Join us at the Foundling Museum for Handel's Queer Messiah– part of our A Queer Georgian Social Season (this time, in truncated ‘trilogy' format prior to its full fourth edition return in 2025-2026) – as we take you back to a time when queers were more visible and accepted than you thought. Why 'mess' with Handel's Messiah, you ask? So that more of us , you ask? So that more of us – particularly those at the fringes of society in some way or other – can share in its power, that's why. On the surface, Handel's Messiah tells the story of one man’s quest to make his world a better place. Under the surface, it is a story of creation, struggle, and transformation. Handel’s music manifests these aspects of the human condition with sublime eloquence – however, the story is largely perceived as relevant only to certain religions & frameworks of identity. Our pastiche of Handel's Messiah will explore what the concept of a saviour or 'messiah' means from a queer perspective: in the secular, sacred, interpersonal, and intrapersonal senses (one's queer Georgian and/or modern 'messiah'  will always differ to another's, for example); and while we are modifying the libretto as and when needed to reflect this approach, we will not be messing with Handel's powerful music itself – which, in its original form, has the power to fortify both the original & modified libretto, in turn creating a more universal and inclusive story. To be clear, we do not intend this pastiche of Handel's Messiah to insult any religious and/or non-religious individuals, or to be viewed as rebellion against the classical canon for rebellion's sake. In fact, the opposite is true: as we will be repositioning the Messiah story so that it may better resonate with a 21st-century queer audience in particular, keeping intersectionality in mind so that whoever one is beyond their queerness feels represented, regardless of whether they identify as religious or not. After all – very much like Handel's characterisation of a saviour in his Messiah, and very much like any and all art – classical music must rise up, challenge current norms, and re-envision where, how, and for whom we are making music in our day & age. This reimagining of such a seminal musical & literary work couldn't come at a better time, for our present life and times are unforuntately marked by an unwillingness to listen to one another – to the point where we isolate ourselves in 'comfortable' echo chambers that reinforce our existing views, in turn demonising others' opinions & world-views. Our approach to this Queer Messiah therefore aims to help queer people understand themselves and each other better; it also aims to serve as a tool for discussion, connection, and acceptance of oneself as well as each other within the queer community. While our approach may seem radical, it is not. Other than preserving the original music, our performance is firmly anchored in the artistic traditions of the Georgian & baroque eras, owing to the fact that Handel – like many of his contemporaries – constantly modified his Messiah (as well as many of his other works) to attract new audiences, to compensate for changing performance conditions, and/or to oblige the needs of a particular soloist, to the point where nearly a third of Messiah underwent revision during his lifetime (with some choruses & arias existing in three to four different versions). Handel did this because he prioritised the performance experience over an 'accurate' rendition of the 'original' score; therefore, for Handel, Messiah can be seen as a fluid document intended to be altered for different audiences (which can be seen as a reflection of Handel's sexuality and/or gender identity), rather than an immutable work of art. Scholar Jens Peter Larsen says it best with regard to this:  The basic question is whether we can talk at all correctly of an 'authentic' form of Messiah, understood in our later sense as a final version which as a whole and in  details presents the composer’s ultimate view of the form in which he wished to hand down his work to posterity. Strictly speaking, there is no such version . Of course, this Queer Messiah pastiche of ours at the Foundling Museum will be made all the more special due to the fact that Messiah has a direct link to the Foundling Museum – a link that began with Handel's passionate support of the Foundling Hospital: an eighteenth-century charity which gave abandoned & illegitimate babies a home. In 1739, Thomas Coram (1668-1751) had established the Foundling Hospital as Britain’s first home for babies at risk of abandonment; each year, some one-thousand babies were abandoned at the Hospital by parents experiencing extreme poverty and/or other terrible maladies. Handel – who, along with the artist William Hogarth, played a big part in realising Coram’s vision (together, they transformed the Hospital into the UK’s first public art gallery, and in turn, into one of London’s most fashionable venues) – began supporting the Hospital when he put on a fundraising benefit concert to raise funds for the completion of its Chapel. During the first benefit concert in the Hospital chapel to raise funds for the charity, Handel performed his specially composed choral piece: The Foundling Hospital Anthem; the concert also included the ‘Hallelujah' chorus from his recently composed The Messiah, which had premièred in Dublin in 1742. On May 1st, 1750, Handel then directed the first performance of The Messiah – which was originally sung only by the Foundling Hospital’s blind children – for the Hospital to mark the presentation of the organ to its chapel. This performance was such a great success that Handel was elected a Governor of the Hospital the following day. These first two successful concerts for the Foundling Hospital marked the start of Handel's long-standing association with the Hospital in the form of annual performances of The Messiah for the rest of his life; he would also go on to make the Foundling Hospital a beneficiary of his will, leaving “a fair copy of the Score and all the Parts” of The Messiah – which enabled the charity to continue to put on benefit performances in perpetuity after Handel’s death. In short, the combined effort of Handel’s benefit concerts and Hogarth's connections with leading artists (Hogarth asked prominent artists to donate their work to the Hospital to attract and encourage the rich & shameless to open their purses) made the Foundling Hospital the place to be seen – and to be seen helping. The present-day Foundling Museum opened in 2004. All you are required to do is leave your preconceptions at the door, fetch a libation from the bar, and come as yourself – with or without bells on! The Queer Georgian Social Season is conceived & curated by Ian Peter Bugeja & Mark Francis-Vasey. 'Les Bougies Baroques' Conductor-harpsichordist | Ian Peter Bugeja Leader | Christopher McClain MUSICAL PROGRAMME: G.F. HANDEL (1685-1759): The Messiah  (1741)

