Chapter IX: The Modern Oratorio

Brahms: ‘German Requiem’; Dvořák: ‘St. Ludmila’--César
Franck: ‘The Beatitudes’--Tinel: ‘Franciscus’; Benoît:
‘Lucifer’--Saint-Saëns: ‘Christmas Oratorio’; ‘The Deluge’;
Massenet: _Ève_; _Marie Madeleine_; Dubois: ‘Paradise
Lost’--Oratorio in England; Mackenzie: ‘The Rose of Sharon’;
‘Bethlehem’; Parry: ‘Judith’; ‘Job’; ‘King Saul’--Stanford:
‘The Three Holy Children’; ‘Eden’; Sullivan: ‘The Prodigal
Son’; ‘The Light of the World’; Cowen--Oratorio in America;
Paine: ‘St. Peter’; Horatio Parker: _Hora Novissima_; ‘The
Legend of St. Christopher.’

I

‘The German Requiem’ is the largest of Brahms’ several choral works and was the first of his compositions to bring him fame and to verify Schumann’s enthusiastic prophecy concerning him. The work, consisting of seven numbers, is mainly choral, though there are baritone and soprano solos, and it was first heard in its entirety at Bremen on Good Friday, 1868. Its first English performance was in 1873 and it was heard for the first time in America at the Cincinnati May Festival in 1884 under Theodore Thomas’ direction.

The title ‘Requiem’ is in a measure misleading, as it has nothing in common with the setting of the Catholic Mass for the Dead. It is much broader in scope than the customary use of this term as a form of religious music would imply. While it points out the emptiness and vanity of material life, its dominant note is one of consolation, expanding into joy and leading to the ultimate triumph over death and the grave. The composition of the ‘German Requiem’ was suggested by the death of the composer’s mother in 1865 and the work itself is generally regarded as Brahms’ masterpiece, Maitland going so far as to call it ‘the greatest achievement of modern sacred music in Germany.’

The first chorus, ‘Blessed are they that go mourning,’ is a beautiful composition, its charm being greatly enhanced by its rich orchestral accompaniment. No. 2, the Funeral March, is written in triple time, which through Brahms’ magic is made to express vividly the measured tread of the mourners. No. 3, ‘Lord, make me to know the measure of my days on earth,’ consists of a baritone solo followed by two choral fugues which are very effective though of great difficulty. No. 4, a chorus (‘How lovely is Thy dwelling-place, O Lord of Hosts’), is slower than its predecessor and is charmingly melodious. No. 5, ‘Ye now are sorrowful, grieve not,’ for soprano solo and chorus, has rich passages of melody and discloses the composer’s great ability in song-writing. No. 6, for baritone solo and chorus (‘Here on earth we have no continuing place, we seek now a heavenly one’), pictures the resurrection of the dead in intricate fugal passages of wonderful power. No. 7, the finale (‘Blessed are the faithful who in the Lord are sleeping’), in contrast with the tumultuous strains which precede it, offers a calm and sweetly serious close to this remarkable work.

Dvořák’s ‘St. Ludmila’ is sometimes classed as a sacred cantata, but its breadth rather suggests its inclusion among oratorios. The poem, by Jaroslav Vrchlicky, is based on a Bohemian legend and sets forth the worship of the heathen goddess Bába, the destruction of her statue by the Christian teacher Ivan, the conversion of Princess Ludmila and her future husband, Prince Bořivoy, and their baptism, which ushered in the Christianization of Bohemia. The work was written for the Leeds Festival, where it had its first presentation in 1886. While there are many suggestions of national folk-song and national idiom in the score, Dvořák, in writing the music, doubtless had in mind English conditions, demands and tastes, in that he gave special prominence to the choral parts and strove to develop charming and original melodies with strongly rhythmic features.

