the approximately 200 choristers carries a lighted candle (battery-operated for safety).  The musical selections are Christmas carols–traditional and new–sung by the adult and children’s/youth choirs.  The audience sings along for two or three familiar carols, and the closing is always “Silent Night.”  As the choir members sing, they walk around the perimeter of the hall and through the aisles, spacing themselves so that the audience is surrounded by music.  It’s absolutely beautiful!  After this concert, Ted and I are always spiritually in the mood for Christmas.