May 1959

always been, but there is a danger that excessive familiarity with it will lead one to forget that Messiah is more than a fine piece of music, that it is a sacred work written out of deep Christian belief.

One should remember Handel's rebuke, after the first London performance of Messiah in 1743, to a nobleman who complimented him on the "noble entertainment" he had given the audience. "I should be sorry, my Lord," replied Handel, "if I have only succeeded in entertaining them; I wished to make them better." It is this that made it so appropriate that Messiah should be performed as the School's Sunday service on 8th March in place of Evensong (with a second performance the following evening) and that it should be introduced by the Chaplain directing our thoughts to the meaning and purpose of Messiah.

The Chaplain began by reminding us of the intensity with which Handel composed Messiah, completing it in just over three weeks and writing it in a state of exaltation—"I did think I did see all Heaven before me and the Great God Himself." The Chaplain then discussed the sequence of ideas in Messiah. The first part deals with the Omnipotence of God and with the prophecies of the Old Testament, leading up to the birth of the Messiah. The second part deals with the rejection and suffering of the Saviour, and then, after the turning point contained in the Tenor Recitative "He was cut off from the land of the living" and Air "But Thou didst not leave His soul in hell", with the final conquest—"Hallelujah : for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth." The final part deals with the supreme confidence with which the Christian faces life—"I know that my Redeemer liveth."

The performance itself was of an extremely high quality and reflected the great labours which went into it, particularly on the part of Mr. Waine. He had first to cut the Oratorio to a reasonable length without spoiling its continuity. This of necessity involved cutting out some extremely well-known and beloved Choruses and Airs.

The main cuts were in Part Two, the confession of failure "All we like sheep" and the mocking "Let Him deliver Him, if He delight in Him" and in Part Three the triumphant bass Recitative "Behold !

I tell you a mystery" and Air "The trumpet shall sound" and the duet "0 death ! where is thy sting? 0 grave ! where is thy victory?"

The amount of time he had spent training the soloists, choral society and orchestra was fully repaid by the successful parts played by all in the performance. School orchestras are often listened to with apprehensive politeness, but one is led to hope that the success of the Orchestra in accompanying the Choruses will encourage more boys to start playing instruments and so enable the orchestra to take a still fuller part in the musical life of the School. For Messiah, the orchestra consisted of nine boys and two Old Boys, Masters and friends of the School. Three of the latter, Mr. Jorysz, Mrs. Kemp14