At 5:57 PM -0500 1/15/07, David W. Fenton wrote:
On 15 Jan 2007 at 17:22, John Howell wrote:
At 7:45 PM +0100 1/15/07, Johannes Gebauer wrote:
>
>That is not to say there were no larger orchestral performances.
>Handel's Messiah is a good example.
Oh?? I doubt his orchestra was more than 20, and about the same for
his chorus. Mozart was the first to start expanding the size of the
Messiah orchestra. Handel's was string band, oboes, trumpet (or was
it 2?), and probably bassoon in addition to basso continuo.
I don't have the references handy, but I'm pretty sure there was at
least one performance of Messiah in Handel's lifetime with Handel's
participation where the orchestra and chorus were both large in the
modern sense, i.e., 100+ players and 200+ singers. But I can't find
any citation for that (though I didn't look too hard).
Well, the work was premiered in Dublin by a church choir (which still
exists and is extraordinarily proud of their ancestors' honor!!), but
I suppose it's possible that the choral society approach may have
been started while Handel was still alive. Amateur singers, of
course. (Professional orchestras couldn't get along without 'em!)
John
--
John & Susie Howell
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240
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http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
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