h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Reinhard Keiser. We're singing his "Passion according to St Mark" this Palm Sunday. It's very light and nice, the music is very similar to Bach. In fact it was arranged by Bach, who postdates Keiser by about half a generation. Their paths were very similar and may have even crossed a few times. Bach admired Keiser's work, which is probably why he made a good job of this Passion.

Of course it contains loads of fugues and the tune to "Oh sacred head, sore wounded" - but this is sung by the alto soloist.

As we are a small choir, the fugue singing is exciting because you're so close to the other parts. We have some very strong tenors, and I usually find myself standing next to one of them.

In the score we are singing from there is a libretto in English (is that the right word for an oratorio?) in italics underneath the German, but it is a godawful (pun intended) translation and I doubt if anyone has ever sung it.

The choir doesn't have an awful lot to do - in fact the whole thing is about a third as long as the Matthew Passion (I'd have to look it up to verify that). On Saturday we are putting it on in a place over 100 km away, then on the Sunday in a village much nearer home.

Strong tenors are the ideal of every choir .

There seem to be two recordings of this. The cheapest one [$18.99] is
http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=502959

No orchestra is named, so I'm going to guess that one of the performers is an organist, and the others are chorus members, unless all the vocal pieces are soli.

Are you an alto then, TC, if you're next to the tenor? Or do they spread out and place the tenor next to the soprano?

Surprised to see you, Bel! Hello !!!

We were moved about for the rehearsal on Saturday. Seen from the conductor's point of view, on the left the sopranos, then altos, then tenors, then basses. Not the usual configuration. I am alto and I arrived late, so I was last in the row!

Some choirs are clustered by voice type, while others are spread out randomly.

Being an alto, I'd rather be next to a tenor than to a soprano.

They certainly have a better sense of rhythm.

Not the tenors in my chorus.

By the way, I recently got a fine for speeding on the return journey from one of the concerts. It arrived in the post a couple of weeks ago. Nearly 100 Euros and a black mark on my file (which is in Flensburg)

There was a lovely picture of me smiling away - I was giving the alto soloist and another alto a lift and we were nattering away and singing,. I had no idea there was a speed limit at that point. There was absolutely no other traffic about.

Choirs are so like hives.

The Sopranos are all queens.

The Basses are all drones.

The Altos are all workers.

The Tenors all honeys.

I thought yo were going to compare Tenors to Marines.

The Few. The Loud. The Tenors.

That's us all right.

Ah come on now, Mac... in writing that last post I was offered a correction to the spelling of all right. I'm not going to sully this thread with the correction but it was all one word and had only one l.

That's like being offered 'dilemna' as a correction for dilemma.

My English teacher was also one who got extremely irate if we spelt it that way. So I haven't ever dared use that spelling. Ever.

I'm the kind of person who would search for an uncontroversial synonym so as not to have to use the word at all.

Like OK, you mean?

Quiz:

What does OK stand for?

Yes it does, and it is known where and when it originated.

I heard it was General Jackson's misspelling of 'oll korrect' for 'all correct'. Presumably for comic effect. Can't tell you when, though.

Of the myriad explanations to be found online (which don't include one I hear quite often here in Germany), I prefer the Choctaw version.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_proposed_etymologies_of_OK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_proposed_etymologies_of_OK