Issue
No. 3,
2007-08 Season

Magazine
HOME

Special Event
Handel's Magnificent Messiah

Nicholas Kraemer, conductor
Michigan State University Chorale
Suzie LeBlanc, soprano
Robin Blaze, countertenor
Joseph Gaines, tenor
Matthew Hargreaves, bass

George Frideric Handel
(1685-1759)

Messiah

PART THE FIRST
Sinfony (Overture)
Accompagnato: Comfort ye my people†
Aria: Ev’ry valley shall be exalted†
Chorus: And the glory of the Lord
Accompagnato: Thus saith the Lord of Hosts‡
Aria: But who may abide the day of his coming?^
Chorus: And he shall purify
Recitative: Behold, a virgin shall conceive^
Aria and Chorus: O thou that tellest good tidings of Zion^
Accompagnato: For behold, darkness shall cover the earth‡
Aria: The people that walked in darkness‡
Chorus: For unto us a child is born
Pifa (“Pastoral Symphony”)
Recitative: There were shepherds abiding in the field*
Accompagnato: And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them*
Recitative: And the angle said unto them*
Accompagnato: And suddenly there was with the angel*
Chorus: Glory to God
Aria: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion*
Recitative: Then shall the eyes of the blind^
Duet: He shall feed his flock like a shepherd*^
Chorus: His yoke is easy, and his burthen is light
PART THE SECOND
Chorus: Behold the Lamb of God
Aria: He was despised^
Chorus: Surely he hath borne our griefs
Chorus: And with his stripes we are healed
Chorus: All we like sheep have gone astray
Accompagnato: All they that see him laugh him to scorn†
Chorus: He trusted in God
Accompagnato: Thy rebuke hath broken his heart†
Aria: Behold, and see if there be any sorrow†
Accompagnato: He was cut off out of the land of the living†
Aria: But thou didst not leave his soul in hell†
Chorus: Lift up your heads, o ye gates
Aria: Thou art gone up on high^
Chorus: The Lord gave the word
Aria: How beautiful are the feet*
Chorus: Their sound is gone out
Aria: Why do the nations so furiously rage together?‡
Chorus: Let us break their bonds asunder
Recitative: He that dwelleth in heaven†
Aria: Thou shalt break them†
Chorus: Hallelujah

PART THE THIRD
Aria: I know that my redeemer liveth*
Chorus: Since by man came death
Accompagnato: Behold, I tell you a mystery‡
Aria: The trumpet shall sound‡
Aria: If God be for us*
Chorus: Worthy is the Lamb that was slain/ Amen

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Nicholas Kraemer

Nicholas Kraemer began his career as a harpsichordist. From a continuo player at the back of an orchestra he proceeded to the front where he began directing from the harpsichord, notably the English Chamber Orchestra in the 1970s, where his repertory widened to include the 19th and 20th centuries as well as the baroque. He founded and was the Musical Director of the Raglan Baroque Players.

Kraemer has been appointed Principal Guest Conductor of Music of the Baroque in Chicago and Permanent Guest Conductor of the Manchester Camerata. In 1983 he spent two years as Associate Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. From 1986-92 he was Artistic Director of the Irish Chamber orchestra, Artistic Director of the London Bach Orchestra from 1985-93 and Permanent Guest Conductor of Orchester Musikkollegium Winterthur from 1998-06.

His opera repertoire includes Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and L’Incoronazione di Poppea; Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos; Britten’s Albert Herring; Noye’s Fludde and Paul Bunyan; and Stephen Oliver’s Tom Jones, The Beauty And The Beast and Euridice.

He has conducted many of the Handel operas such as Arianna In Creta, Lotario, Tolomeo, Arminio, Ariodante, Il Pastor Fido, Rinaldo and Orlando as well as the major Mozart operas Le Nozze Di Figaro, Die Entführung aus Dem Serail, Cosi fan Tutte, Don Giovanni, Il Re Pastore and Die Zauberflöte. He conducted at Glyndebourne from 1980-83 and was the first musical director of Opera 80, now called English Touring Opera. His opera engagements have taken him to London, Paris, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Geneva and Marseilles conducting Monteverdi and Handel. His recent opera engagements have included The Magic Flute and Jephtha at English National Opera, Agrippina for Theater Aachen and L’Incoronazione di Poppea for Central City Opera in Colorado.