As we head into this Christmas season, I love seeing all the decorations and the festive lights, but most of all I love the music. I am particularly grateful this year for the many opportunities I have had to perform with local ensembles. Live music is making a comeback and I am loving it. Already I have performed Handel's Messiah three times since Thanksgiving and I have two more performances this weekend with two different groups. 

What a remarkable piece. Did you know that Handel composed this massive oratorio in just 24 days? That's crazy. Granted he apparently borrowed material from earlier music he had written, but still. I also recently learned that it was first performed in Dublin in 1742 during Lent as a charity event to raise money for three organizations including a hospital, an infirmary and a society that paid off the debts of people in debtor’s prisons. 

 Handel was a very prolific composer and although he was born in Germany and lived for many years in Italy, he spent most of his life in London. He became a naturalized citizen of the UK in 1727, the same year that King George I died. Handel composed the music for the coronation of George II at Westminster Abbey that same year. This music has been performed at every coronation since then and excerpts of it have been appropriated in myriad other settings - a practice that Handel was quite adept at and would likely have approved of.

 Name that tune challenge: post a picture of the first thing that comes to mind when you hear this music, if you are in a rush start at 1:10.