The Messiah

At our subscription concert last Saturday evening for the Herzliya Chamber Orchestra conducted by Harvey Bordowitz this month the program was composed of choral music. They played an interesting Choral Fantasy by Beethoven opus 80, that prefigured the choral movement of the Ninth Symphony, that he finished 16 years later. The second half of the concert was devoted to Handel's Messiah.

The kibbutz Ichud Choir and the four soloists and the orchestra performed beautifully. It was an excellent rendition, but I wondered about the appropriateness of this choice, with sections on "Behold a virgin shall conceive" and "Unto us a child is born," as well as specific mention of Jesus Christ, this was a bit out of place to say the least. Of course, in this day and age, of great liberal tendencies, why not have a Christian work of devotion performed in a Jewish State, in a Jewish hall, played by a Jewish orchestra and sung by a Jewish choir. But, I must say it made Naomi and me uncomfortable. Yes, we enjoyed the music and the performance, but we did question why it was presented.

Usually there is a smattering of kipot in the audience, showing the presence of a number of Orthodox Jews. But, this time I noted there were none, and I'm not surprised. They must have been forewarned by the content not to attend, it would have offended them. So why play something so overtly offensive to Orthodox Jews in Israel. I can't answer that question, it is an area of gray judgement, a dilemma. I would not want to ban Wagner's music, or stop orchestras playing Christian liturgical music. On the other hand, I left the UK and USA to get away from the bombardment of Christian references and content largely unconscious to Christians (especially at Christmas, although it is largely a secular celebration now).

But, some of the Messiah by Handel also has Jewish references, such as the finale "Amen" and "Halleluyah." After all that's where it all started. The irony is that Jesus Christ never called himself the Messiah or the "son of God." He was a devout Jew who wanted to reform Judaism, not replace it. That was done by his disciples who preached a Gospel to the non-Jews. Out of that a great deal of beautiful devotional music was generated. How to separate the music from the message, the style from the content? Probably impossible.