It is December and therefore a performance of Handel's Messiah will be taking place somewhere almost on a daily basis. But not all performances are of the same standard - and all are certainly not in receipt of £700,000 from the National Millennium Committee.
This, however, is the good fortune enjoyed by Messiah XXI which makes its debut at the RDS in Dublin tonight. Described as "a modern interpretation" of the world's most famous choral work - first heard in Dublin in 1742 - Messiah XXI has given rise to disquiet in some quarters, not just because of the perceived assault on Handel's music but also because so much money has been given for this purpose.
A series of letters to The Irish Times in recent weeks have used words such as banality to describe the new version, but elsewhere stronger language has been employed. Yesterday morning, the principals involved in the production - composer Frank McNamara and soloists including Chaka Khan, Roger Daltry and Gladys Knight - seemed largely untroubled by the controversy, since they were not meeting for a rehearsal until 3 p.m. On Marian Finucane's RTE radio programme, however, the chairman of the Millennium Committee, Mr Seamus Brennan, came under fire from not just his interviewer but also listeners over the decision to provide generous funds for Messiah XXI.
Mr Brennan, while admitting that the project was "a bit of a risk", justified the committee's grant on three grounds: Messiah has always been associated with Dublin; the work itself is Christian in inspiration, and RTE will be broadcasting this particular production on December 30th, thereby ensuring accessibility to the widest possible audience.
One listener, who described Messiah XXI as a cross between a rhinoceros and a racehorse, wondered why, if £700,000 of millennial funds had been given to the project, it was still necessary to charge the audience upwards from £27.50 (plus 10 per cent telephone booking charge) for the pleasure of attending either of what will be only two public performances.
Mr Brennan explained that the total budget for the event is in the region of £2 million and that the costings presented by the organisers, Messiah XXI Productions, required support to the extent it had been given. "I'm no expert in this sort of production area," he confessed, but the ticket prices were apparently necessary. The directors of Messiah XXI productions are John Kearns and Bernard Bennett, the two men behind the successful Faith of our Fathers concerts, and Frank McNamara.
Among the other listeners who rang the programme to complain about the choice of Millennium Committee funding was at least one whose own music organisation's application for financial assistance from the same source had been turned down. No other production of Handel's Messiah can hope to receive money from the State this year.
Indeed, Irish choral groups do not receive financial support even through the Arts Council; that body says that "given budgetary constraints" it is "not in a position to provide funding to individual groups", although assistance is given to some choral festivals and the national umbrella organisation, Cumann Naisiunta na gCor.
That must be little comfort to groups such as Our Lady's Choral Society in Dublin which has been performing the Messiah annually since 1945 and is due to do so again this year for four nights from December 13th. The choir's director, Father Patrick O'Donoghue, says his group, which will be giving money raised from the first concert to charity, is in receipt of no government funds but has applied to the Millennium Committee for a programme of performances next year. Despite several telephone calls to that organisation, he had not yet heard whether any funding would be made available.
Asked for his opinion about the Messiah XXI, he said: "It's against my instincts to begrudge anything and I'm not against innovation in any way, but I just think the Messiah is our one major jewel in Dublin and we should be pure to it."
In Limerick, the honorary secretary of the city's Choral Society, Mr Tim Madden, said that while last year his organisation performed the Messiah in its entirety on December 19th only extracts would be offered in the choir's Christmas concert.
Self-financed like many other such groups throughout the country, the Limerick Choral Society has applied to the Millennium Committee for a special millennial events award. These grants will be disbursed by local authorities. The maximum available for any event will be £4,000.
Choirs offering their own performances of the Messiah report that ticket sales have not suffered from the publicity given to Messiah XXI.
Mr Mark Duley of Christ Church Baroque which will be performing the Messiah on period instruments in the Dublin cathedral next Monday and Tuesday said: "We're almost sold out. I think Messiah XXI has somehow created more public interest."
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