The Messiah’s Hallelujah Chorus

We at UUC are justly proud of our outstanding music program with a significant focus on the European classical tradition. Until the pandemic intervened, that program included a yearly sing- and play-along performance of Handel’s Messiah oratorio. We’ve continued to enjoy a rousing performance of the beloved Hallelujah Chorus performed with trumpet accompaniment at our Easter Service. 

Longstanding tradition prescribes that audiences stand when the orchestra starts to play Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus and remain standing until it concludes. How did that tradition begin? The legend suggests that on the occasion of the piece’s premier in 1743, the King rose to his feet for the chorus and the audience stood out of respect for the king. Whatever the real story is, it is a tradition that is faithfully followed at UUC.

Lift Every Voice and Sing

At UUC we typically sing the hymn Lift Every Voice and Sing (# 149 in Singing the Living Tradition) at least once during the year, during Black History Month. That song, written and composed by two brothers, writer and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson (lyrics, originally written as a poem) and composer J. Rosamond Johnson, was first performed in 1900 as the repressive, racist Jim Crow laws and customs were becoming fully entrenched in the South. In 1919 the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) adopted Lift Every Voice and Sing as its official song and “declared the song to be the ‘Negro National Anthem’ (later the ‘Black National Anthem’)” As such the tradition, especially in many primarily Black spaces, is to stand for the singing of the song, just as people stand for other national anthems whether watching an in-person performance or singing together. 

Some UUs follow that tradition; others are unfamiliar with it. Perhaps some consciously choose not to follow it. As UUC aspires to be an anti-racist community, let’s familiarize ourselves with the history of this song, and express our respect for the brave and continuing battle against the effects of slavery and Jim Crow in this country, by standing for Lift Every Voice and Sing. 

~ UUC Acting for Racial Justice Team