Messy Handle

The "Société Choral de Châlons" put on a show this evening. Handle's Messiah - but pronounced "'Andle, le messy" because the French can't be bothered with the H. Jolly good it was. And it was in English without a French accent.

Assembled Performers.

The venu was the very large church in the town centre. Not the cathedral mind, the 'Notre Dame' church near the market place. This was our first visit inside, a 3 story stone shell with stained glass windows.
It was cold.
And it didn't warm up with the singing either. Despite the fact that this was excellent. Those near us kept their body warmth to themselves in large coats- and we did the same!
I rather suspected there would be a significant echo. There certainly was with the microphone announcements. But the orchestra and singers were not electronically enhanced and the sound was clear and crisp at all times. At the interval we stood up to de-numb our rear ends and to move the blood around a bit. Our chairs were the small wooden affairs you often find in French churches, and clearly not intended to be sat on for several hours at a time.
One respite occurred in the second half, when we all stood up for the Hallelujah Chorus. This was their encore at the end too. We stood and sang, clad to be moving and out of those hard little seats!
More pictures, for what they are worth:

Standing for the Hallelujah.

Interval warm up time.

The market square at night.
Church just visible in the background.