The composition is in three parts. The first scene is laid in the courtyard of Melnik Castle, where the people are gathered about the statue of the goddess Bába in worship of Bohemian Pagan deities. An introductory orchestral number depicts the dawn, following which are several solos and choruses of women and priests, in which the dawning day and the laughing springtime are joyously proclaimed. Ludmila enters with an invocation to the goddess for blessings on the fatherland, closing with the charming passage, ‘I long with childlike longing,’ to which the chorus adds, ‘The gods are ever near.’ With the approach of Ivan, the serene music changes abruptly, as he implores them in a strong, declamatory aria, ‘Give ear, ye people, one is our God.’ After the destruction of the heathen statue by Ivan amid scenes of great confusion, Ludmila proclaims her faith in the doctrine which Ivan preaches, and the part closes with choruses of lament and alarm by the people. The second part, after an orchestral prelude, discloses Svatava aiding her mistress in finding Ivan, whom they finally discover emerging from a cave. After Ludmila and Svatava have both declared their faith in Christianity, the music suddenly changes. The religious mood gives way to the merry sound of the hunt and the hunters’ chorus. Prince Bořivoy enters and relates how Ivan miraculously healed the wounded hind. As he sees Ludmila, he declares his love for her. Ivan expounds his doctrine to the prince and the hunters, and Bořivoy is also converted. When he again pours out his love for Ludmila, she at first replies, ‘To thee the pleasure of the chase belongs,’ but Ivan urges her to bestow her hand upon the prince, and a quartet and a chorus close the part. The scene of the third part is laid in the cathedral of Velehrad. The royal lovers are baptized, and the noble chorus, ‘Mighty Lord, to us be gracious,’ creates an exalted religious atmosphere. At the conclusion of the ceremony the orchestra enters with trumpet fanfares, followed by solos by Svatava and Ivan with choral responses; and a powerful contrapuntal chorus, a final ‘Alleluia,’ impressively closes the work.

II

Though Franck’s list of works is small compared with those of some of his fellow-composers, he touched every field of serious music and left the impress of his powerful individuality. _Les Béatitudes_ (‘The Beatitudes’) is probably his finest work, though, after hearing his noble D minor symphony or his striking piano quintet, one is reluctant to pass over either of these superb creations in naming Franck’s masterpiece. He wrote five large choral works, though, in common with other French composers, he seldom used the title ‘oratorio.’ The first one in oratorio-form was ‘Ruth and Boaz,’ written in 1845, which he designates _Églogue biblique_ and in which he is evidently struggling for new harmonic effects, although he had not yet found the idiom which characterizes his later works. He follows the form of French oratorios of this period, which were usually short, possibly because this temperamental nation was not inclined to hear a long religious work which, without any dramatic action, would occupy a whole evening. The naïveté and simplicity of this youthful work won much admiration when it was first performed at the Conservatoire at Paris on January 4, 1846. The picturesque orchestral prelude, the chorus of Moabites, Ruth’s beautiful aria in the first part, the duet between Ruth and Boaz in the second part, the charming and original chorus of reapers with its suggestion of an old French folk-song--these are some of the beauties of this simple sacred idyl. _La Rédemption_, which the composer calls a _poème symphonique_, was finished Nov. 7, 1872, and was first performed at the Concert National on April 10, 1873, under the direction of Colonne. Franck’s mysticism becomes more apparent in this work. While it is by no means on a level with the ‘Beatitudes,’ such passages as the angels’ choruses, the arias of the archangel, the music expressing the joy of mankind at Christ’s advent, reveal the tender grace and purity of Franck’s inspirations. _Rébecca_, a Biblical idyl (_scène biblique_) on a poem by Paul Collin, dates from 1881, and is written in the simple style of his earlier ‘Ruth.’ An Oriental atmosphere pervades the work and gives color to its harmonies and modulations, as witness the opening chorus and the picturesque chorus of camel-drivers. In _Psyché_ Franck reaches his mature style. Written in 1887-88 and first performed at the _Concerts du Châtelet_ under Colonne, Feb. 23, 1890, this quite lengthy work possesses many passages of ravishing beauty and elusive charm--such as the _Sommeil de Psyché_, a prelude ‘full of mysterious language,’ and the music accompanying the scene where Psyché reposes among the flowers.

‘The Beatitudes’ is a work in which Franck’s best and most characteristic qualities of thought and workmanship are displayed in a wonderful degree. Of a deeply religious nature, profoundly earnest and sincere, working wholly for himself and his art-ideals, and wholly oblivious of the indifference with which an unappreciative generation received his great works, Franck translated into music his own inner self to a degree that has been vouchsafed to very few composers. The grandeur and religious significance of the underlying thoughts of this great theme struck deep into his gentle, tender nature and he was able to sustain a noble mode of musical speech from beginning to end without flagging. Three characteristics stand out prominently in his music--(1) a mysticism that throws a glamour of delicious vagueness of outline over all his modes of artistic expression, a mysticism that roots itself deep in the hidden things of the religious faith he so consistently held, (2) a complex and intricate polyphony that rivals Bach’s in its nobility and expressiveness, and (3) an astounding wealth of novel harmonies that elude analysis and enthrall the listener by their very elusiveness.

