Messiah: Calligraphic Word Pictures Inspired by the Music and Text of George Frederick Handel's Messiah, With Notes by the Artist [Hardcover]

Timothy R. Botts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 24, 1991

1992 Gold Medallion Award winner!
Value priced!
Now art lovers can experience the inspiration of Handel's classic Messiah through Botts's expressive calligraphy. His full-color artwork is a visual orchestration of the entire text of the Messiah.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 112 pages
• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers; 1st edition (June 24, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0842342354
• ISBN-13: 978-0842342353
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #338,817 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Messiah, November 19, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Messiah: Calligraphic Word Pictures Inspired by the Music and Text of George Frederick Handel's Messiah, With Notes by the Artist (Hardcover)

I am very impressed with this book. Knowing the musical work, it is interesting how he portrays the music into pieces of art other than notes, instruments, and voices. Each and every piece can stand on it's own, and putting them all together is very meaningful. I shared this with my own children to appreciate Handel's work as they listened and looked. I have this out right after Thanksgiving, and leave it out until Easter. Often it is picked up by visitors and becomes a great subject of conversation. It would be a great addition to any home library, as well as a perfect memorial book for a church.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A treasure you will cherish., January 21, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Messiah: Calligraphic Word Pictures Inspired by the Music and Text of George Frederick Handel's Messiah, With Notes by the Artist (Hardcover)

There really are no words adequate to describe this book. As Handel's music lifts the spirit of the text, Timothy Bott's use of lettering, size, color and placement of words on the page in the description of the text is unique in my experience, in its ability to touch the soul. This is a book you will want to keep close by all year long, to be touched again and again by its inspiring and deeply meaningful expression of the Christmas/Resurrection story.

5.0 out of 5 stars A Dream Come True for Messiah lovers, August 8, 2004

By 

Yi-Peng (Singapore) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Messiah: Calligraphic Word Pictures Inspired by the Music and Text of George Frederick Handel's Messiah, With Notes by the Artist (Hardcover)

For those who know and love Handel's immortal oratorio Messiah, this beautifully-designed book is like a heavenly Godsend from above. The calligraphy that Timothy Botts adopts for the different sections of the text is tasteful and appropriate to the Biblical text and the nuances of Handel's music as well. What strikes the reader is that the calligraphy so graphically depicts the words of the oratorio that you don't need to be a Messiah lover to appreciate the calligraphy of the text.
Every page is a feast for the eyes and Botts copes with the demands of the text and the music admirably. For example, in the pages of the Hallelujah Chorus, Botts includes the phrase "For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth" exactly five times, just like in the musical text as we hear it. Also, he uses more florid lettering for the "Rejoice greatly" section of the soprano's aria, with serious lettering for the middle section, "He is the righteous Saviour", just as it should be in the actual oratorio. And in the "For unto us" chorus, you have the cries of "Wonderful Counsellor" in big, bold and flashy letterings at the bottom of the page, with the first part of the chorus building up to those exclamatory declamations. I could go on and on about the examples, but then there are too many to fit into one review. In short, all the different calligraphic styles integrate themselves into the whole work very nicely for a cohesive whole.
The helpful thing about this book is that in addition to the visual feast that Botts provides for us with his tasteful calligraphy, he also has notes on the side of the word-pictures to explain how each different calligraphic style works in relation to the text and the music. Reading these notes, you can see how much thought he put into the word-paintings of this book, so that they matched not only the words but Handel's glorious music as well. The only point of note is that there is a slight inaccuracy in the "Trumpet shall sound" passage, because Botts illustrates the words "For this corruptible must put on incorruptible..." rather than "...must put on incorruption...", but this word-painting still comes across as an effective calligraphic pictorial representation of this verse.
Overall, though, this is an absolutely divine and heavenly Messiah book that can exist both as a companion to Handel's oratorio and as an independent book of its own. It's sad to know that it is out of print, for it could put CD librettos to shame before long. I strongly recommend this otherwise cherishable book to everyone who loves the Handel Messiah, and urge everyone to find a copy to accompany their existing recordings, including Pinnock, Gardiner and Solti.