Listening to Sarah explain Messiah to her cousin, Aaron, Sunday evening I was reminded of Luke's comment "Handel’s Messiah is by far my favorite vehicle for reviewing and reflecting on these prophesies and promises." And looking at Aaron's intent face as he gave her his full attention, I was reminded of why I never pandered to juvenile tastes when the kids were young. (My philosophy was always, Give them the "real thing".) I love the look on their faces when children encounter something really big and wonderful.It wasn't always easy. When I first took my kids to "Messiah for the first time I was alone with 4 kids between the ages of 10 and 3 and sitting in the front row. They were not quiet little mice. They wiggled and squirmed. It was a long 2 1/2 hours! But it was worth it. I was in heaven... and they were mildly interested. I went again the next year. We were in North America for Christmas 1989. But after that we never missed a year. I brought all 5 kids every year.
As we were that first year!
They didn't always love it. For many years I brought Sarah muttering and squirming in protest. But now says she doesn't want a funeral when she dies, she just wants them to sing the entire "Messiah" in her memory.
Once they stopped selling "Family" tickets it got expensive - but it was worth every yen.
2 comments:
wish i could have heard it even though i listened to it last year...i think it will take me a time or two to get the full impact of all the words, sounds. but i know you all sounded amazing¡¡
Messiah is definitely a repeatable experience. Once is NOT enough! We go every year and listen to recordings in between.
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