Making Messiah: How Handel Got His Mojo Back and Created a Masterpiece

by Stephen J. Dubner, Zack Lapinski

From Freakonomics Radio host Stephen Dubner comes an immersive, insightful audio documentary tracing the creation and enduring legacy of George Frideric Handel's Messiah, which has been called the greatest piece of participatory music ever created.

In 2020, Stephen Dubner fell madly in love with a piece of music. During the COVID-19 pandemic, struggling with the uncertainty and isolation of the moment, he attended a Christmas concert and really heard Handel's Messiah for the very first time.

Making Messiah takes listeners on an epic journey through the life of composer George Frideric Handel and the creation of his iconic oratorio. Dubner travels to Fishamble Street in Dublin, where the very first performance of Messiah took place in 1742; to London, where Handel composed operas commissioned by the royal family; and to many modern institutions that commemorate and celebrate Handel’s work. Interviewing authors, scholars, and musicians, he explores Handel's influences and finds out how Messiah grapples with the ideas of its era while continuing to have a deep impact on modern culture. Why does an 18th-century Christian oratorio lend such comfort to our own turbulent times? Ultimately, Dubner argues, Messiah is about hope — the piece is a doorway to a world of possibility, and we can't help but make it our own.

Please Making Messiah was first released as a podcast series on Freakonomics Radio.

Audible Audio

Expected publication March 24, 2026

About the author

Stephen J. Dubner is an award-winning author, journalist, and TV and radio personality. In addition to Freakonomics and SuperFreakonomics, his books include Turbulent Souls Choosing My Religion, Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper, and the children’s book The Boy With Two Belly Buttons. His journalism has been published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Time, and has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing, The Best American Crime Writing, and elsewhere. He has taught English at Columbia University (while receiving an M.F.A. there), played in a rock band (which started at Appalachian State University, where he was an undergrad, and was later signed to Arista Records), and, as a writer, was first published at the age of 11, in Highlights for Children. He lives in New York with his wife, the documentary photographer Ellen Binder, and their children.