A Maundy Thursday to Remember
In the advent of Holy Week, many people here at BYU have worked tirelessly to bring about incredible showcases of art and beauty in celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. One of these new but hopefully long lasting traditions is Handel's Messiah performed in BYU’s Museum of Art on Thursday, April 2. This was a wonderful performance featuring an intimate ensemble including faculty, students, and other guest artists.
Alexander Woods, Associate Director of Violin Performance at BYU was integral in the inception of this event. Woods describes the beginnings of his idea being inspired by his previous work with baroque music. He and his wife, Aubrey Woods have annually performed with New York Baroque Incorporated(NYBI), playing Handel’s Messiah for Christmas at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue. This has included a large choir and orchestra, creating an epic and grand performance. This is in stark contrast to BYU’s performance in the MOA which was the opposite; a small ensemble of one player on a part. Woods explained that he was talking with a timpanist during a NYBI performance and he said he’s played the Messiah with one performer on a part before. This was perplexing to Woods as he contemplated the ramifications of a small ensemble like this. He describes how, “I had a dream, and in my dream… it hit me like, if we do one on a part, I think it would work… I had really specific people in mind”. He just hoped that everyone would be on board.
Some key members of this ensemble are Matt Coleman on the timpani, Neil Harmon on the organ, Randy Lee on the trumpet, and many others. Woods even got participation from key players in the Ballet West Orchestra, including his wife, Aubrey Woods playing violin with Alex, Lauren Posey on cello, and Emily Barrett Brown on viola. Having instrumentalists was essential but without a choir, the performance is essentially obsolete. As a remedy, they came up with making it a sing-in, sacrificing quality with a sense of togetherness and strength. For the vocal solos, Woods requested help from Jennifer Youngs, vocal faculty at BYU to choose student singers along with Robert Brandt, BYU faculty to fill in those roles. Whenever the sing-ins would get too loud, the organ, played by Neil Harmon, would fill in the sound missing from the ensemble.
Handel’s Messiah Oratorio
George Frideric Handel was an English composer of the Baroque period and he composed an oratorio in 1741 titled Messiah with the text primarily deriving from the book of Isaiah in the King James Bible. Despite its age, this piece has remained a staple of Christmas tradition with its most famous section, the Hallelujah Chorus, being one of the most well known melodies in history. The Messiah Oratorio is split in three parts; the first containing the Messianic prophecies of Isaiah and Christ’s birth narrative, the second containing the Passion of Christ and the Hallelujah Chorus, and the third wrapping it up with Christ’s resurrection and ascension. Woods stated that, “because we wanted to have an Easter tradition so people have an Easter option, we decided just to do parts two and three, which is where we cover the Easter parts. That’s Christ’s passion and redemption”. This was also decided in an effort to have a more streamlined performance that could maintain the sacred and focused environment as the entire oratorio is typically in between 3 to 2 hours. Woods says, “we wanted to do an hour and a half. No intermission, just because then you get a sense of the story arc. The neat thing about the Messiah is that you get this commentary on the scriptures as well. The feeling of it. He was despised, all they that see him laugh him to scorn, Christ's passion and his resurrection. All this stuff becomes so visceral in this music. Handel was an opera composer. He was a storyteller. And this is his greatest hit”.
Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise
With a mixture of a divine composition by Handel and a professional ensemble, Thursday night at the MOA was already powerful but these weren't the only sacred elements of the evening. In the planning for this event, the final gear that needed to click into place was a venue. Woods thought of the Museum of Art being a potential venue since he’d performed there with BYU’s Baroque Ensemble and in other capacities. It seemed like a promising prospect. Woods took this idea to Philipp Malzl, Head of Education at the MOA, and upon pitching the idea, Woods says, Malzl, “was getting chills as I was talking because he said, ‘we're about to unveil this incredible piece, Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise, and that would be the backdrop of your performance’”.
Lorenzo Ghiberti was an Italian sculptor in the Early Renaissance most well known for his creation of large bronze double doors to the Florence Baptistery of Saint John now known as the Gates of Paradise. These doors have 10 panels that depict different scenes from the Old Testament including the story of Adam and Eve, Noah, and Moses. These doors are still up in Florence to this day for tourists to come and view. However, 10 years ago, at BYU-Hawaii, a discovery was made of dozens of plaster casts nearly perfectly capturing the doors of the Florence Baptistery but they were in dire need of repair. In 2016, they were transferred to BYU at which point students and faculty began working to recast and recreate this masterpiece. On Friday, February 20, BYU’s replica of Ghiberti’s Gates of Paradise was unveiled and is currently open to be viewed at their exhibition until October 24 of this year.
A Testament of Christ
With this added element as a background to their performance, Woods added, “when you have two mediums like that, this sacred artwork, along with this living artwork that we're bringing to life, it's an impact thing. We felt it before when we played Bach & Bloch with the Baroque Ensemble; that there's this element of the sacred that comes in when you're around that art. When we go to New York, it's a big part of it. St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue… in that church, the sculpture, the stained glass, everything about it is like another testament of Christ”.
This was certainly an evening to remember, filled with worship and harmony. In Woods' words, “I’m hoping for an event where people feel like they can get a sense of transcendence, that it's not just pretty music, that it's the story, it's the environment. It's, of course, the way the music is being played but at the end of the day, I hope people are just moved by Christ. It's not about excellence or perfection but I just want people to be able to draw closer to Christ through this concert… I know that as a church, we're trying to create Holy Week traditions… But I'm hoping that… this [performance] is going to be a yearly thing”. I really do believe Woods had his wish. The seats were full, the orchestra was electric, the sing-ins were engaging, and the soloists were gorgeous. The power of music and art in worship of Christ created a very special spirit. I personally came to appreciate Christ’s condescension and intercession for us even stronger as I reflected on the context the music brought to the biblical text. I pray that this may become a new tradition held annually that we may be further edified by this music and increase our worship of the Savior during Holy Week.