‘The Beatitudes’ was begun in 1870 and was published ten years later. Parts of it were performed in Paris from time to time, but the entire work did not come to public hearing until one year after the composer’s death--at Dijon in 1891 at the Commemoration Festival of St. Bernard. Its first Paris performance was March 19, 1893, under Colonne, and France at last awoke to the recognition of the greatness of her departed adopted son. The text is a poetic paraphrase of the Sermon on the Mount, made by Madame Colomb. It is not altogether adequate and is interspersed with philosophical episodes that at times suggest spiritualism and other irrelevant matter. Curiously enough it was frequently these extraneous parts that touched Franck most deeply and occasioned some of his finest outbursts of religious rapture. The strongest musical parts of the oratorio are the fine choral writing and the skillful handling of the orchestra in exploiting and illustrating the poetic and dramatic meaning of the text. In the orchestral numbers his most brilliant style is revealed. His treatment of the various characters--Satan, the Voice of Christ, Mater Dolorosa--is often very dramatic, almost theatrical: other characters are the Angel of Forgiveness and the Angel of Death. The central theme which runs through the whole work is the perpetual conflict between good and evil, and ‘terrestrial’ and ‘celestial’ choruses are frequently used to illustrate these opposing forces.

The musical numbers of the oratorio naturally group themselves into eight parts (preceded by a prologue) corresponding to the Gospel narrative. The Christ motive is introduced in the music of the prologue (for tenor and celestial chorus) which establishes at once the mood of the whole work. Of exquisite beauty and tenderness are the passages assigned to the voice of Christ (baritone) in the first part (‘Blessed he, who, from earth’s dreams awaking’) and in the third and fourth parts. The celestial choruses are notable throughout for their tender note of consolation and admonition, especially in the fifth part. Franck’s treatment of the whole of the third beatitude--‘Blessed are they that mourn’--is forceful and impressive, beginning with the chorus, ‘Grief over all creatures,’ the strongest in the whole oratorio. The most dramatic moments of the work are in the seventh part--‘Blessed are the peacemakers.’ His Satan, as the arch-inspirer of all strife and discord, appears as a figure of Miltonic grandeur. Opposed to his bitter denunciations and taunts are the gentle strains of the Christ voice (‘Blessed are they who, with voice beseeching’), which touch even Satan to a penitent mood (‘Ah! that voice’) and lead into one of the most beautiful portions of the entire work, the famous quintet of peacemakers (‘Evil cannot stay’). The eighth part--‘Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake’--rivals the seventh in dramatic intensity and force. Satan, ‘not yet defeated,’ again hurls defiance at Christ. He is rebuked by the chorus of the just and finally gives way before the voice of the _Mater Dolorosa_ who sings a sublime song (‘Stricken with sorrow’). Satan recognizes his doom, the voice of Christ is heard for the last time, and the celestial chorus responds with a triumphant Hosanna which brings the work to a close.

III

_Franciscus_ was the first work to bring Edgar Tinel (1854-1912) international fame. While preceding works had brought him success, the sound musicianship of this oratorio, its beauties of contrapuntal and orchestral structure, won for its composer a wide recognition beyond the boundaries of his native Belgium as one of the ablest contemporary choral writers. He has written much church-music and has evinced strong interest in the reform of Gregorian chant and ecclesiastical music which has stirred the Roman Church since the middle of the nineteenth century. It was while he was director of the Institute for Sacred Music at Malines that he composed ‘Franciscus,’ generally regarded as his masterpiece, and it was produced there, August 22, 1888. It was one of the works performed at the Lower Rhine Festival in 1894 and was heard for the first time in England in 1895 at the Cardiff Festival. Before either German or English performance, however, it had been brought out in New York City in 1893. The librettist, Lodemijk de Koninck, has woven into the lines of his poem all the salient features of the life of St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226), ‘the adorable mediæval mystic who invited all beings and all things to divine love,’ and who became the founder of the great mendicant order of Franciscan monks.

The oratorio is divided into three parts. The first--‘Francis’ Worldly Life and his Renunciation’--opens with a sonorous prelude developed from a theme of stately character and discloses a brilliant scene of court life at Assisi, where knights and ladies hold high feast amid the beauty of an Italian night. There is dancing and merriment and the gay Francis is called upon for a song. He astonishes the guests by singing the Ballad of Poverty, which, with its quaint unaccompanied choral refrains, forms one of the most delightful musical passages in the work. On his way home after the festivities he hears a voice speaking his name. Later in his chamber he hears the same heavenly voice and sees a vision of a magnificent hall, hung with cross-bedecked armor, wherein a noble maiden, Poverty, walks. The heavenly voice tells him that Poverty shall be his bride, his weapon the cross, and his mission to convert the world. The second part pictures ‘Francis’ Monastic Life’ and teems with the fantastic episodes with which mediæval legends allegorically associated the lives of the church fathers and saints. It introduces the angels of Hope, of Love, and of Peace, against whom the spirits of War and of Hate wage battle. Francis, worn with fasting, bare-foot and clad in a monk’s gray garb, comes from his cell. His former companions no longer know him, and jeer him as he tells them of his lovely bride, Poverty. He sings the beautiful, pathetic Song of Poverty, _Erbarm’ Dich meiner Noth, O Herr!_ (‘Have mercy on my need, O Lord!’). Taught by him they learn the meaning of brotherly love and peace reigns on earth. Francis’ Hymn to the Sun with choral accompaniment, the deeply expressive Song of Love and the closing chorus of celestial voices, are among the rarest gems of the work. The third part deals with ‘Francis’ Death and Glorification,’ the finest numbers of which are the angelus chorus which he hears at evening as he lies on his death-bed; the double chorus in the church scene (_Lux æterna_), in which the solemn tones of the organ join with contrasting celestial and earthly choirs; the imposingly heroic funeral march; and the final scene, in which the composer masses chorus on chorus with tremendous cumulative effect, closing with the words, ‘Triumph! Glory be to God!’

