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    Hallelujah! The remarkable story behind this joyful word

    by Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times Dec 21, 2021 5 minutes

    It begins with the violins — orderly and baroque. The choir rises. The audience rises. And before you know it, the concert hall, church, rec center or school auditorium fills with the triumphant sound of one of the most beloved musical works of the season: Handel's "Hallelujah" chorus.

    Over the next four minutes (and change) the choir will repeat the word hallelujah 48 times, but the audience and musicians never seem to tire of it. Credit Handel's vibrant melody, but also the almost mystical power of that combination of vowels and consonants.

    HalleLUjah!

    HalleLUjah!

    Hah-lay-ay-loo-YAH!

    But what does hallelujah mean, exactly? And why does it continue to resonate with us, untranslated, thousands of years after it first appeared in the Hebrew bible?

    And what is it about hallelujah that inspires composers and songwriters to deploy it so frequently and reverentially from Handel to Ray Charles to

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