Tune into Thursday's Tantalizing Tunes! :D

Welcome to Thursday! Your week is almost over and you can almost relax (haha!) on your weekend....YAY! As we're winding down our week, we need to begin relaxing, don't you think? By Thursday night, you're exhausted and really don't feel like reading through all of your friend's blogs, right?? Well, I'll try to keep talking to a minimum and let the music do all the talking : )

Today we're looking at some really cool Christmas songs done creatively! One of my absolute favorites is the Christmas Food Court Flash Mob where the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah is sung so grandiosely! It gives me chills to think that a group of strangers, all ages/ethnicities/gender, can come together and sing such a song as this with such a majestic statement. It seriously gives me chills.

A little background on the Messiah: According to the Smithsonian, the Messiah was originally meant to be an Easter offering, first performed on April 13, 1742 in Dublin. An interesting fact about that performance is that over 700 people were literally 'crammed' into that one space. Women were even requested to wear dresses "without hoops" so that they could fit more people! Though Frederic Handel was quite the superstar at the time, many of the crowds came to hear the lead soprano because she was going through quite the scandalous divorce at the time.

So why isn't it sung at Easter anymore? If you closely observe the libretto (text of the music), you will notice that the very first part of the Messiah is indeed about the birth of Jesus. However, we know it is meant for the season of Lent and Easter ultimately because the second and third parts are about the death and resurrection. It is unclear why this mega-song is actually sung at Christmas, but most likely it is due to the beginning of the song.

I also found it interesting that every lyric in the Messiah is strictly from the Bible. Isn't that spectacular!? Even the parts that could have been taken from the New Testament, were focused on prophetic verses in the Old Testament instead. An example is that it does not read, "And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him swaddling clothes" (Luke 2:7). Instead it celebrates, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given" (Isaiah 9:6). Anyway, I found this really interesting to research and thought you all might appreciate it as well. Now here's the video : )



Christmas Food Court Flash Mob

In a completely different direction, did any of you ever watch The Sing Off? It was a singing show (yesss another one lol), but it was different because it consisted of only acapella groups. Cool, right!? Well one season Pentatonix was the winning group. I'm not sure how many of you know, but....I'm kinda addicted to acapella groups. I absolutely love them!! So of course I'm going to share Pentatonix's version of Carol of the Bell :) Enjoy!



Pentatonix's Carol of the Bells

Okay, I promise I'll only show one more today! I haven't officially introduced you to two of my absolute favorite guys on the planet: The Piano Guys. These two are incredible. Simply put, they are. This song isn't exactly Christmas, but I still kind of think the message is very appropriate for the season. Yes, it is the song from the Titanic lol, but these two play is so elegantly, it's one of my all-time favorites of theirs. I sincerely hope I get you hooked on the Piano Guys after you hear their rendition of Nearer My God to Thee.



The Piano Guys - Nearer My God to Thee

Well there you have it! I hope you have a wonderful, music filled Thursday : ) See you tomorrow!!
Hannah