Alleluia chorus

Today I had to go to a modern Mass which, I usually go to the Tridentine Mass, so that is a switch for me and a not welcome one. However, there was a nice touch: For the Alleluia before the Gospel, they used the melody from the Alleluia from Mozart's "Exsultate, Jubilate."

It is not as if you got to hear the whole thing, but still, that is music I love. I love just being reminded of it.

To be reminded of a time when the Catholic Church produced decent music!

Here is a performance of the "Alleluia" from a church in Colorado.



Wow, a Catholic church, too! It was Christmas Eve -- they say that in the description -- but still, to have an actual orchestra, and an orchestra that good! That orchestra sounds terrific to me.

Oh, but darned if, at the end of the performance, you do not get applause and whoops and all kinds of hooting and hollering. Catholics, we just cannot get it right as far as music goes. Just cannot. At the Mass I went to today, they kept stopping things to applaud. Plus, after Communion this kids' choir gets up with a guitar and some woman steps up to the mic and says, "Please be seated." This is the middle of Mass. Don't tell me what to do, you know?

Where was I? Oh yes, the Mozart "Alleluia."

Here is our Western New York diva Renee Fleming. She has the right masterful touch for this sort of thing and I like the joy she puts across. I can only imagine how it must feel to sing that last Alleluia, when it hits that high note. It must feel great!



You really owe it to yourself to hear the piece in context which is at the end of "Exsultate Jubilate," which Mozart wrote at 17. It's all on YouTube sung by various singers but meanwhile here is beautiful Kathleen Battle to get you started.



That gown!! Exquisite. If I believed in reincarnation I would wish to come back to earth as a wonderful soprano.

Singing Mozart's "Alleluia!"