Moshiach, Handel Style

So, despite having listened to it hundreds of times on CD and radio, I've never seen a performance of Handel's Messiah.... And I'm feeling like this has to be the year in which that unfinished business is finally taken care of. It's just one of those holiday trappings whose absence would make Christmas something less than... Christmas, especially as it doesn't feel like it for some reason this year..

But here's the funny thing. I once knew a priest 'round these parts -- a Trad-leaning guy with the requisite trappings of black chasubles and such; a wonderful man -- who refused to attend the annual Messiah concert of the Philadelphia Orchestra because, in his view, the Oratorio "is Protestant." However, he'd religiously attend the post-performance dinners and receptions.

Does this strike you as odd? It's just one of those idiosyncratic clerical things I remember from my younger years....

And I don't know about you but, for what it's worth, I've never heard anything akin to, "For unto Canterbury a child is born." I guess I'll find out for certain in two weeks' time.

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