Classical Christmas Music: Messiah

Music AppreciationFaith Matters
Written By Edward Wolfe

Those of us who love classical music know a great outpouring of beautiful music for the Christmas season.

One wonderful piece most everyone has heard of or knows is Handel’s Messiah. Part 1 (of 3) is about the prophecies and the Christmas story. A previous article about the lyrics of Messiah is here.

Part 1 begins with a stirring and ominous Overture. It continues through several well-known choruses and solos, including “And the glory of the Lord,” “For unto us a child is born,” “Glory to God in the highest,” and concludes with “His yoke is easy.”

These pieces are transcendently beautiful and create an amazing artistic and spiritual unity. I love several “favorite” recordings of the great work. One of my favorite recordings is a fairly recent recording from Sydney, Australia.

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Edward Wolfe

Edward Wolfe has been a fan of Christian apologetics since his teenage years, when he began seriously to question the truth of the Bible and the reality of Jesus. About twenty years ago, he started noticing that Christian evidences roughly fell into five categories, the five featured on this website.
Although much of his professional life has been in Christian circles (12 years on the faculties of Pacific Christian College, now a part of Hope International University, and Manhattan Christian College and also 12 years at First Christian Church of Tempe), much of his professional life has been in public institutions (4 years at the University of Colorado and 19 years at Tempe Preparatory Academy).
His formal academic preparation has been in the field of music. His bachelor degree was in Church Music with a minor in Bible where he studied with Roger Koerner, Sue Magnusson, Russel Squire, and John Rowe; his master’s was in Choral Conducting where he studied with Howard Swan, Gordon Paine, and Roger Ardrey; and his doctorate was in Piano Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature, where he also studied group dynamics, humanistic psychology, and Gestalt theory with Guy Duckworth.
He and his wife Louise have four grown children and six grandchildren.

https://WolfeMusicEd.com
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