TheBanyanTree: Hallelujah!

[Margaret R. Kramer]

I’m not a regular concert-goer, but I’ve been around classical music enough
to know that tradition calls for the audience to stand while the Hallelujah
Chorus from the Messiah is being performed.  Doc Severinson has Handel’s
Hallelujah Chorus as the final number in his Jingle Bell Doc concert and it
amazes me how many people can’t figure out why some of us are getting up
from our seats when the first notes are played.  It’s kind of funny to see
the puzzled looks on their faces as more and more people get up and they
remain sitting.  Is it a standing ovation?  But they’re still playing and
singing?  What gives?

The lack of standing during the Hallelujah Chorus was a minor faux pas
compared to some of things I saw last night.  I saw people taking pictures
with their digital cameras, which are not allowed in Orchestra Hall.  I saw
people text messaging on their cell phones.  Can’t people disconnect
themselves just for two hours?  Several women, I’d say in their 30s and
should know better, jabbered their way through most of the concert.  Short
attention spans because of too much TV?

I think part of the problem was that this was Doc Severinson’s last
Christmas concert series at Orchestra Hall.  He is retiring from being
Minnesota Orchestra’s pops director, gee, he’s 80 years old and looks 60,
and will no longer perform at Christmas.  I think that brought a lot of
people out who normally don’t go to concerts and explains some of the
inappropriate behavior.

But in spite of the text messaging and the constant hissing from the women
nearby, this concert was his best yet.  Ray and I have put this date on our
calendars for the last several years and we’ve always enjoyed the music.
Doc has the Minnesota Chorale, the Twins Cities Bronze (bell ringers), a big
band, and, of course, the orchestra.  This year he added the Land of Lakes
Choirboys.

We were regaled with voices and instruments blending beautifully together.
Doc wore his wild sequin suits and they added more sparkle to the event.
Doc pulled out all the stops.  The holiday music got our hearts pumping and
our feet tapping.  It was a warm night filled with warm emotions.

Then we stood for the Hallelujah Chorus.  We let the music and voices roll
over us as the piece came to its end.  We clapped and clapped as each
director was brought out for well deserved applause.  Then the choirs left
the stage, the musicians gathered their instruments, and we turned to put on
our coats and leave the Hall.

The concert was over, but it was a good run.  Merry Christmas, Doc.

Margaret R. Kramer
margaretkramer at comcast.net

Isn't it funny that at Christmas something in you gets so lonely for - I
don't know what exactly, but it's something that you don't mind so much not
having at other times.
~Kate L. Bosher