Monday, December 3, 2012

Over the weekend, Pat and I went to Purdue to see Ben and to attend the annual Christmas Show. It was great to see Ben and spend some hours with him.  This show is a production of the Purdue Musical Organizations.  This edition was the 79th annual show, and it was the 40th consecutive Christmas show I’ve attended.  My first one was in December 1973, when I was a pretty new transfer student at Purdue.  The show this time was terrific, as most of these are.  It is an event that makes me especially proud of Purdue, not only for the quality of the students’ presentation, but also for the content.  The students’ talent is simply amazing, but more so, when you consider that none of these students are ‘music majors’.  They participate for the joy of music.

The 2nd half of each show is a musical drama giving the story of the birth of Jesus.  Handel’s Messiah was one of the segments this year, and the audience stood during that part.  The combined choirs and groups number about 300 voices, and you can just imagine how powerfully they sang.   I can remember how moving was the song, “All is Well”.  And there was a Celtic arrangement of “Silent Night” that was particularly touching.

We were thoroughly entertained.