The Story Behind Handel’s Messiah: Charles King’s book ‘Every Valley’

I love the Messiah. Adding this one to my reading list.

I noticed this on the NYT 100 best books of the year. Picked it up on Audible.com. Really an amazing story. He discusses a seemingly unconnected cast of characters and brings it together at the end, showing how all of them contributed to bringing the Messiah to life.

Really good book. Probably one of the best I’ve read in the last year or so. (Or listened to!)

I am always amazed when I listen to a live performance of a work like the Messiah. It's remarkable what has to happen to pull off a decent performance. First you need 40-50 instrumentalists to have devoted their lives (and much money) to learning an instrument at a very high level in order to play this very difficult and intricate music. You also need vocalists to have done the same thing because no one can just sing those solo parts without any training. Then they all have to come together several times, along with the choir and conductor (who has also polished his craft) to learn the music and practice it together. Untold number of hours and years of training for a performance that may not be recorded and only listened to once. Sure, it is not the only thing these musicians will ever do, but it is such a privilege to listen to the fruit of all their labor, especially when it is done very well.

The introduction and epilogue reveal the author as an unbeliever. So he doesn’t totally get the Messiah. But his research and narrative are outstanding.

I am going to pick up this book. How we see it performed today is not how it was performed originally. Today we have large orchestras and choirs. The original was only written for about 10 instruments. In addition, those instruments are different from what you see today. The other thing is that you typically don't hear it in its entirety, but usually just chosen sections. It is very rare to see it performed as it was originally written and all sections. But it is an amazing work.

When I lived in Maryland, we used to go to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performance. They did the entire oratorio and it was glorious! I always feel cheated when they only do the "Christmas" portion.

Yes, the BSO usually did a great job. Although I didn’t live in Maryland after graduation, I did visit my parents on occasion, and since they enjoyed both BSO concerts and performances of the Messiah, I attended a couple performances with them over the years. Unfortunately, it is rare these days to find a performance of the entire oratorio, but I enjoy it enough I take what I can get!

There’s a group over at or associated with UNC that does a “sing along” Messiah most years around the Christmas holidays. They get professional musicians and soloists, but the choirs are made up of anyone who wants to come sing. Not a professional performance, of course, but still very satisfying to join in. It’s certainly not as high-quality as when I sang it at BJU a couple times, but very enjoyable anyway. This is also a reduced selection, but reasonable given the circumstances.