The Sound of Messiah
Cover photo by Terrell ManascoMessiah Chorus photos courtesy of Becki StallsmithIn 1741, George Frideric Handel sat down with quill in hand to write the music for a new composition. Using texts from the King James Bible, Handel wrote non-stop for twenty-four days, filling up two hundred and fifty-nine pages. At the end of his manuscript Handel wrote the letters "SDG"—Soli Deo Gloria, "To God alone the glory".More than two centuries after an audience of seven hundred first heard Handel’s Messiah performed in a Dublin music hall, thirty-eight members of a newly formed choir called the Walker County Christian Chorus quietly tiptoed to the choir loft at Jasper’s First Baptist Church and took their places beside each other. With hearts racing and knees rattling beneath their robes, they each said a silent prayer, took a deep collective breath, opened their mouths, and sang in unison, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.”
On a cool and overcast November afternoon framed beneath a battleship gray sky, two members of that choir, Hilda Ray and Carolyn Smith, settle into separate chairs beside each other in the living room of Carolyn’s Jasper home. From the kitchen nearby a coffee pot softly gurgles, signaling that a freshly brewed pot is imminent, as they recall that December evening in 1982.“The first year we did it, the weather was cold and rainy and raw,” Hilda says in her Michigan accent. “We sat in the choir room before we came out to the loft, scared to death that we would not have a big turnout.” What happened next was a welcome surprise. “We got down there and there were chairs set up in the foyer. You wondered, was there a need for it? Yes.”Back then the choir had just begun learning to sing portions of Messiah under then director Stan Henson, who had also conferred with Northside Baptist director Phil Guinn. When Henson left to work with another church, Guinn agreed to direct the chorus. “Phil has been phenomenal,” Hilda says.In the group’s early years, Messiah was performed at a couple of other locations. One in particular proved to be less than ideal. “We did one presentation at the city auditorium downtown,” Carolyn says. “The acoustics were just terrible.”“The sound stopped in front of your face, right here,” Hilda adds, holding her hand up a few inches in front of her face. “It was awful.”
Hilda first heard Messiah as a six year old girl growing up in the Grand Rapids, Michigan area, and later sang it in high school and college. “Mama took me to hear it at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. I loved it,” she says. “I grew up in a family where everybody sang.”Carolyn, however, admits she had no prior experience and had to learn it. “I didn’t grow up singing Messiah,” she says. “I had no knowledge of it until we began to get the idea to do it as a chorus. I sat by Hilda and she taught me everything I know. She’s an alto, too,” she chuckles.Dr. John Stallsmith, who was an accompanist during rehearsals for many years, has served as director of the Walker County Christian Chorus since Phil Guinn left in 2007. “John has been a wonderful director,” Carolyn says. “He’s brought in a lot of college students and this has just been thrilling to me. Most of them read music and they contribute a great deal to the choir. We look at them and know the chorus will go on after we’re gone. It’s something we love doing.”“It’s a worship experience, I’ll tell you,” Hilda says. “Everything in Messiah is taken from the King James Version of the Bible. After you’ve sung it, you can’t read read those passages without hearing the music. It’s the easiest way to learn scripture.”The chorus is accompanied by members of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, an expense Carolyn admits has caused some serious concern more than once. “There were years when we had a hard time scrapping together enough to pay the orchestra,” she says. “There never was a time we didn’t get down to, how are we gonna do it?” Snapping her fingers, she says, “In would come some money that would take care of it.”
On Monday night, December 5th, Hilda, Carolyn, and the rest of the Walker County Christian Chorus will again don their robes and stand shoulder to shoulder in the loft of the First Baptist Church as they did on that cold December night in 1982. Facing the audience and their beloved director, Dr. John Stallsmith, they will utter a silent prayer, take a deep breath, and again the walls will reverberate with these age-old words from the King James Bible, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.”They won't’ have to worry about a high turnout this time, and that is indeed a comfort. 78The Walker County Christian Chorus, under the direction of Dr. John Stallsmith, will present Handel’s Messiah on Monday, December 5th at 7:00 p.m. at Jasper’s First Baptist Church. Bevill State Music Department's Chapel Children will also perform. Admission is free.https://www.facebook.com/events/329730807410246/