The first part of the oratorio by Handel
A performance by the Huddersfield Choral Society
Chorus Master, Herbert Bardgett with
Janet Hamilton-Smith (soprano), Maud Heaton (contralto), Webster Booth (tenor), Keith Falkner (bass)
The Society's Orchestra
Leader, Reginald Stead
Conductor, Malcolm Sargent
From Huddersfield Town Hall
There are several reasons for the traditional popularity of Messiah in the North: first, the choruses offer a unique blend of opportunities for great team-work and, in the many magnificent runs and crescendos, for 'showing of '. Secondly, from the religious point of view the plain-spoken chapel-going North welcomes, perhaps subconsciously, the Protestant theology of the oratorio, the familiar words of which are all taken direct from the Bible.
Thirdly, the North likes it because it knows it so well and so thoroughly just in the same way that many thousands of people like Gilbert and Sullivan. It is said that familiarity breeds contempt, but it is impossible for anyone to have contempt for such a masterpiece as Messiah.
Part 2 of Messiah will be broadcast next Sunday at 4.15 by the Halle Society conducted by Dr. Malcolm Sargent.