Much closer to the teeming panorama of a novel like War and Peace than the narrow focus of most books about music history . . . It takes a rare blend of scholarship, ingenuity and empathy to weave together the stories of the mostly distressed souls who, one way or another, were connected with Messiah’s creation . . . King expertly juggles these individuals’ stories and a lot more besides . . . riveting

A mesmerizing journey through one of the most fascinating and creative moments in human history

This book reveals . . . fascinating historical truths . . . By following the links between individuals who are connected by varying degrees of separation with the work’s original creation and promotion, the author discovers that this one musical piece can stimulate joined-up insights into almost every significant aspect of its period: cultural, political, social, economic . . . His technique is often cinematic, focusing in and then panning out . . . In every case the macro picture is made vivid through the micro stories of individuals. Anyone who has ever written a historical narrative will know how hard it must have been for King to keep all the strands so expertly in play. The result is a truly informative, imaginative and engaging work

An absolute delight, beautifully told – and featuring a veritable Who’s Who of the Georgian era

Charles King’s fascinating history of Handel’s most famous work shows it in a whole new light . . . his book humanises the work’s exalted creators and demonstrates that the Messiah is not a pompous manifesto of faith but a troubled, often desperate quest for consolation . . . King . . . does a fine job of implicating Handel in the conflicts and contradictions of an unsettled society

Engaging and enthusiastic . . . King handles a very large cast of characters and source material with energy, intelligence and aplomb

Fascinating . . . King’s narrative is wide-ranging, taking in not just the ailing composer and his circle – such as Thomas Coram, instigator of London’s Foundling Hospital – but . . . how the Messiah coincided with the birth of the Enlightenment . . . In King’s telling, the “Hallelujah Chorus” is just one rousing highlight among many

An adroitly threaded account of Handel’s life and achievements [that] opens out to a colourful gallery of 18th-century personalities who played a part in making Messiah what it was . . . lively . . . readable, well researched and rich with detail . . . an engaging narrative . . . full of understanding, setting a good example for any who would write about music . . . thoughtful and wide-ranging

A splendid writer . . . a meticulous researcher, [King] delivers surprises . . . fine and vivid sentences . . . fascinating

Compelling. King transforms Handel’s world into a place we can all recognise and understand as the foundation for our own