A one-of-a-kind performance of Handel’s Messiah is coming to Western Cape audiences this December. On 5, 6 and 8 December 2023, audiences in Stellenbosch, Cape Town and Oudtshoorn respectively can experience a return of this oratorio to the version presented at the first performances in Dublin on 13 April and 3 June 1742. This will be presented by the Cape Town Baroque Orchestra (CTBO, pictured above) directed from the harpsichord by Erik Dippenaar, sharing the stage with the singers of Lutesong Consort. BEVERLEY BROMMERT finds out about the performances:
Five years ago, Erik Dippenaar, director/founder of the Cape Town Baroque Orchestra, conceived the idea of performing a seldom heard version of Handel’s much-loved Messiah true to the original score dating from 1741 for its première in Dublin the following year.
Advance planning and a draft budget were in place, and then along came … the Covid pandemic. Which effectively put this noble project on hold, until this year.
“Covid was certainly an obstacle, but the idea lingered and gradually matured, so here we are ending 2023 with this special project, made possible by funding from the Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra as well as support from the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival and Klein Karoo Klassique. In addition we hope to generate funds by going on tour, performing in Stellenbosch and Outdshoorn as well as Cape Town” says Dippenaar.
What few devotees of this great oratorio realise is that there is no standard version of it; the 19th century one by Watkins-Shaw has come to be regarded as such, but even the composer himself was constantly adapting and modifying the original score to suit occasion and venue for successive performances following the Dublin première in 1742.
A fresh optic
Says Dippenaar (pictured right): “Hearing a version other than that of Watkins-Shaw changes one’s perspective of the work – seeing it from within, as it were, affords a fresh optic.”
It is in the arias that this alternative reading of the Messiah is most apparent, since the familiar choruses remain essentially the same. Dippenaar explains: “At significant moments and points of catharsis, the favoured key is E-Major, and it is in, for example, “Comfort ye…” and “I Know that my Redeemer Liveth…” that Handel uses this key, as in operas. After all, opera was his first love, and this original version is close to 18th century Italian opera.”
Apart from such details as this, CTBO’s upcoming performance of the Messiah will offer the distinctive sound of Baroque in all its depth and richness through use of period instruments (strings, timpani, continuo and natural trumpet), the last-mentioned played by visiting Austrian virtuosi Raphael Pouget and Julian Ritsch. This will be Pouget’s third collaboration with CTBO, after the annual baroque festivals of 2018 and 2019.
As the 2023 festive season gets under way, there could hardly be a better celebration of Christmas than this refreshing take on a time-honoured masterpiece of the Baroque repertoire.
What: Handel’s Messiah
Where and when: 5, 6 and 8 December 2023 in Stellenbosch, Cape Town and Oudtshoorn
Tickets and more information: Webtickets and www.ctbaroque.co.za
WS
