Glorious Handel

"He Shall Feed His Flock" from The Messiah being sung in Latin by a tender-voiced soprano with a baroque chamber orchestra makes me cherish the cold times of the calendar. I sang this piece years ago, and feeling the easy vibrato of those vowels in my throat was like drinking magic.

Now, they're on to the Bach Air with a trumpet soloist. The theme in this piece is paid an homage in a violin duet that appears in the score of The English Patient. I used to listen to it when I lived in a big house all by myself. I would burn candles and have a bath and hear the harmonies winding so tightly they nearly choked each other, and I would feel this thing. It's hard to describe. Something almost being pulled from you. And you're holding on to it, not wanting to let go. So it stretches out from you, and there is a bit of pain. A tug. But the pain is so sweet you only want more of it.

If they play the Corelli Christmas Concerto, I might just melt away.