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JM13 · Show · Judas Maccabaeus

March, and Sing unto God

The people's blue and white march toward the Temple along every run, a pace on each beat, and gold joins them; then the chorus sings God's praise and the whole house swells with every chord.

1:26 · with a spoken intro

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Judas Maccabaeus

JM01OvertureIntro1:17The house in Seleucid purple, the Temple grey with idols; the armies march in from the road from Antioch, and in the hills the fugue wakes the Maccabees' blue lights one voice at a time.JM02Mourn, Ye Afflicted ChildrenIntro1:27Mattathias has died. The people's blue and white lights on the porch dim in long falling phrases, a slow lament flowing toward the Temple, and his light on Left goes out.JM03O Father, Whose Almighty PowerIntro1:17The people pray for a leader. The blue lights gather on Left and steady; Simon's deep blue names Judas, and a single brass-gold light appears among them.JM04Arm, Arm, Ye Brave!Intro1:23Simon calls the Maccabees to arms, and blue and white lights step into ranks along Left; the chorus answers 'We come, in bright array' and the ranks march in place on the beat.JM05Call Forth Thy PowersIntro1:23Judas takes command: his gold follows his voice up and down the ranks on Left, and every light it passes flares and stays brighter, until the whole rank shines.JM06Disdainful of DangerIntro1:22The Maccabees go out to fight: three voices step out ahead of the ranks on Left, then the chorus takes it up and the whole column marches round the corner and down Porch Left, Judas leading.JM07Fall'n Is the FoeIntro1:23The first victory: the Maccabees' blue and white sweep onto the field on Right, and every 'Fall'n' breaks a block of Seleucid purple, which scatters back to the road from Antioch.JM08Sion Now Her Head Shall RaiseIntro1:23After the victory, warm light rises from the porch toward the Temple while the Woman sings, harp glints climb the porch on every 'Tune your harps', and the chorus lifts the whole house.JM09Sound an Alarm!Intro1:21Purple armies pour in from the end of Right while Judas's gold calls the brave on Left; the chorus answers and the blue and white ranks charge across the house to meet them, steel clashing at the front.JM10We Never Will Bow DownIntro1:17Grey idols stand in the Temple on the porch. The people, blue and white across the house, refuse to bow, and on every 'stock' and 'stone' an idol cracks and falls, until the Temple is empty and clean.JM11Father of Heav'nIntro1:17The Feast of Dedication: the Temple on the porch is clean, and to the priest's prayer its olive-oil light comes back, slowly, from the middle outward, until it fills Porch Front.JM12See, the Conqu'ring Hero ComesIntro1:19Judas's gold walks up the road to the Temple with three voices beside him; then the people line the road, the whole chorus greets him, and the trumpets and drums light the whole house.JM13March, and Sing unto GodIntro1:26The people's blue and white march toward the Temple along every run, a pace on each beat, and gold joins them; then the chorus sings God's praise and the whole house swells with every chord.JM14O Lovely PeaceIntro1:22The purple is long gone: soft pastoral light, ripe corn and green pasture, slow and wide, and two voices of peace, white-silver on Left and sky blue on Right, coming together at the Temple.JM15Rejoice, O JudahIntro1:23Simon's deep blue calls Judah to rejoice; the chorus answers, and the whole house fills with blue, white and gold through Hallelujah and Amen, then settles back to the lights on the porch.JM16IntermissionIntermission5:00The house waits in blue, and white fills it from both wings toward the porch over five minutes, the lights' glow steady on the Temple, until the white meets in the middle and the set begins again.

About this scene

The people march home behind Judas, and sing God's praise.

It opens where See, the Conqu'ring Hero Comes (JM12) ended, the whole road lined, Judas's gold in the Temple, and over the first bars that gives way to the march (JM12_END, rebuilt from JM12's last frame: change both together). The March plays its first strain twice, as the score's pencilled note asks: the first time piano, the people's blue and white lights stepping along every run toward the Temple, one pace on each beat, at walking pace; the second time forte, with gold among them, every pace landing a little brighter, and the march's tread under it.

Then the chorus, "To crown this conquest, this conquest, with unmeasur'd praise": the marching stops, and every chord the chorus sings lifts the whole house in blue and white bands. "Sing unto God", fortissimo: the bands swell, gold pours from the Temple along the runs on each beat; under "crown" the basses run in sixteenths and gold races out along both wings on each run. "With unmeasur'd praise": the house swells to its fullest, and on the last chord it settles to the people's blue and white bands, steady, round the Temple's warm light, which is where O Lovely Peace (JM14) begins.

The music is Handel's own: No. 59, the March's first strain, played twice, and from No. 60, the chorus's homophonic "To crown this conquest", its "Sing unto God" and its last five bars, transcribed from the Novello vocal score into march_and_sing.musicxml and timed by scripts/score_excerpt.py (the March at crotchet 112, the chorus at 100). The March is played from the keyboard reduction: its tune on violins with oboes, its inner part on violas, its bass on cellos, basses and bassoons, and the second time horns on the long notes, trumpets on the tune and timpani; the chorus plays on strings with oboes and bassoons doubling, horns on the long notes, trumpets and drums for "Sing unto God" and the end; a harpsichord plays the continuo throughout.

For your own show

Short, bright pieces meant to be watched. The FSEQ (v2, zstd, 40 fps) plays in Falcon Player on a house with the same layout; see About for how it is made.

.fseq · 1.5 MB.mp3

Its spoken intro, to schedule before it: .fseq · .mp3