Handel's Messiah

Listen Here.

"Yet once, a little while
and i will shake
the heavens and the earth
the sea and the dry land.
and I will shake all nations;
and the desire of all nations shall come."

As i sat there and listened to the orchestra playing, and the chorus singing these biblical verses, i made a wish. That God would shake me the same way too.

Some interesting facts about Handel's Messiah

1. It was interesting to find the similarity between the above verses and the Muslim Iranians' new year prayer.
2. Handel wrote this in English; it was Mozart who later on translated the verses to German and rearranged the oratorio to make it possible to be played in a more classic (no organ) orchestra. The performance i went to tonight was Mozart's arrangement of Handel's Messiah, and it was thus in German. We were given bilingual pamphlets.
3. It used to be performed by an all male (men and boys) choir. I suppose they didn't like the idea of women singing the bible!
4. When it came to the famous Halleluja part, everybody in the audience stood up. You could call it national anthem of heavens i suppose:) They say that King George II rose to his feet at this point, and so the tradition was rooted.
5. German always sounded rough to my ears. If you share that opinion wait till you hear a choir sing Messiah. You'll look at German differently.