Pierre Léopold Benoît (b. 1834), a consistent propagandist for Flemish music, has been foremost in the movement to establish a national school of music distinct from French and German schools. In aiding this movement he has himself been a prolific writer in many fields. His choral works include the six oratorios--_Lucifer_ (1866), _Die Schelde_ (1869), _Prometheus_ (1868), _Der Krieg_ (1880), _Der Rhein_ (1889) and the ‘Children’s Oratorio’--a choral symphony (‘The Mowers’), and in addition many cantatas, among them one for children’s voices (‘Into the World’), of great beauty and practical value for school purposes. In style Benoît is influenced sometimes by Franck and sometimes by Schumann and the later Germans; there are few traces of a strongly individual style.

_Lucifer_, Benoît’s most important composition and one of the best of its period, was written in 1865 and first performed in Brussels in 1866. The text is by Emanuel Hiel. It shows distinctly the presence of a progressive spirit in Belgium and France, though the former country welcomed the oratorio more heartily than did the latter. The subject is the thrice-attempted effort of Satan to gain victory over a divinely protected humanity; but the text is so allegorical and so unskillfully put together that it no longer takes hold of the listener’s interest. Portions of the work, especially the agitated passages, are characterized by unrestrained emotional expression. The solos are generally pleasing and lyric, though not deep--the whole affording contrasts which hold the attention. The orchestration is brilliant for the period and the choral-writing skillful. The employment of leading motives, to which the composer himself called attention (though as a whole they are not very characteristic), stamped the work as being very modern in style at the time it was written. It no doubt had a large influence on Benoît’s contemporaries, especially on Franck, whose later oratorios, though constructed with vastly greater skill and genius, show many similar traits.

IV

The ‘Christmas Oratorio’ (_Noël_) of Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (born 1835), although constructed in the oratorio style, scarcely exceeds the dimensions of a cantata. It calls for five soloists, and is scored for strings, organ and, in one number, the harp. While the text is based on the story of the Nativity, only two numbers mention the birth of Jesus and these at the beginning of the work, the remainder being liturgical matter, such as the Magnificat, Benedictus and Gloria Patri, and the triumph of the Church--all appropriate to the Christmas season. A quaint and melodious pastoral introduction of some length leads into a recitative, ‘And there were shepherds,’ after which the announcement to the shepherds is apportioned among three solo voices, closing with the chorus, ‘Glory to God in the highest.’ The most dramatic chorus in the work is ‘Wherefore are the nations raging,’ to which the accompaniment in itself furnishes an atmosphere of wild unrest. A portion of the opening pastoral prelude is heard again in the next to the last number, before the quintet takes up the words, ‘Arise now, Daughter of Zion,’ which, especially in the ‘Alleluia’ portion, contains some beautiful writing for the solo voices. A final chorus, written in majestic hymn style and also closing with an oft-repeated ‘Alleluia,’ concludes the oratorio. The composition, though short, is exceedingly beautiful, not only in its graceful and melodious voice-parts, but in its delicate and striking accompaniments.

‘The Deluge,’ a biblical scene which Saint-Saëns wrote in 1875, has steadily maintained its place in the choral repertoire. It is an effective, artistic work, nobly conceived and true to the scriptural narrative. The orchestra takes a leading part in the vivid portrayal of the commotions of Nature--the approaching rain, gradually bursting into torrents, the rising of the flood, the buoyancy of the ark as it ‘floated upon the mournful ocean,’ the darkness, and finally the receding waters. The narration of the most important events is given to the chorus, while the minor incidents are delegated to the soloists, largely in recitative. Especially effective is the passage at the beginning of the second part in which it is related that ‘the sun disappeared’ and ‘the rains from heaven poured,’ where the choral parts have little melodic movement, dwelling much on one tone, as though awed at the magnitude of the calamity, while the storm-tossed accompaniment vividly depicts the fierce force of the elements. One of the finest numbers is the fugal chorus, ‘This race will I blot out forever.’ In striking contrast to this is the delicately scored scene of the departing and the returning dove and the rainbow-music. The work closes with a massive contrapuntal chorus, in which the solo quartet joins, ‘Now increase, grow and multiply.’

