Handel With Care

[rlg94086]

From Wall Street Journal’s Best of the Web

opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110007647

"Handel With Care
By and large we agree with those who prefer to call Christmas “Christmas,” rather than those who insist on the generic “holiday,” which is supposedly more palatable to Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Shintoists, Unitarians, Zoroastrians, Taoists, Sikhs, deists, pantheists, atheists, agnostics and adherents of the Baha’i faith, even though we fall into one of those 14 categories. But the effort to be sensitive to non-Christians can lead to some very funny results. This is from the Web site of the Houston Symphony:
Handel’s Messiah
By Conductor Christopher Seaman

Both an awe-inspiring holiday tradition and a memorable religious experience, Handel’s Messiah returns this holiday season. Guest conductor Christopher Seaman leads Houston’s premier performance of Handel’s choral masterwork, which includes the timeless Hallelujah Chorus.

If they really want to be sensitive to those who can’t stomach “Christmas,” shouldn’t they change the name of the work to, say, Handel’s “Dude”?

 

[arthra]

rlg94086:

From Wall Street Journal’s Best of the Web

opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110007647

Baha’is would have no trouble with “Handel’s Messiah”.

• Art

 

[Ani_Ibi]

If they really want to be sensitive to those who can’t stomach “Christmas,” shouldn’t they change the name of the work to, say, Handel’s “Dude”?

And they should change the name of the Hallelujah Chorus to the *Hey Dude, You Rule *Chorus.

 

[puzzleannie]

Especially ironic since the oratorio was actually composed for and first performed at Easter.