About this episode
<p>All sorts of people have put their mark on <i>Messiah</i>, and it has been a hit for nearly 300 years. How can a single piece of music thrive in so many settings? You could say it’s because Handel really knew how to write a banger. (Part three of “<a href="https://freakonomics.com/making-messiah/">Making <i>Messiah</i>.</a>”)</p><p> </p><ul><li><strong>SOURCES:</strong><ul><li><a href="https://gufaculty360.georgetown.edu/s/contact/00336000014RiHwAAK/charles-eldon-king">Charles King</a>, political scientist at Georgetown University.</li><li><a href="https://www.jane-glover.com/biography">Jane Glover</a>, classical music scholar, conductor.</li><li><a href="https://foundlingmuseum.org.uk/our-story/history/">Katharine Hogg</a>, musicologist, head librarian at the Foundling Museum.</li><li><a href="https://faculty-directory.dartmouth.edu/susannah-heschel">Susannah Heschel</a>, religion professor, chair of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College.</li><li><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-risinger-011b3659/">Mark Risinger</a>, teacher at St. Bernard’s School.</li><li><a href="https://www.swarthmore.edu/profile/michael-marissen">Michael Marissen</a>, professor emeritus of music at Swarthmore College, author of <i>Tainted Glory in Handel’s Messiah: The Unsettling History of the World’s Most Beloved Choral Work.</i></li></ul></li></ul><p> </p><ul><li><strong>RESOURCES:</strong><ul><li><a href="https://amzn.to/48jWkm8"><i>Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel’s Messiah</i></a><i>, </i>by Charles King (2024).</li><li>"<a href="https://www.thefp.com/p/eli-lake-jews-wrote-your-favorite-christmas-songs-irving-berlin">Why These Christmas Songs Could Only Be Written in America</a>," by Eli Lake <i>(The Free Press,</i> 2024).</li><li>"<a href="https://leonardbernstein.com/news/blog/238/reflections-on-bernsteins-1956-messiah">Reflections on Bernstein’s 1956 “Messiah</a>,”" by Mark Risinger <i>(Leonard Bernstein Office,</i> 2022).</li><li><a href="https://amzn.to/3MSYkcJ"><i>Handel in London: The Making of a Genius</i></a><i>, </i>by Jane Glover (2018).</li><li><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Tainted-Glory-Handels-Messiah-Unsettling/dp/0300194587"><i>Tainted Glory in Handel's Messiah: The Unsettling History of the World's Most Beloved Choral Work</i></a><i>, </i>by Michael Marissen (2014).</li><li>“<a href="https://lnk.to/HandelMessiah">Handel’s Messiah</a>,” performed by The London Symphony Orchestra (2007).</li></ul></li></ul><p> </p><ul><li><strong>EXTRAS:</strong><ul><li>"<a href="https://freakonomics.com/making-messiah/">Making <i>Messiah</i></a>," series by <i>Freakonomics Radio </i>(2025).</li></ul></li></ul><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>