Jules Massenet (1842-1912) has made several excursions into the field of choral music, but has never been quite able to throw off his theatrical associations. His oratorios are _Ève_ (1875), _La Vierge_ (‘The Holy Virgin’), a sacred legend in four scenes (1880), and _La terre promise_ (‘The Promised Land,’ 1900). In addition is a four-act sacred drama, _Marie Madeleine_ (1873), which is utterly theatrical.

_Ève_, a mystery which Massenet wrote in 1875, though not deeply conceived, is full of beautiful color. It is in three parts, the first being ‘The Birth of Woman.’ At the beginning of the part the composer has written in the score: ‘Serene Nature round Man in his sleep. A pure light is spread over Creation, and from the new-born Earth light vapors illumined by the Sun rise on the horizon. A soft breeze undulates the flowers of the field and the waves of the sea.’ Part second, ‘Eve in Solitude’ (The Temptation), bears this superscription: ‘Starlit sky. A balmy night. In the forest solitude Eve walks in deep thought far from Adam. Trembling and enchanted she listens to the voices of the night which murmur around her.’ In these surroundings she sings an aria of narcotic sweetness, _O nuit, douce nuit_ (‘O night! gentle night’), which discloses how receptive she is to the alluring voices of sweet temptation. The third part is ‘The Fall.’ It is impossible to think of Massenet’s character of Eve with any degree of sympathy, as she is depicted simply as an easily tempted Parisienne, with all the characteristics of a frail and sentimental woman. According to the text, she plucks from the tree, not the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, but of love, which is here styled ‘the forbidden fruit.’ The eating of the fruit brings on a rapturous love-duet (_con passione_) in true theatrical style, and the happy pair are banished from Eden--for loving!

_Marie Madeleine_, a work which Massenet calls a sacred drama, was written in 1873 and performed at the Odéon Théâtre, Paris, the same year. It consists of three acts, (1) Magdalen at the Fountain, (2) Jesus before Mary Magdalene, (3) Golgotha, including the scenes, ‘Magdalen at the Cross,’ ‘At the Tomb of Jesus,’ and the ‘Resurrection.’ The persons represented are Mary Magdalene, Martha, Jesus and Judas, together with choruses of disciples, Pharisees, scribes, publicans, soldiers, servants, holy women and people.

One who is in sympathy with the inspiring Bible narrative, so beautifully treated in dramatic literature, finds it difficult to become reconciled to the extraneous, irrelevant material brought into the text and elaborated in the music--for example, the introduction of Judas as a lover of the Magdalen and a chorus of women who taunt her. The music abounds in dramatic, Oriental coloring and rich melody. The two tableaux in the third act are very realistic, the first presenting the ‘Crucifixion,’ and the second, the ‘Ascension.’

Théodore Dubois (b. 1837) has worked much in the field of choral music. Besides many pieces of church-music and five cantatas, he has written three oratorios--‘The Seven Last Words of Christ’ (1867), a short and easy setting of the familiar Passion-scene; ‘Paradise Lost,’ which is given some space below; and _Nôtre-Dame de la Mer_ (1897).

‘Paradise Lost’ (_Le Paradis perdu_), for the composition of which Dubois won the City of Paris prize in 1878, is a dramatic oratorio in four parts. The text, by Édouard Bau, is based on Milton’s great poem. It is a fresh, spontaneous work, and abounds in striking tone-pictures, the most unique of which is the fierce struggle in Part I between the forces of Heaven and of Hell (the faithful and the rebellious angels). The superscription of the orchestral introduction is a commentary on the sombre nature of the music: ‘Before the Creation of our Earth, while Chaos yet reigned ... the host of angels, called from the ends of Heaven, assembled before the throne of the Almighty.’ This prelude is at once followed by the chorus of seraphim and the recitative of the Archangel. The first two parts, ‘The Revolt’ and ‘Hell,’ portray the contest of Satan and his angels against the archangels and the faithful, and the condition of the lost angels in their new abode of torment. The third part, ‘Paradise,’ includes the temptation and the fall of man, and the fourth, ‘The Judgment,’ tells of the upheaval on the earth, the despair of Adam and Eve and their expulsion from Paradise. Among the best portions of the work might be named the opening of Part III, a beautiful picture of a morning in Paradise (ushered in by the orchestra and taken up chorally by the spirits who guard Eden); the simple, devout prayer of Adam and Eve (in duet form); and a grandiose concerted piece, ‘O God, avenging and righteous,’ which is sung by Adam, Eve, the Archangel and the chorus of seraphim. The characterization of Satan is particularly strong throughout the work. Interesting is the French viewpoint, which depicts the chivalrous Adam unwilling to allow the blame for the first sin to rest upon his spouse: ‘Pardon the woman.... I ‘twas who led her astray!’ he pleads before the Archangel who passes sentence upon the guilty pair. Many pages of the music approach closely to the boundaries of sentimentality.

