Hallelujah! What a chorus

Matt Palmer’s take on the worst holiday/Christmas songs got me thinking about two versions of the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s “Messiah” making the rounds of e-mail and internet posts this time of year. Both bring a smile.

One features a well-organized “flashmob” that brings the chorus to a mall food court. At some point, some of the food court patrons join in the singing, and at the end, much applause rewards the singers. [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXh7JR9oKVE&fs=1&hl=en_US] You cannot hear one young man’s comment, but you can read his lips as he says, “That was beautiful.”

The other, an interpretation of the familiar song by the “silent monks” of Winter Park High School in Florida, has the song played overhead as berobed students display placards with the words. [youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcicdEflkOw&fs=1&hl=en_US] It’s fun and full of joy, don’t you think?

Which one, if either, do you prefer? Or do you have another recommendation? [polldaddy poll=4218178]

– CG