657. Whose “Messiah” Is It Anyway?

All sorts of people have put their mark on Messiah , 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 “ Making Messiah . ”)   SOURCES: Charles King , political scientist at Georgetown University. Jane Glover , classical music scholar, conductor. Katharine Hogg , musicologist, head librarian at the Foundling Museum. Susannah Heschel , religion professor, chair of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College. Mark Risinger , teacher at St. Bernard’s School. Michael Marissen , professor emeritus of music at Swarthmore College, author of Tainted Glory in Handel’s Messiah: The Unsettling History of the World’s Most Beloved Choral Work.   RESOURCES: Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel’s Messiah , by Charles King (2024). " Why These Christmas Songs Could Only Be Written in America ," by Eli Lake (The Free Press, 2024). " Reflections on Bernstein’s 1956 “Messiah ,”" by Mark Risinger (Leonard Bernstein Office, 2022). Handel in London: The Making of a Genius , by Jane Glover (2018). Tainted Glory in Handel's Messiah: The Unsettling History of the World's Most Beloved Choral Work , by Michael Marissen (2014). “ Handel’s Messiah ,” performed by The London Symphony Orchestra (2007).   EXTRAS: " Making Messiah ," series by Freakonomics Radio (2025). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.