V

In the field of English oratorio we find the same contributing composers as in the cantata-form of this period and the same progressive spirit and virile qualities that sought out and found individual forms of expression (see Chapter VI). The principal oratorio writers of the period in the United Kingdom are Mackenzie, Parry, Stanford, Sullivan and Cowen.

‘The Rose of Sharon,’ a dramatic oratorio by Alexander Campbell Mackenzie (born 1847), was first produced at the Norwich Festival, Oct. 16. 1884, the composer conducting. Mackenzie speaks of the production of this work as the ‘turning point’ of his career. The first performance met with enormous success and it was received in all parts of the United Kingdom with extraordinary marks of approval. The text by Joseph Bennett is based upon the Song of Solomon and the persons represented are the Sulamite (the Rose of Sharon), a woman (the narrator), the Beloved and Solomon, the chorus being variously made up of princes, nobles, officers of the court, elders, villagers and soldiers. It is in four parts in addition to a prologue which indicates the parabolic character of the drama and an epilogue which points its moral. The four parts are: (1) Separation, (2) Temptation, (3) Victory, and (4) Reunion. The principal motive of the work is revealed in the words which the Sulamite sings--‘Love is strong as death and unconquerable as the grave.’

The story relates how the Sulamite is seen by Solomon, who at once becomes enamored of her and tears her away from her Beloved, placing her in his own harem, where, although surrounded by every luxury which royal favor can devise, she still remains loyal to her Beloved. After every effort on the part of Solomon, the nobles and the women of the court, the Sulamite continues to sing ‘My Beloved pastures his flock among the lilies’ and she is finally restored to him, after which they return together to the vineyards. The score is heavily loaded with beautiful passages--lyric, pastoral and dramatic--for choral and solo parts alike. The composer uses with great skill and effectiveness four motives--the Love motive associated with the above quotation and a motive associated with each of the three principal characters. Some of the loveliest parts of the work are the long dialogue between the Sulamite and her Beloved in the first part; the simple ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’ which the Sulamite, alone in Solomon’s palace, devoutly sings as she longingly remembers the scenes from which she has been parted; the stately chorus, ‘Make a joyful noise unto the Lord,’ accompanying the procession of the ark; the chorus of shepherds and vine-dressers; the jubilant chorus, ‘Sing, O Heavens! be joyful, O Earth!’ as the villagers greet the returning lovers, which chorus leads into a rapturous duet that prepares the way for a chorale-like finale in which all join.

‘Bethlehem’ is a mystery in two acts, Mackenzie here using this term in preference to ‘oratorio’ as better indicating the nature of the work, which preserves a quaintness of narrative style throughout. The text is by Joseph Bennett and the work made its appearance in 1894. The events of the first act or part take place in the fields of Bethlehem, where angels appear to the shepherds, comforting them with good news and singing an anthem of praise to God, returning to heaven and leaving the shepherds astounded at the vision. They talk together of the wondrous sight and, as dawn appears, the people of Bethlehem gather together and they all rejoice and sing a carol. The scene of the second act is Bethlehem. A host of ‘arméd cherubim’ guard the new-born King as the blessed mother sweetly sings to her babe. But the shepherds with some people of Bethlehem seek the Holy Babe through the city to worship Him; likewise certain kings from the East, whose salutations the blessed mother answers. As the kings marvel and offer gifts, all join in humble and devout adoration of the Holy Child. The quaintness of style is preserved in the music also, yet without sacrificing its dignity.

