‘Peace on earth, good will toward men’

For about a week I’ve been immersed in one of my all-time favorite pieces of music, George Frideric Handel’s magnificent “Messiah.” It all began on a Tuesday when I was subjected to an MRI, magnetic resonance imaging, an experience I can only describe as being about as close to a coffin-like experience you’ll have while still breathing. I didn’t know that I was claustrophobic, but I am now.

The imaging took about half an hour, and a very nice MRI technician asked if I wished to listen to music whilst the machine was pounding and whirring away. “Yes. Handel’s “Messiah” would be nice.” This was one of those times wherein I sometimes felt I was from another planet, as the return look was blank. Gosh, I’m old. The tech found Handel’s music on the hospital’s Pandora (huh?) system and I was laid to rest. It sounded like a performance by one of London’s best ensembles, the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, but I can’t be sure. The procedure was to help determine why I have an excruciatingly bad back, and I await “tidings of great joy” from my doctor.

Handel composed the oratorio in 1741, using the Bible for his lyrics, and employing the King James Version of the thing, something very much appreciated by old Lutherans like me who revel in the language, the cadences, the forms. “For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people.” Put the right music behind a phrase like that and we can’t help but be frightened. The words could apply to just about any era of human existence, yet the thought ends with hope. “But the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.” Brilliant writing.

When I was growing up there were a number of attempts to modernize the Bible. Bad idea. No need for a literary work to sound like it was written by the guy sitting near me at McDonalds in the morning. I mean really, it’s tough to beat, “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest, and peace on earth, good will toward men.” Having sung in the choir of “Messiah” a couple of times this stuff gives me chills.

OK, enough of this, as I could go on all day about music at Christmas, disappointed that very little of it has anything to do with those glorious events of a couple of thousand years ago, so it’s best not to dwell on such things. Seriously? Gene Autry singing about a reindeer leading a sleigh? Maybe if Jesus was riding in the back, but otherwise, nah.

I miss my wife terribly this time of year. She was a fine alto and joined me when we sang Handel’s great work. So I miss her voice, though sometimes I think I still hear it, but it’s just a cool breeze moving her wind chimes on the back porch. These are just odd, random feelings of an old man at Christmas, of no real use to anyone, not exactly grief, simply remembering. remembering the joys of the season, missing relatives long gone, enjoying rising from his chair, going to a front window, and joining his cat Luna watching deer move across the front yard, away from those who hunt. And so it goes, another December is drawing to a close, and many of us keep on living, knowing in our hearts that, thanks to the extraordinary music of Mr. Handel, “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Happy Christmas everyone.

Kurt Ullrich lives in rural Jackson County. The Dubuque Telegraph Herald recently published a 60-page magazine of Kurt’s columns. The magazine can be purchased here