SYLVIA NELIS (Soprano)
HUBERT EISDELL (Baritone)
THE GERSHOM PARKINGTON
QUINTET
WHEN Handel set himself in the autumn of 1741, at the age of fifty-six, to compose Messiah, he was under a cloud of misfortune and bitter disappointment which must have overwhelmed any but the stoutest spirit. His last two operas had failed, largely, so we are told, through the plots of his opponents. In those days music was taken seriously, almost as seriously as League football is now, and feeling between rival factions ran high. It is believed that Handel's opponents even engaged hired ruffians to prevent people reaching the theatre where his operas were being given.
He was in anything but good health ; his eyesight was beginning to fail him and he was almost penniless. He shut himself in his house (he was living at Brook Street), and, seeing no one, hardly stopping even to touch the food which his faithful man brought to his room, he set himself to the composition of Messiah with such wholehearted zeal that the work was completed in little more than three weeks. But he had no prospect of an immediate performance of it and it was simply laid asido for the time being. In November of the same year, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the Duke of Devonshire, and the presidents of three big charitable societies invited him to Dublin to organize concerts of his own music on behalf of the charities they had at heart. One was the provision of food for prisoners. It was at one of these concerts that Messiah had its first performance in April, 1742. The singers also went over from this country, Mrs. Cibber, the actress, being the contralto. The oratorio had a magnificent success, and it was repeated in the following June. So great was the crowd at the first performance that ladies of the audience were asked to come without hoops, and men without swords. When the work was first given in English, in the early part of 1743, at Covent Garden Theatre, it was practically a failure, although Samson, given at eight performances just before then, had been a triumphant success. Only when it was performed in the Foundling Hospital in 1750 did it win its way to the hearts of Londoners, and since then it is safe to say it has been the most popular of all oratorios.
Played by LESLIE HEWARD
ANGUS MORRISON
(For 5.30-8.45 Programmes see opposite page.)
Paul of Tarsus, II. 'The Mission to the Gentiles,' Acts xiii, 1-43
'O Christ My All'
Relayed from the Midland Institute, Birmingham
DORIS VANE (Soprano). JOHN ARMSTRONG (Tenor) JOSEPH FARRINGTON (Bass) CYRIL CHRISTOPHER (Continuo)
THE BIRMINGHAM STUDIO CHORUS and ORCHESTRA
Conducted by Joseph Lewis
BELONGING to the same group of chorale cantatas. and to the same period as the one which was sung last Sunday, this one makes use of three different chorales in a very beautiful way. The first chorus is two choral fantasias with a tenor solo between them. The orchestra begins the first with a little prelude on a syncopated figure - a rather dragging step as though Bach meant to illustrate the weariness of the spirit that longed for rest in the Lord. The tenor solo tells of the joy with which the soul prepares to leave this world, and the second chorale is quietly peaceful.
Then, after a little recitative, the soprano sings another old chorale, to a tune which is familiar to us in this country also.
The tenor air, with its wonderful blending of funeral bells with a kind of soothing lullaby in the accompaniment, used to he regarded as impossible for the ordinary tenor voice until at the 1922 Leeds Festival it was successfully sung. With its two oboes d'amore and the pizzicato strings, it is a very interesting and unusual Bach accompaniment. The final chorale is different from those which have been already heard, and is fully and eloquently harmonized without orchestral interludes between the lines of the verse.
The text is reprinted by courtesy of Messrs. Novello & Co., Ltd.
I. Chorus:
O Christ, my all in living. Dying brings me reward,
What joy to end the striving. And come to Thee, my Lord!
Tenor Solo :
With joyful, O yea, with joyful heart I make me ready to be departing, And if God call to me today. Content and glad am I to go;
My weary limbs, my frail and wasted body, My feeble mortal frame,
To earth again do I willingly surrender. My dying song hath long been made; If only the hour had come to sing It!
Chorus:
In peace and joy from life I part, As God ordaineth,
And sweet content is o'er my heart, Soft and tender;
Now, as God foretold to me.
Is death made one with slumber.
II. Recitative and Chorale, Soprano :
Oh, sinful world, now have I done with thee for evermore!
My mansion is prepared, where sweeter rest is mine
Than when I was with thee, and tasted at thy bidding
The bitterness of idle pleasures, The vain delight of empty joys, The deadly fruit of disenchantment.
No, no I Now can I say, with calm, untroubled spirit:
Content am I to leave thee, O world of sin and pain,
For all I now surrender I count not loss but gain.
In Heav'n is joy eternal, And love beyond all worth.
For there the Saints are gathered, Who served their Lord on earth.
III. Recitative, Tenor :
O would the hour were close at hand for me!
If only death the end of all my pain, Ere long would claim me for its own!
How eagerly would I prepare to give it welcome,
And count the hours until its coming!
IV. Air, Tenor:
Ah, toll for me soon, bell most holy,
Thou most desired and welcome bell!
Come, I give to thee my hand in greeting, tome, end for me my pain and sorrow Thou long awaited day of death!
V. Recitative, Bass:
For Mils I know and sure is my belief, that I shall soon arise from the grave and go unto my heav'nly Father's dwelling. My death is but a sleep that calleth me to rest from weariness and sorrow of earthly labour.
Doth not a shepherd seek his sheep astray, and will not Jesus seek until He find me? He is my head, and am I not His limbs f On one sure hope my faith is builded that I shall rise again-My Saviour's loving mercy.
VI. Chorale :
Since Thou hast risen from the grave, My soul to Thee ascendeth,
The pledge Thy loving mercy gave New strength and courage lendeth. Where'er Thou art I come to Thee, For there alone is found for me A joy that never endeth!
(Cantatas for Me next four Sundays are:-
September 1. No. 78 - 'Jesu, der du meine Seele.' 'Jesu, Thou who art Salvation.'
September 8. No. 100 - 'Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan.' 'What God doth, that is wise and right.'
September 15. No. 95 - 'Christus der ist mein Leben.' 'O Christ my all."
September 22. No. 114 - 'Ach lieben Christen, seid getrost.' 'Ye Christian people, weep no more.')
Relayed from Highbury Quadrant Congregational Church
Hymns from the Congregational Church Hymnal
Order of Service:
Hymn 76, 'Ye Servants of God'
Prayer followed by The Lord's Prayer
Scripture Reading
Hymn 18, 'My God, how wonderful Thou Art!'
Prayer
Anthem: 'Our Master hath a Garden'
Sermon by the Rev. H. Ingham, D.D,
Hymn 703, Holy Father, cheer our way'
Benediction
Organ Voluntary
(Organist, Edgar Smith)
Appeal on behalf of the King's Roll Clerks' Association, by Countess HAIG
THIS Association was formed in 1925 by the Westminster King's Roll Committee to find or give employment to ex-Service men who are at least fifty per cent. disabled by War Service and who cannot be absorbed by reason of their disabilities in the ordinary Labour market. The Ministry of Labour gives the Association half its loss each year provided it finds the other half from voluntary sources. It is in urgent need of funds to carry on its present three branches and to open others in the big cities.
The address to which contributions should be sent is [address removed]
WEATHER FORECAST, GENERAL
NEWS BULLETIN; Local Announcements; (Daventry only) Shipping Forecast
by The Bournemouth Municipal
Orchestra
(Conducted by Sir DAN GODFREY )
Relayed from The Pavilion,
Bournemouth (LAWRENCE BROWN at the Piano)(Solo 'Cello, HEND WOLTERS) (Organ, PHILIP DORE)
'MAN'S WEAKNESS'
