Messiah: "Rejoice Greatly" - G. F. Handel
Hymns: #180 Unser Herrscher, #187 Straf Mich Nicht, #192 Vruechten
Of the nine (by my count) readings from the Old Testament listed for the Vigil service in the Book of Common Prayer one of the readings is taken from Zephaniah 3. The text of this reading commands us to “Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Israel…the King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst. This jubilant verse gives us a perfect opportunity to enjoy Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion, the rollicking soprano aria from Handel’s Messiah. The text for this aria comes from the book of Zechariah but is largely the same text as that found in Zephaniah. The version that we will be hearing is known as “Version II.” The difference between this second version to be composed and the more familiar setting that we hear every Christmas is that this version is in 12/8. It has a bit more of a gentle lilt than the sometimes frantic sixteenth notes of the 4/4 version. The nice thing about this version is that it just flows along by itself. Our soloist may disagree but it hardly seems like work and helps to add the lightness that this piece requires.
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