Hey Sainsbury's. Any way you can save me a few quid on my weekly shop?

Well, Jane, try your nectar prices. Every week in your nectar app, you can unlock up to 10

personalised discounts on things you love at Sainsbury's. A, Jainsbury's, if you will.

Sounds like my kind of place. Get personalized discounts with your nectar prices. That's good

food for all of us. Jamesbris.

I mean Sainsbury.

18 plus nectar app required.

Unlock up to 10 your nectar prices weekly,

available in supermarkets online and in locals with smart shop.

TNCs apply.

Welcome to the History Extra podcast,

fascinating historical conversations from the makers of BBC History Magazine.

Handel's Messiah is one of the most enduringly popular pieces of classical music, but its origins are far more complex than we might assume.

Rather than springing from the mind of a lone genius,

the story of this 18th century masterpiece is woven from deeply personal tales of scandal and redemption,

set against the background of political tumult.

In this episode, Eleanor Evans is joined by Professor Charles King,

the author of Every Valley, The Story of Handel's Messiah, to reveal the history behind the soaring choruses. Charles, could you introduce for our listeners a sense of the scale

and the scope of Handel's Messiah in Western music and its position today?

Well, there's really nothing else like it because it's in some ways the only piece in the classical canon that has never been revived.

You know, since the first performance in 1742, it's been a near constant performance.

In the United States, at Carnegie Hall, they're doing the 150th consecutive annual performance of this. And of course, it's been in performance much more intensely and for longer in other parts of the world, obviously. But given how powerful it is and how central it is, particularly to the holiday season, it's a very strange

...