Oratorio

Introduction

Within the baroque era, concerning the genre of vocal music, religious music cannot be overlooked as well as the opera. In this age, not only liturgical music which is from the Middle Ages such as the Mass music and Magnificat, but peculiar music of baroques such oratorio and the church cantata were also invented, while there was antagonism between Catholic and Protestant. Even in the music for liturgical of the church, it tended to opera or a dramatic style. It was the feature of the Catholic Church music of the baroque period in Italy. During the Baroque period, people saw the invention of a new music form: the oratorio in the 17th century in Europe. The oratorio has a long and profound history since Italian Renaissance. In this essay, I will be answering question number two: Explain briefly the meaning of this musical term oratorio and give an account of the most popular and arguably greatest oratorio of the first half of the eighteenth century.

Oratorio

Oratorio was born in Italy at about the same time as opera. This word ÐŽ®oratorioЎЇ originally comes from the Latin word for oratory or prayer room which were many in the Rome of that time. It is originally religious music of the Roman Catholic Church. However, by using so many words from the Bible and fitting various music, the rich description was loved by people. The first oratorios were performed at St. Philip NeriЎЇs Oratory in Rome in February 1600. St. Philip Neri used to stage scenes from the scriptures in the Oratory of his church in Florence, the Santa Maria in Vallicella. These productions came to be known as ÐŽ®oratoriosЎЇ.

At first, oratorios were very similar to operas. They have their roots deep in the middle ages. ÐŽ®Their forbears were the mystery and passion plays and portrayals of the legends of the saints. In these plays, in addition to the more or less historical figures, there were symbolic ones such as death, beauty, good works, faith, mammon, pride, jealousy, and curiosity.ЎЇ Oratorio resembles the opera in some points. For example, they were made up of recitatives, arias and choruses. They are performed by vocal music and orchestras. The differences between opera and oratorio are that an opera is made up of three components: text, music, and staging but then the oratorio limits itself to the first two. A typical oratorio does not have the feature of performing with scenery, costumes, or stage business but in fact including action. So, some people define oratorio that ÐŽ®Oratorio is opera without theater.ЎЇ The main difference was that an oratorio was based on a sacred story, usually taken from the Bible. So, most oratorios have biblical themes and it can include such topics as the creation of the world and the life of Jesus. On the other hand, secular oratorios which are based on themes from Greek and Roman mythology were written by a number of composers. Whether religious or secular, the theme of an oratorio included biblical elements.

17th and 18th century was the peak period for composition of oratorios. So many masterpieces were composed by many composers. Most baroque opera composers are composing the oratorio for the similarity of the form. The first master of the oratorio was Giacomo Carissimi (Italy; 1605-1674) and the main composers of oratorio in the 17th century were Carissimi and Schutz (Germany; 1585-1672). However, with an appearance of George Handel (Germany; 1685-1759), the oratorio thrived anew. The greatest oratorios of the Baroque period were composed during the first half of the 18th century, with words in English, by Handel. During the 1820s in London, oratorios had become the vogue musical form, with HandelЎЇs oratorio leading the way. For some time religious musical festivals had been held in many of the English provinces and in London.

Messiah

There are so many masterpiece oratorios in the world ЁC whether MozartЎЇs, VerdiЎЇs, or DvorakЎЇs Requiem, BeethovenЎЇs Missa Solemnis, HaydnЎЇs Creation, BachЎЇs St. Matthew Passion, BrucknerЎЇs Te Deum, BrahmsЎЇs German Requiem, etc. George Handel was one of the most famous names as an oratorio composer who developed oratorio in the term. Messiah is one of the best-known works of George Handel and it is one of the best known oratorios in the world. Messiah was written in August 22 to September 14, 1741, in London. The original language is English and the text is from the Holy Scriptures and compiled by charles Jennens. ÐŽ®MessiahЎЇ is a Hebrew word. In Christianity, the Messiah is Jesus. It is usually translated in the New Testament as Christ. Handel himself was a devout Christian. His work aims to present JesusЎЇ life and its significance according to Christian doctrine. However the text of ÐŽ®Messiah ÐŽ®is assembled to have many characteristics of the ÐŽ®SaviorЎЇ that each one of the audience thinks in their own mind. In other words, it takes the style of that the lack of subjectivity can be buried by peopleЎЇs own subjectivity. Moreover, by taking out the part of the composer's subjectivity on religious outlook and not setting the clear thought of Messiah equal Christ, it can appeal to people from any religion. That is one of the reasons why Messiah is loved by many people from any religion.

Messiah is a special oratorio. For instance, the text have excerpts from the Bible, new words were not created, specific castings are not given to the vocalists, the story of "Messiah" is not made of both vocalists and chorus to act but to narrate. Moreover, although Messiah is oratorio, it was composed to perform it in the theater where the opera is performed, not in the church. However, Messiah is considered as a sacred work, although not liturgical. It was a new form and it begins in HandelЎЇs usual way, with a symphony or overture.

Messiah is divided into three parts as with all oratorios; The Birth, The Passion, The Aftermath. In Messiah, the three parts represent Christ's birth, death, and resurrection. With a Biblical passage as their basis, each part breaking down into a sequence of arias and choruses. The first section draws from the book of Isaiah; that which prophesies the coming of the Messiah. At the end of the first and the beginning of the second sections, there are few quotations from the Gospels. The rest of the second section is composed of prophesies from Isaiah and quotations from the evangelists. The third section includes one quotation from Job, the rest primarily from First Corinthians. Its first performance was in Dublin in Ireland in 1742. For the Dublin premiere the following scoring