As a professor of international affairs and government at Georgetown University, Charles King is more accustomed to writing and lecturing about global conflicts than sacred oratorios.
Nonetheless, the Arkansas native’s latest book focuses on what he says may be “the greatest piece of participatory art ever created” — George Frideric Handel’s “Messiah.”
“Every Valley: The Desperate Lives and Troubled Times That Made Handel’s Messiah” has drawn rave reviews on both sides of the Atlantic.
While noting that King isn’t a “musicologist,” The New York Times nonetheless listed “Every Valley” as one of its 100 notable books of the year.
“When he writes about Handel’s music it is from the point of view of an amateur, but ‘amateur’ in the best sense of the word; that is, he loves ‘Messiah’ with a passion and sense of gratitude and awe that is rare even among professional musicians,” a Times review stated.
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