Every Valley

9781847928450
The Bodley Head
Hardback
352pp
The Bodley Head
242x161x34
Charles King The Bodley Head AVM|NHTB|AVA Hardback 2024

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
The Times, *Book of the Week* – Richard Morrison

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

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
Financial Times

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

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
Observer – Peter Conrad

Engaging and enthusiastic . . . King handles a very large cast of characters and source material with energy, intelligence and aplomb
Literary Review – Freya Johnstone

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
New Statesman – Michael Prodger

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
Gramophone

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

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

A book rich with quirky characters living under strange circumstances: eccentric royals, visionary benefactors, financial collapses, theatrical triumphs and career meltdowns . . . we are plunged into the hectic mayhem of London life
The New York Times

In an engagingly written story . . . Charles King explores the background to a work which he considers the greatest piece of participatory art ever created. King’s discursive and genial approach . . . make for enjoyable reading . . . a bird’s-eye view of Georgian London, seasoned with apposite quotes from leading literary figures of the time, including Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift
BBC Music Magazine

What is it that thrills audiences and lifts the hearts of singers? In Every Valley Charles King . . . sets out to explain the Messiah‘s enduring popularity . . . King interweaves the lives of several people directly or tangentially connected with it [and] accompanies these with analyses of Georgian life and thought . . . the result is a densely textured history of the era . . . [that] vividly evoke[s] its origins, creation and impact on eighteenth-century society, while also suggesting the message it conveys to our own
New York Review of Books – Jenny Uglow

By Published On: January 29th, 2025Categories: Uncategorized0 Comments on Every Valley

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