SITE RATING: 4/10
SITE
REVIEW: Aimed at the
Christian music market, Getchen Simmons
Brown's book Handel's Messiah: A Musical,
Historical & Theological Study
manages to navigate the many movements of
Handel's oratorio in a straightforward manner,
and succeeds, for the most part, to fulfil its
self-proclaimed purpose, giving brief,
somewhat enlightening insight into performing
Messiah.
Ms. Brown, who holds degrees in both
music education and a masters of theological
studies, clearly intends this book for
students of a similar stripe as her own: she
melds basic, reader-friendly music theory and
cheerful ecclesiastical homilies in a somewhat
uneasy side-by-side running commentary,
beginning each segment with a statement of
Handel's intentions for the aria or chorus,
followed by a musical example illustrating
what she's explaining, and then adding an
impassioned Christian (specifically,
Episcopalian) interpretation of the
meaning of the text. I found the joining
of the two distinct schools of thought to be
incompatible, with the musicological side a
bit thin, obviously aimed at Messiah
beginners, and the theological treatises a bit
gushy and slanted towards her particular
interpretation of the texts, which includes
lots of exclamation points. In fact, the
author's most passionate writings are when she
turns to the theological paragraphs, which
leads me to consider the title of the book a
bit misleading - the theological tenants
espoused being the primary reason this book
exists, and as such, will most likely appeal
to those of the same ecclesiastical mold as
the author.
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