Messiah: 4 (The Landmark Library) - Hardcover

Book 2 of 8: The Landmark Library

Keates, Jonathan

 
9781784974008: Messiah: 4 (The Landmark Library)

Synopsis

In 1741, in just 24 days, the German-born, British-naturalized composer George Frideric Handel wrote an oratorio rich in tuneful arias and choruses of robust grandeur. Coolly received in London at first, after Handel's death Messiah enjoyed an extraordinary surge in popularity: it was performed at festivals across England; other composers rushed to rearrange it; it would be commercially recorded on more than 100 occasions.

Jonathan Keates tells the story of the composition and musical afterlife of Handel's masterpiece: he considers the first performances and its place in Handel's output; he looks at the oratorio itself and its relationship with spirituality in the age of the Enlightenment; and he examines why Messiah became such an essential element in the national culture of Britain.

Illustrated with beautiful images, including the original score of the work, Messiah is a richly informative and affectionate celebration of a high-point of Britain's Georgian golden age.

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About the Author

Jonathan Keates is a historian and writer, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, a former Trustee of the London Library, and was Chairman of the Venice in Peril Fund. He is the author of a number of acclaimed biographies, including works on Handel, Purcell and Stendhal, as well as several travel books about Italy. For his services to promoting Italian culture in the UK, he was recently honoured with the prestigious Ordine della Stella d'Italia.

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Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9781541697355: Messiah: The Composition and Afterlife of Handel's Masterpiece

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  1541697359 ISBN 13:  9781541697355
Publisher: Basic Books, 2017
Hardcover