Information Source: The Foundling Museum | eventbrite

倫敦

英國

正在搜尋A Queer Georgian Yuletide: Handel's Queer 'Messiah' | Foundling Museum的資訊及門票嗎？Trip.com 樂意為您服務。立即查看關於A Queer Georgian Yuletide: Handel's Queer 'Messiah' | Foundling Museum的日期、行程及其他資訊，並在參與A Queer Georgian Yuletide: Handel's Queer 'Messiah' | Foundling Museum之前先訂好實惠又合適的機加酒！Trip.com 還準備了更多類似的精彩活動，當然也包含優惠的機票及飯店組合。立即啟程！

A Queer Georgian Yuletide: Handel's Queer 'Messiah' | Foundling Museum的日期及行程 | Trip.com

A Queer Georgian Yuletide: Handel's Queer 'Messiah' | Foundling Museum

A Queer Georgian Yuletide: Handel's Queer 'Messiah' | Trip.com

探索更多倫敦相關的內容

null | Trip.com

看看您好友的想法？分享您的答案就能開始聊天！

倫敦麗茲飯店

倫敦, 鄰近大英博物館|聖詹姆斯

奢華飯店

多切斯特飯店

大英博物館

人氣景點

博物館

Lola Coveñas

倫敦的大英博物館是一個世界級的旅遊目的地，擁有羅塞塔石碑、帕德嫩神廟雕塑和古埃及文物等令人難以置信的收藏。展品跨越數千年，為遊客呈現迷人的全球歷史和文化。最重要的是，入場免費，這對歷史愛好者來說是一個必去之地！

威斯敏斯特教堂

苏河家园

威斯敏斯特教堂是一座舉世聞名的哥特式建築，無論是宏偉的外觀還是精緻的內部雕塑，都讓人嘆為觀止。該教堂是皇室加冕、婚禮、國葬的常客地，牛頓、達爾文等偉大人物的墓碑和紀念碑也在這兒，文化氣息爆棚！

倫敦柏麗大道四季飯店

倫敦 OWO 萊佛士飯店

倫敦半島飯店

倫敦, 鄰近維多利亞火車站|貝爾格萊維亞

白金漢宮

歷史建築

白金漢宮是歷史愛好者必去的地方，擁有令人驚嘆的建築和美麗的花園。它是英國君主的官邸，其歷史可追溯到 1703 年，是皇家儀式和活動的場所。遊客可以一睹皇室生活，其中換崗儀式是最受歡迎的景點。

倫敦眼

隨買隨用

即日可用

夜景

倫敦眼是倫敦著名地標之一。遊客可以乘坐&quot;倫敦眼&quot;升上半空，鳥瞰倫敦。倫敦眼夜間化成一個巨大藍色光環，增添了泰晤士河的夢幻氣質，當泰晤士河倒映出那道藍色光環時，倫敦眼已不僅是觀景輪，更是一座旋轉的倫敦精神紀念碑。

溫莎城堡

Ming9734

溫莎城堡是英國的一個非凡的地方。它是英國皇室大粉絲的必去之地。它是伊麗莎白二世及其墳墓的首選住宿之一。我強烈建議遊客們在這裏等待警衛的變化。

時間：	Dec 6, 2024 (UTC+0) 結束
地點：	Foundling Museum