‘Judith’ (‘The Regeneration of Manasseh’) was the first oratorio of Parry (b. 1848), although he had already written several of the long series of choral works that mark him as one of England’s great composers. It was produced at the Birmingham Festival of 1888. The persons in the action are Manasseh, king of Israel; Meshullemeth, his wife; his children; Judith; a High Priest of Moloch; and a messenger of Holofernes. The text, by the composer, is in two acts. In the first, the priests of Moloch demand the children of Manasseh for sacrifice, but as they are about to be offered up, Judith appears and endeavors to save them. She is herself saved from the wrath of the people only by the coming of the Assyrians, who lay Jerusalem in ruins and carry off Manasseh a prisoner to Babylon. But the captive king repents of his sins against God and is permitted to return to Jerusalem. In the second act, while the Jews are lamenting over the desolation of their city, a messenger from the Assyrian general, Holofernes, arrives and demands new terms of submission and tribute. Here Judith comes to the rescue; she exhorts the Jews to have confidence in God’s help, makes her way to the Assyrian camp and to the tent of Holofernes and strikes him down with her own hand. The Israelites, fired by her heroism, fall upon their bewildered enemies and scatter them, returning to Jerusalem and praising the God of Israel. The Moloch choruses are very characteristic, some of them fierce and barbaric, while the march of the Assyrian host at the close of the first part is stately and majestic. One of the loveliest parts is the scene between Meshullemeth and her children as she sings, in answer to their questions, the simple, pathetic ballad of Israel’s ancient escape from Egypt and the Red Sea.

‘Job’ was written for the Gloucester Festival of 1892 and is much shorter than the preceding oratorio. Parry’s treatment of the familiar story of the patriarch’s misfortunes is at once individual and poetic. He groups the events into four scenes, opening the first one with a noble, serene theme in the orchestra, associated with the ‘perfect and upright man that feared God,’ and appropriately using it again to bring the whole work to a close. The narrator is given an important rôle, but the climax of the work is Job’s lengthy lament for his losses in the third scene. The music is noble and of sustained dignity and impressiveness.

‘King Saul,’ Parry’s third oratorio, was performed at the Birmingham Festival of 1894. It relates, in a series of ten scenes grouped into four acts, the main events in the picturesque life of this king of Israel. The prophet Samuel and the youthful shepherd David are prominent persons in the narrative, while the introduction of the Witch of Endor scene gives opportunity for music of vividly descriptive character. Among many fine lyric passages are the love-duet of David and Michal and David’s devotional psalm after the battle with the Philistines (‘Let us lift up our eyes unto the mountains, whence cometh our help’). The choral-writing throughout is marked by unerring skill and noteworthy effectiveness.

VI

‘The Three Holy Children,’ by Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (born 1852), was written for the Birmingham Festival of 1885. The words are taken in the main from those parts of the Old Testament and the Apocrypha that deal with the captivity of the Jews under Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. This king had erected a great image of Bel in the valley of Dura and commanded that all his subjects worship it under penalty of death by fire. A company of Jewish women, by the waters of Babylon, are mourning over their captivity, when they are taunted by some Assyrian soldiers on their way to worship Bel and they reply with songs of their beloved country and with imprecations on their enemies. Ananias, Azarias and Misael, three prominent Jews, denounce the worship of idols and refuse to bow down to Bel. They are dragged before the king and cast into the fiery furnace; but the flames do them no harm and the amazed king releases them and joins with the multitude in praising God ‘that hath sent His angel and delivered His servants that trusted in Him.’

‘Eden,’ a dramatic oratorio, is a strong setting of Robert Bridges’ poem and found first presentation, as have several others of Stanford’s choral works, at the Birmingham Festival, this one in 1891. The poem is an elaborate epic of large dimensions, involving in its action many characters (Adam, Eve, Satan, Michael, Angels of Earth, Sun, Music, Poetry, etc.) and for its choral elements, calling upon angels, devils, furies, all-seers, etc. With this complicated dramatic machinery Stanford has built an imposing musical structure--grand, terrible in places, of ravishing beauty in others--always skillfully fashioned and of compelling appeal, especially in the choral parts. The poem is divided into three acts: I, Heaven; II, Hell; III, Earth (Part 1, The Fall; Part 2, Adam’s Vision). In the first and third acts the composer drops into the old ecclesiastical modal style for pages at a time with beautiful effect. Indeed, he takes for some of his most important thematic material two phrases of the plain-song melody _Sanctorum meritis_ (from the _Sarum Missal_) and weaves them into choral passages with the skill of a sixteenth-century church-contrapuntist. Especially beautiful, among such portions, are the opening six-part chorus of all angels (‘God of might! God of love!’) and a five-part _a cappella_ chorus (‘Flames of pure love are we’)--the latter in the pure style of a _Madrigale spirituale_.

