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There is a story that when Handel first took his small band of singers to Ireland for the first performance of The Messiah in 1741, he stopped at a small English town and decided to try a few of the oratorio's in a local concert. He needed a male soloist, and was presented with a local man, who said he was a singer, and when asked if he could 'sing at sight', in order to perform that very evening, replied with a definite 'Yes'. The man was given the music and asked to sing an aria there and then, but fell into total silence. Handel, not always the most patient of men challenged him directly saying, 'I thought you said you could sing at sight?' 'Yes replied the would be soloist, but not at FIRST sight!'. The organisers of "Messiah From Scratch feel that if George Frederick Handel felt it could be sung at FIRST sight, then the good people of Blandford Forum should be able to do justice to his masterpiece given a WHOLE afternoon to practise!
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