True Story.

There was this older guy, a songwriter in his 50s, who had become a failure after a once illustrious past. He had faced bankruptcy. People had begun to tell him that he was "behind the times."

Many people made fun of him--all the time. They called him a nincompoop. He was in a great deal of physical pain.

On top of all of this, he was now clinically depressed.

He was pursued by debtors and in a constant state of financial crisis and plagued by numerous health issues. Most of his advisers and friends told him to give up, run away and hide.

Many years before, his own father (long since dead) had told him never to go into music but get a "real job"--like a lawyer.

So, when nearly everyone in the world had turned their back on him, and he was penniless, a complete and utter failure, with hardly a friend in the world, he decided to lock himself in a room for a month and write the greatest piece of music ever written in the history of mankind.

Within 28 days he was finished and came out of his room with his new song--260 pages long.

He told someone that when he got to the end of the song--and had written the "big part"--that he truly believed he had seen God and had been transported to heaven for a quick glimpse. During this quick glimpse, God had given him a peek at heaven and all of the angels. Of course everyone thought he was completely and utterly mad for saying this.

But they wanted to hear the music anyway, just out of curiosity.

The songwriter:

Georg Friedrich Handel.

The song:

The Messiah.

Footnote:

Upon hearing the notes of the Hallelujah Chorus for the first time, the King of England stood up and gave a standing ovation--because he thought it was the British National Anthem.

For many years after, church leaders tried to keep people from going to hear it, calling the work "blasphemy"--only they had the credentials to talk about God, not a musician.

But, the promoters still couldn't find places big enough to contain the crowds because the people (and the King) loved it.

A lesson for us all.

smile

https://www.newstatesman.com/2014/01/handel-messiah-matter-life-and-death


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Last edited by David Snyder; 03/05/18 07:52 AM. Reason: clarity and revisions