[Frank Sheed]

http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=700

There is always something interesting brewing over at First Things!

[Tax-chick]

Michael Linton is head of the Division of Music Theory and Composition at Middle Tennessee State University.

"Can anything good come out of Murfreesboro?" (You say it, "Murfsbrruh," if you're a local.)

Interesting article, though, especially the connections between the Handel oratorios and the contemporaneous events. I had no idea!

[AnAmericanMother]

Well, THAT's a novel and entertaining thesis . . . < snort >

. . . I've read a good deal about Handel in general and the Messiah in particular. The connection to Zadok is obvious to anybody who listens, the whole idea that it's anti-semitic is nonsense.

The English really did think of themselves as the new "chosen people" . . . I mean, think of the British-Israelites. This is more or less the period (he was about 20 years younger) when you had Sam Johnson roaring in big caps that he was a "TRUE BORN ENGLISHMAN!" . . . and that was the context that the English considered the Old Testament in. I don't think anti-semitism was really on their radar, other than the usual casual and dismissive attitude the English have always had to the non-English of any stripe. Certainly not important enough to make it the focus of an entire oratorio!

. . . wonder why the writer didn't zoom in on the fact that Handel was actually . . . oh the horror! . . . German.