655. “The Greatest Piece of Participatory Art Ever Created”

Why does an 18th-century Christian oratorio lend such comfort to our own turbulent times? Stephen Dubner sets out for Dublin to tell the story of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah. (Part one of “ Making Messiah .”)   SOURCES: Charles King , political scientist at Georgetown University. Katrine Nyland Sørensen , Danish broadcaster, host of Handel's Messiah - The Advent Calendar. Mark Risinger , teacher at St. Bernard's School. Michael and Aileen Casey, Dublin conservationists. Proinnsías Ó Duinn , conductor and music director of Our Lady's Choral Society. Stuart Kinsella , tenor soloist and consort singer.   RESOURCES: Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel's Messiah , by Charles King (2024). " Two Men Wrote ‘Messiah.’ You Know One of Them. " by Charles King (New York Times, 2024). " On Fishamble Street, family lives among four centuries of relatives’ keepsakes ," by Zuzia Whelan (Dublin Inquirer, 2018). Hallelujah: The Story of a Musical Genius & the City That Brought His Masterpiece , by Jonathan Bardon (2016). George Frideric Handel: A Life with Friends , by Ellen Harris (2014). Handel: The Man & His Music , by Jonathan Keates (2010). " Handel's Messiah ," performed by The London Symphony Orchestra (2007). Handel's Messiah The Advent Calendar , podcast series . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.