Tainted Glory in Handel's Messiah: The Unsettling History of the World's Most Beloved Choral Work
ISBN: 9780300206999
Platform/Publisher: Oxford Academic / Yale University Press
Digital rights: Users: Unlimited; Printing: Unlimited; Download: Unlimited
Subjects: Musical Scores Lyrics and Libretti Musicology and Music History Composers; Baroque Music;

An eye-opening reexamination of Handel's beloved religious oratorio

Every Easter, audiences across the globe thrill to performances of Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus," but they would probably be appalled to learn the full extent of the oratorio's anti-Judaic message. In this pioneering study, respected musicologist Michael Marissen examines Handel's masterwork and uncovers a disturbing message of anti-Judaism buried within its joyous celebration of the divinity of the Christ.

Discovering previously unidentified historical source materials enabled the author to investigate the circumstances that led to the creation of the Messiah and expose the hateful sentiments masked by magnificent musical artistry--including the famed "Hallelujah Chorus," which rejoices in the "dashing to pieces" of God's enemies, among them the "people of Israel." Marissen's fascinating, provocative work offers musical scholars and general readers alike an unsettling new appreciation of one of the world's best-loved and most widely performed works of religious music.

Michael Marissen attended Calvin College and Brandeis University.

He is an Associate Professor of Music at Swathmore College and the vice president of the American Bach Society. Marissen has been a visiting professor at Princeton University and the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music.

Marissen has written The Social and Religious Designs of J. S. Bach's Brandenberg Concertos and has edited Bach Perspectives 3: Creative Responses to the Music of J. S. Bach from Mozart to Hindemith.

(Bowker Author Biography)


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