CJ Replay: Orchestra for “Messiah”

  “The most crucial and time-consuming element of a successful performance comes before the first rehearsal: learning the score. Beginning with a study of the text one would discover the general overall structure of the oratorio: from the general move to the specific; from the specific the conductor may then be ready to mark his score and eventually the orchestra parts.
  “MESSIAH is in three parts: 1) Prophecy – God’s Plan, 2) Man’s Redemption by Christ’s Sacrifice and 3)
Hymn of Thanksgiving. For the purpose of this article we will dispense with a discussion of the text noting that the overall musical structure is totally reliant upon the textual organization.
  “The oratorio begins in E minor with an overture which Handel called “Sinfony” and continues with three more sharp keys before branching out harmonically, weaving harmonic patterns until the final “Amen” in D. Following the Sinfony is a structural pattern which can be traced throughout m:)st of the oratorio: recitative – area – chorus. This pattern is important because the textual and musical progression becomes a logical dramatic cohesion.”
  “The next step is to break the structure down into its smallest details, phrase by phrase, measure by measure. Peter Paul Fuchs (Ps)’chology of Conducting), in his marvelous chapter on “How to Learn a Score” maintains that “preparing an orchestra scure for the purpose of conducting it is an excruciatingly abstract
procedure.”

 

(from the Choral Journal article “Messiah: Orchestral Considerations” by Robert D. Herrema. Scroll to page 5)