Handel's Messiah

On the date this entry is postmarked I wrote the following:

On Saturday 17 May from 8pm the Monash University Choral Society (MonUCS) will perform Handel’s Messiah (you all know the Hallelujah Chorus from it). The concert will be held at All Saint’s Anglican Church on Chapel Street in Saint Kilda East (opposite the Astor Theatre and close to Windsor Station).

Well it was a fun night and I think it came off well. The scratch orchestra our conductor had pulled together was awesome (as always) and in keeping with the era of music there was even an honest-to-goodness harpsichord. I enjoyed some bits of the music more than others. The twiddly bits were frustrating and rather taxing and I feel that some of the simpler or slower parts were more effective and evocative anyway. I was also exhausted from the night (which had inlcuded helping move lots of metal and wood in the construction of our makeshift stage).

Still it was a worthwhile show and culminated in the traditional victory song of Laudate in our backroom (itself an experience as I always love seeing rooms one normally never gets to see - in this case a small multi-purpose room in the attic of the church). I had the fun of sharing this singalong over the phone with Petra in Canberra.

Then the post-concert party was fun - there was even mulled wine! It ended late but it also started late so some of us felt like we wanted more partying than we had got. Still we were all exhausted (we were all holding back the tiredness with willpower and the desire for fun) so I was happy to get a lift home and roll into bed.