Eric Flint: Grantville Gazette. Volume XX

The orchestra was doing a superb job on this, she noted with a slight smile. But then, if there was any one section that they should play perfectly, it should be this one. When Franz had told her of what happened on the day when the players had tried to slough their way through the "Pifa", she hadn't known how to react. Did she go strangle some players, did she remonstrate with Franz for being so harsh with them, or did she chew her nails about something like that coming up so late in the rehearsal process? In the end, she had settled on feeling very proud of how Franz had handled the whole thing. It showed a mature grace that she wasn't sure she could have measured up to.

Oops, that was the end of the "Pifa." Time to sing again.

Mary almost licked her lips in anticipation as the performance progressed. There was a cluster of soprano recitatives and ariosos after the "Pifa." Andrea stepped forward to sing them. The last of the soprano ariosos led directly into the chorus "Glory to God in the Highest," one of the brightest of the choruses that was just full of energy. With a bit of a musical joke, the chorus stopped several measures before the end, and the orchestra parts dwindled to just a few short chords played pianissimo.

Andrea and Marla exchanged places. The orchestra played the introductory measures and Marla began "Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion", one of the two greatest soprano airs of the work. She had done it during her recital last year, but as Mary just bathed in the music, it seemed as if this performance was even more… she searched for a word… brilliant, perhaps, like a jewel that had been cut and polished to its finest potential. There was no doubt in Mary's mind now that Marla would be a force in the music of Europe for years to come.

This performance was undoubtedly bravura, and when it came to an end Mary clapped along with the others.

And so the evening went. Master Carissimi was almost enthralled as the various choruses, airs, recitatives and ariosos followed one another through the course of the performance. He drank it all in, rising with the music until he felt as if he were floating. After an intermission of a few minutes, they moved steadily through Part II, of which he thought the high point was the very fine performance of the air "Why Do the Nations so Furiously Rage" by the young bass Dietrich Fischer. He found the nature of that particular text more than a bit ironic given the times, which drew a bit of a smile from him. Still, it was now very apparent why Andrea truly wanted to take this man under his wing.

Marla took a deep breath as Archard finished the air "Thou Shalt Break Them With a Rod of Iron". She had organized this performance of Messiah along traditional lines, omitting the handful of sections or portions of sections that were not usually performed even during 'full' performances of the work and keeping to the traditional order and sequence of the sections. However, she had made one significant change: she had moved the "Hallelujah" chorus from the end of part II-directly after the solo that Archard was even now completing-to the end of the entire work. She had her reasons, which were based on something she had told no one. She suspected that Mary Simpson might guess.

There would be another short intermission, then it would be time for her to step forward again to open Part III.

Master Carissimi closed his eyes as Marla began to sing.

"I know that my Redeemer liveth,

And that He shall stand at the latter day

Upon the earth."

The purity of her tone always amazed him, just as the timbre of her voice always enraptured him. If ever there was a golden voice, if ever God had so blessed someone, it was this voice, this young woman. La fiamme sacre -the sacred flame, that was all he could call it. The touch of God on her.

"… and He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth, upon the earth:"

Here was no showpiece. Marla sang with some intensity, true, but it was a quiet intensity. There was a slight smile on her face, Giacomo noted, but her voice floated effortlessly. It was almost as if music was simply arriving in the air by Divine providence.

"And though worms destroy this body,

Yet in my flesh shall I see God,

Yet in my flesh shall I see God."

Ah, Giacomo thought to himself. He understood something now, tonight, which he had not observed before. Here and now, Marla was singing not just words, not just a song, but her belief as well. How beautiful, to hear someone-even though a Protestant-sing in such a way that everyone who heard knew without a doubt that she believed what she was singing.

"For now is Christ risen,

For now is Christ risen from the dead,

The first-fruits of them,

Of them that sleep."

The air came to an end, Marla's voice finally concluding as it floated over the strings. They carried on for a few more measures to finish in a quiet chord. Marla stepped back into her place, the audience quiet in its place, subdued by the quiet piety they had just experienced. Giacomo opened his eyes again with a beatific smile. La fiamme sacre indeed.

Mary listened as the performance approached its conclusion after Marla's exquisite performance of "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth." Section followed section. That amazing young bass hammered "The Trumpet Shall Sound." Moments later, the boy alto-where did Andrea Abati find these people?-teamed with the tenor to sing "O Death, Where is Thy Sting?". That in turn led directly into the chorus "But Thanks Be to God", another of those joyful choruses which Handel was so adept at crafting.

Speaking of Andrea, he sang the final soprano air, "If God Be for Us," and did superbly-of course.

Chorus followed chorus followed chorus, until they at last arrived at the final section of the work: the "Hallelujah" chorus.

Mary gripped her hands together as the orchestra began. The custom she had known from up-time was not valid here in Magdeburg, but she though she knew what was in Marla's mind. Only moments were left to see if her thinking was good.

"Hallelujah! Hallelujah!…"

The end was in sight for Marla. It had been a long evening; almost three hours since they began, at least two and one-half hours of performing. Fortunately, none of them had been singing that entire time, but it was still hard work. Now if only…

"For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth…"

It might be just the setting, Mary thought, but this was one of the most stirring performances of Messiah she had ever seen. The chorus was incredibly powerful for no larger than it was. There was no perhaps to it, she was being touched by tonight's work as much as she had ever been.

Despite water in her eyes, she was watching an area in the seating that Marla kept glancing at.

"The kingdom of this world is become,

The Kingdom of our Lord,

And of His Christ…"

Master Schutz was sitting straight now, eyes open, listening to the great work as if it was a word from God… which, in one form or another, it was. His original expression of determination had changed over the course of the evening, moving through pleasure and joy to one that verged on awe. The up-time books had called him the Father of German music, so in a way what he was hearing, what was pouring through his body, was a child of his work, crafted somehow 120 years in his future, and brought to him by Grantville from a time over twice that again. His eyes filled with tears.

"And He shall reign forever and ever…"

Marla had made sure that her position in the chorus allowed her to watch a portion of the seating without losing sight of Franz. The song was almost half over, and nothing.