Sunday afternoon I had to sneak away from the tree – trimming (which Lorelai and her grandpa had well in hand anyway) in order to be the bass soloist for a sing-along Messiah down in Zion, Illinois. I had sung for this maybe ten years ago, and got the call again last year when the scheduled bass – the son of the conductor, as a matter of fact, who has been doing it as of late – cancelled out on his dad rather late in the game because of a work conflict. I got the call about five days before and just happened to be free and available …. but then as bad luck would have it, I came down with an absolutely awful cold and had to cancel. (The conductor himself ended up singing the aria instead, believe it or not.) But this year he called me again and was willing to take a chance, and I decided to cut way back on my frequent midnight skinny dipping escapades in Lake Michigan – and that seemed to do the trick because I have been healthy as a horse all fall and was indeed able be the bass soloist again after a decade’s absence.
This particular sing-along Messiah is fairly unique for its fascinating blend of formality and informality. Everyone in the orchestra and all of the soloists are in full formal wear- but the conductor, Ron Arden, speaks before almost every single movement. And his introductions were often humorous and sometimes even a little sarcastic- such as when he introduced me by telling the story of last year and how his first born cancelled out on him at the last minute – “thanks a lot!” he said through gritted teeth, rolling his eyes – and other little humorous asides, which peppered some rather reverential references to Handel and these particular scripture texts and what a powerful witness they have been and continue to be to the world. It was such an interesting blend of Revival Meeting and Comedy Routine – and it works a whole lot better than you might ever imagine. And part of what makes it all work is that Ron is a fine conductor who is leading an excellent orchestra, the Full Score Chamber Orchestra, and that made some superlative music-making possible.
One other interesting twist in the concert. We only did the Christmas portion of Messiah plus the Hallelujah Chorus – but the first part of the program consisted of some excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite – – – and then the mayor of Zion sang O Holy Night with the orchestra. Most of the mayors I know would be well advised to stick to kissing babies and cutting ribbons and to leaving the singing to the professionals, but this guy was excellent….. and besides, the city of Zion fully underwrote the performance so the guy had a right to do a baton-twirling routine if he so chose. But instead he sang- and sang really well. That was a neat surprise.
One thing that was nice about this sing along was that the soloists were asked to be seated out in the audience amidst the other singers on our respective parts, so I was out in the audience with my fellow basses (there were maybe ten of us) and just came up front at the time of my solos. And at the end, we were all standing to sing the Hallelujah Chorus. And as I usually do, I was standing there with my score closed, singing it by heart. When I do that, I am always taken back to Atlantic High School and to the tradition of the choir singing that at the end of every December concert. I remember as a sophomore in choir noticing one of the seniors, a preacher’s kid named Dwight Williams – a good baritone and a hoot besides – was singing at the top of his lungs without so much as glancing at his music while all the rest of us were buried in our scores as though our very lives depended on it. I remember thinking how cool it would be to know this chorus (which seemed SO complicated at the time) well enough to sing it without even glancing at the score- – – and by MY senior year, I had managed to achieve the same thing – and maybe other singers looked at me and were inspired to do the same thing. And all these years later, I still know this piece of music – and especially the bass part – by heart. Every note. And there is something about singing it with the score closed – a la Dwight – that makes me enjoy this music even more and allows me to throw my heart and soul into it. And isn’t that what the word ‘Hallelujah’ is all about?