Handel's Messiah or Bach's Mass in B minor

[uffeviking]

Yes Harry, it does! It proves having to listen to Kirchenmusik six days a week for twelve years is too much Kirchenmusik! 

[Rod Corkin]

No, I didn't listen to any of the choruses you supplied for downloading because I don't like Kirchenmusik! 

If this is a reference to my stuff I'm afraid these choruses of Handel's had absolutely nothing to do with the church, this is theater music.

[Don]

The voting has ended, and Bach's Mass in B minor is clearly the work preferred by the august group of GMG board members.  Handel will just have to "live with" the results.

[FideLeo]

The voting has ended, and Bach's Mass in B minor is clearly the work preferred by the august group of GMG board members.  Handel will just have to "live with" the results.

Hmm, more precisely, preferred by about 50% of the board members.   

[Rod Corkin]

Hmm, more precisely, preferred by about 50% of the board members.   

I think he cut the poll off early just in case it got below 50%!

[Maciek]

Hmm, more precisely, preferred by about 50% of the board members.   

Are you seriously implying that a meaningless "50%" (which anyone can check for themselves anyway) would have been more valuable information than the undoubtedly true "august"?

I find it rather reassuring that so many of us at GMG can be called august.

[Don]

I think he cut the poll off early just in case it got below 50%!

I could look at it another way - out of 36 voters, only 6 prefer Messiah.  Happy?

[knight66]

You see Don....you are the problem, it's your name. Rod is sure there is a Mafia here abouts and you sit controlling this thread and engineering its results.

Respect!

Anyway....I voted that I liked both equally. I probably have more affection for the Handel and more admiration for the Bach. I have sung them both and each have significantly different problems to solve from the singer's point of view.

I have gone to performances of both and find them so very satisfying. Handel is of course telling a story and he does so with mastery. Bach is taking us on a different kind of journey, though the destination in each is much the same.

Mike

[Rod Corkin]

I could look at it another way - out of 36 voters, only 6 prefer Messiah.  Happy?

Well reasonably happy, 18 voters out of 36 think the Mass is no better than Messiah. Perhaps, despite the evidence elsewhere, GMG is more enlightened than most forums after all? "There are lies, more lies, and statistics!"

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Another Bach victory...

So, did half of GMG bug out to stack the results again?

[max]

I have no idea how such a dumb comparison can even be made. These works have almost nothing in common are completely unlike each other and engender very different responses. It's like comparing Haydn's Creation to Mozart's Mass in C minor...a non sequitur!

[PSmith08]

Another Bach victory...

So, did half of GMG bug out to stack the results again?

I know I sure did. Right when I voted for Messiah.

Sometimes you have to go with glitz and catchy tunes over the musical beef. Especially when you prefer the Johannes-Passion and Matthäus-Passion to the B minor Mass. You know, it is really like listening to State Fair over Boulez' 2nd piano sonata. Both are good. In their own ways.

Like Leslie Nielsen in Airplane, when told that steak and fish were the meal choices, he responded: "Yes, I know. I had the lasagna."

[FideLeo]

I find it rather reassuring that so many of us at GMG can be called august.

I don't. 

[Don]

I have no idea how such a dumb comparison can even be made.

Well, 36 members took a stab at it. 

Concerning Haydn's Creation vs. Mozart's Mass in C minor, I prefer the Mozart.  It's the one I'd be more likely to take off the shelf to listen to and the one I'd be more likely to be humming while walking the dog.  It's just a preference.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Sometimes you have to go with glitz and catchy tunes over the musical beef.

Bach = beef?

May he safely graze...

[PSmith08]

Bach = beef?

May he safely graze...

In the sense of being dense and satisfying, yes, Bach=beef. In the sense that he is a bovine raised specifically for slaughter, then, no.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

In the sense of being dense and satisfying, yes, Bach=beef. In the sense that he is a bovine raised specifically for slaughter, then, no.

Ah, serves me right...

My "Bach = beef?" and "May he safely graze" quips were merely intended as two pieces of an allusion puzzle.

An allusion to the "Bach/Bovine Sheep May Safely Graze" tune. 0:)

[jochanaan]

Ah, serves me right...

My "Bach = beef?" and "May he safely graze" quips were merely intended as two pieces of an allusion puzzle.

An allusion to the "Bach/Bovine Sheep May Safely Graze" tune. 0:)

Some might have said that you needed to beef up your allusions.  But I don't want to destroy their illusions.

I think there's a bit of an "underdog" syndrome here: Everybody who knows anything about our music has at least heard of Messiah, while the B minor, being less well-known, draws some passionate advocates.

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Some might have said that you needed to beef up your allusions.  But I don't want to destroy their illusions.

Just what I needed - a flautist heckler...

[jochanaan]

Just what I needed - a flautist heckler...

At your service!