I suppose it started when I didn't get that other job.

There was a community chorus music director opening- which I would have taken in addition to my school and church choirs- which included an annual Messiah concert. As I sent in the application, the idea of Messiah loomed large in my head. I know it well, as do most choral musicians, but have yet to conduct more than an occasional single movement, and I started to do some serious thinking about how I might approach the complete work.

When "that other job" didn't pan out, I wondered if I could program Messiah at school or at church. Not likely. We live in a Messiah-rich city, where many groups (some of them world-renowned) present the complete Messiah every December. In addition to the market saturation drawback, preparing and presenting the entire oratorio on a single occasion would be a great strain on my amateur choirs.

This project doesn't seem particularly bold or brilliant, although we've never heard of Messiah being done this way before.

Here is the plan: to present all the music from Messiah this year. Not in a concert, but in worship, and spread thematically throughout the liturgical year.

Not necessarily in a sequential way, either- we are not simply singing the three parts on three different Sundays. There will be large excerpts, of course, in Advent, on Christmas Eve, Holy Week, Easter Sunday... but there is a LOT of Messiah. 53 movements, to be exact and many liturgically unique Sundays to program. What might we sing for Pentecost? Ascension? Good Shepherd Sunday?

Neither will the orchestrations be uniform. Some will be choir with organ in reduction. Some will involve orchestral players or hired soloists- but also our resident soloists, volunteer brass, and perhaps the professional brass quintet that we are lucky to have on Christmas Eve.
Messiah- not as a concerted work, but as a yearlong journey. After all, the work is unique in this style. It is an oratorio about faith- while the movements tell a story, they aren't really driven by action. Imagine trying to make sense of this project with a work like Elijah. Or the Passions which are bound to two specific weeks of the Christian calendar.

Why blog? Well, it seems like a convenient way to document this project. And as I go through this first time of preparing, teaching, and conducting Messiah, I imagine the community of conductors may have a lot to add, or suggest, or challenge. Some of you may have brilliant ideas for linking movements to the liturgical calendar. There may be some warnings about pitfalls inherent in the score. Or recommendations of your favorite performances.

Because it is perhaps the most famous piece of choral music in the world the potential audience for this blog is very large- who doesn't know and love Messiah and want to talk about it?