Description
Retired folklore and ethnomusicology professor Sandra Dolby asks: Would George Frideric Handel have texted his friends about Messiah or put it on streaming media to see how it fared? Would online commentators have discussed his latest oratorio or pop song? Perhaps. More to the point, do you enjoy listening to podcasts, reading old letters that may hold clues to past events, talking with friends about bits of history and hammering out their relevance for our world today? This audio version of The Handel Letters offers these kinds of pleasures, along with substantial and interesting information about renowned Baroque composer George Frideric Handel. In a contemporary setting a group of fictional friends gather to talk about a stash of letters supposedly written to GF Handel in the early 1700s. In typical podcast fashion, in recurring meetings, the group's participants take turns commenting on the theme or idea each letter brings up, trying to determine how the topic might enlighten us today. With each letter the group finds new ways to make Handel and his times relevant to their own lives and contemporary culture. Each chapter begins with a brief exordium that relates a little about the fictional characters and their lives. The characters learn valuable information about Handel, about each other, and about themselves as they gather over lunch to examine this stash of letters. Let this precursor to a podcast help you discover why Handel and his music are still relevant today.