Messiah by Jonathan Keates

Messiah by Jonathan Keates

From Handel's renowned biographer, the story of one of the most celebrated compositions of Western classical music, Handel's famous oratorio, Messiah

In the late summer of 1741, George Friderick Handel, composed an oratorio set to words from the King James Bible, rich in tuneful arias and magnificent choruses. Jonathan Keates recounts the history and afterlife of Messiah, one of the best-loved works in the classical repertoire. He relates the composition's first performances and its relationship with spirituality in the age of the Enlightenment, and examines how Messiah, after Handel's death, became an essential component of our musical canon.

An authoritative and affectionate celebration of the high-point of the Georgian golden age of music, Messiah is essential reading for lovers of classical music.

Jonathan Keates is a renowned and award-winning biographer, novelist, and travel writer, as well as the author of the Handel and Purcell biographies. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the head of the Venice in Peril fund. For his collection of short stories Allegro Postillions (1983), he received both the James Tait Black Memorial Award and the Hawthornden Prize. Jonathan Keates writes for a variety of periodicals, including the Observer and the Times Literary Supplement in the United Kingdom.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781541697355
ISBN 10	1541697359
Title	Messiah
Author	Jonathan Keates
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Basic Books
Year published	2017-10-24
Number of pages	176
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.