Stealth Handel
Apr. 9th, 2009 05:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Exposition: I'm in DC right now for my sister's wedding on the 18th. She is marrying someone good, and so far things seem to be going OK with only a minimum of draaaaama. (touch wood)
My sister has kindly asked me to sing. She's not normally the classical-music sort, so we found a Rodgers and Hart song we both liked. The music director of the church, however, vetoed it on the grounds that only sacred music should be used during the ceremony. He suggested Ave Maria instead.
"Screw Ave Maria sideways," thought Laura and I. We looked at a few other numbers and decided to email him back suggesting something from a Handel oratorio: "Where'er You Walk."
Of course, the oratorio it's from is Semele, which is not only TOTALLY PAGAN but also only called an oratorio because it was too full of impropriety to be permitted on the operatic stage in 1743. So I'm singing, at my sister's church wedding, an aria sung by the god Jupiter to his adulterous mortal lover. Result.
My sister has kindly asked me to sing. She's not normally the classical-music sort, so we found a Rodgers and Hart song we both liked. The music director of the church, however, vetoed it on the grounds that only sacred music should be used during the ceremony. He suggested Ave Maria instead.
"Screw Ave Maria sideways," thought Laura and I. We looked at a few other numbers and decided to email him back suggesting something from a Handel oratorio: "Where'er You Walk."
Of course, the oratorio it's from is Semele, which is not only TOTALLY PAGAN but also only called an oratorio because it was too full of impropriety to be permitted on the operatic stage in 1743. So I'm singing, at my sister's church wedding, an aria sung by the god Jupiter to his adulterous mortal lover. Result.
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on 2009-04-09 09:12 am (UTC)no subject
on 2009-04-09 11:09 am (UTC)no subject
on 2009-04-09 12:48 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-04-09 02:06 pm (UTC)sheep
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on 2009-04-09 03:09 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2009-04-10 11:39 am (UTC)I have dropped the ball on spa tickets. I'm going to Camden tomorrow to see if there's still some left at Resurrection.
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on 2009-04-13 02:58 am (UTC)That is most excellent. :D