655. “The Greatest Piece of Participatory Art Ever Created”
This episode appears to contain dynamically inserted ads. Transcript timestamps may be approximate.
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.
free economics radio is sponsored by principle the perpetual pen tapper the arbitrary fridge re-organizer the holiday party planner that starts in May principle knows that your star employees have their work quirks principle also knows how much those employees mean to your business you need them they need benefits work with principle so they can help your team with the retirement and benefits plan that's right for them principal life insurance company Des Moines Iowa. "Free economics radio is sponsored by PNC bank boring great word bad rep yet time and time again here at free economics we find that when something culture-changing happens boring things like calculations and careful planning are usually behind it which begs the question why not apply it to other aspects of life like banking for example well PNC bank did since its inception proving time and again that the best banking strategy isn't the exciting type but the steady reliable definitely not YOLO type PNC bank brilliantly boring since 1865 brilliantly boring since 1865 is a registered mark of the PNC Financial Services Group Inc. PNC Bank National Association member FDIC free economics radio is sponsored by hotels.com hotels.com helps you find and book the right stay for work faster with business preferences save your travel must-haves like gym access or breakfast just once then get tailored results whenever you search for work travel plus with a free membership you can save up to 20% on hotels and earn rewards on every stay for future travel book now at hotels.com visit hotels.com for details free economics radio is sponsored by amica you know what they say if you want to go fast go alone if you want to go far go together so go with amica and get coverage from a mutual insurer that's built for their customers one that looks after what's important to you together auto home life and more coverage that fits your unique needs amica helps you protect what matters most visit amica.com and get a quote today love is hard to explain when you fall in love with a person or a place or a thing who can say why a few years ago I fell madly in love with a piece of music this was during the covid pandemic when there was still a lot of mask wearing a lot of social isolation a lot of death but also glimmers of hope I am a sucker for hope I went to a concert around Christmas time with my wife and some friends and the music I heard that night jacked up my hope meter to 11 it was a great feeling especially when there was so much uncertainty darkness so much fear of the future the older I get the more I realize that fear of the future is essentially a default condition of humankind one thing I've learned from interviewing historians over the years is that the historical outcomes that seem obvious today were not always obvious in the moment the rise or fall of a given empire or institution was rarely a foregone conclusion if one or two decisions had gone another way or one battle or marriage or pregnancy the outcome might have been different but when you're standing in the present it's hard to see where the future lies if you sense there is an ill wind blowing you assume it will keep blowing in the same direction and that things will only get worse so we make all sorts of predictions based on uncertainty and fear maybe that's what allows us to so easily abandon our kindness to people who aren't like us and to justify acts of exclusion which brings me back to the people and the places and the things that we fall in love with why can only some of us love certain things that piece of music that I fell in love with it is an 18th century Christian oratorio called Messiah by George Friedrich Handel in
Transcription truncated.
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.’”)