Handel’S Messiah With Harrogate Choral Society

Messiah is one of the Christian world’s most highly esteemed and popular works. It is almost like an 18th century musical which contains so many hummable tunes, rousing choruses, memorable moments and virtuoso arias that it can be appreciated on many levels.

If Handel’s father had had his way, the most famous of these “Hallelujah Chorus” would never have been written. His father was a “surgeon-barber” – a no-nonsense, practical man who was determined that his son should enter the legal profession. Even though the young Handel showed extraordinary musical talent, his father refused for several years to permit him to take lessons. Thankfully when he was about eight or nine years old a duke heard him play an organ postlude following a religious service. Handel’s father was then summarily requested to provide formal music training for the boy. By the time Handel had turned twelve, he had written his first composition and was such a proficient organist that he substituted on occasion for his own teacher. Several years later the composer is disturbed from his work by a servant to whom he turns, tears streaming down his face, and cries out, “I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself!” George Frederic Handel has just finished writing a movement that is to take its place in history as the “Hallelujah Chorus”.

Join Harrogate Choral Society with Manchester Camerata for the annual Harrogate performance of this work.

Tickets: £20, £18, £16 on sale nowConcessions: £1 reduction for senior citizens, unemployed students, half price for under 16s and free for under 6s

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