‘The Prodigal Son,’ which is the first of Sullivan’s oratorios, received its first performance at the Worcester Festival, Sept. 3, 1869, for which occasion it was written. The text, compiled by the composer, is based on the well-known parable, the shortness of which, however, has necessitated the introduction of other Scriptural material; so that only six of the eighteen numbers deal directly with the narrative, while the other twelve reflect on the lessons it teaches. In a preface to the work, Sullivan explains his conception of the Prodigal as ‘a buoyant, restless youth, tired of the monotony of home, and anxious to see what lay beyond the confines of his father’s farm, going away in the confidence of his own simplicity and ardor, and led gradually away into the follies and sins which at the outset would have been distasteful to him.’

The musical treatment is melodious, opening, after a short orchestral prelude, with the joyous, though reflective, chorus, ‘There is joy in the presence of the angels of God,’ preceded by a brief soprano solo. The parable then opens with tenor recitative and aria, ‘A certain man had two sons,’ and armed with the good counsel of his father, the prodigal son starts away. He is heard from in the chorus of revelry, ‘Let us eat and drink; to-morrow we die.’ The admonishing contralto solo, ‘Love not the world,’ is well known, having found its way to concert programs. After an orchestral prelude the soprano declaims in recitative the Prodigal’s experience as a swineherd and his struggle with famine, closing with the aria, ‘O that thou had’st harkened.’ The repentance of the Prodigal is beautifully expressed in the tenor aria, ‘How many hired servants of my father.’ A chorus, ‘The sacrifices of God,’ is followed by the Prodigal’s return--the joy of the father being expressed in the bass aria, ‘For this my son was dead.’ One of the finest choruses in the work, ‘O that men would praise the Lord,’ is soon followed by the unaccompanied quartet, ‘The Lord is nigh,’ and the final chorus, ‘Thou, O Lord, art our Father,’ closes with a joyous ‘Hallelujah.’

‘The Light of the World,’ the second of Sullivan’s oratorios and much longer than the first, was written for the Birmingham Festival and performed there on August 27, 1873. The composer’s plan is set forth in the preface as follows: ‘The work has been laid out in scenes dealing respectively, in the first part, with the nativity, preaching, healing and prophesying of our Lord, ending with the triumphal entry into Jerusalem; and in the second part with the utterances which, containing the avowal of himself as the Son of Man, excited to the utmost the wrath of his enemies, and led the rulers to conspire for his betrayal and death; the solemn recital by the chorus of his sufferings, and the belief in his final reward; the grief of Mary Magdalene at the sepulchre; and the consolation and triumph of the disciples at the resurrection of their Lord and Master.’

The first part is divided into four scenes--‘Bethlehem,’ ‘Nazareth,’ ‘Lazarus’ and ‘The Way to Jerusalem.’ The second part contains two--‘Jerusalem’ and ‘At the Sepulchre.’ The first scene, dealing with the narrative of the shepherds, the announcement by the angel and the Magnificat sung by Mary, is introduced by a pastoral prelude which establishes the atmosphere of the scene. In the second scene, ‘Nazareth,’ are two very dramatic choruses, ‘Whence hath this man his wisdom?’ and ‘Is not this Jesus?’ It contains also an effective quintet, ‘Doubtless thou art our Father,’ and a well-written chorus, ‘He maketh the sun to rise,’ which is one of the finest in the work. The ‘Lazarus’ scene is darksome throughout, while ‘The Way to Jerusalem,’ strongly contrasted with the preceding, is festive in character and contains a beautiful three-part chorus for children’s voices, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David.’ The first part closes with a massive ‘Hosanna’ chorus combined with a trio for female solo voices. The anger and dissension caused by the Lord’s sojourn in Jerusalem are dramatically depicted in an introduction which opens the second part and which is followed by an expressive baritone solo, ‘When the Son of Man shall come.’ This scene also contains a charming chorus for women’s voices, ‘The hour is come,’ and the expressive farewell of Jesus, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem.’ The crucifixion is not brought into the work except by indirect mention in a chorus and the work closes with the scene ‘At the Sepulchre,’ in which an angel tells the waiting Mary Magdalene that Christ has risen. This leads, after a tenor solo, to the final fugal chorus, ‘Him hath God exalted.’

Frederic Hymen Cowen (born 1852) wrote two oratorios that fall within this period--‘The Deluge’ (1878), and ‘Ruth,’ written for the Worcester Festival of 1887. The incidents of the familiar story of ‘Ruth’ (here called a dramatic oratorio) are grouped into two parts by the librettist, Joseph Bennett, and the composer has given throughout a pleasing, though not deep, musical setting to the text.

VII

Oratorio by native American composers is a very young product and practically dates from the composition of Paine’s ‘St. Peter,’ though several works with the title of oratorio had been written before this. Paine, however, was the first American to approach his task with an adequate equipment of ripe musicianship and knowledge of technical means of expression. As yet he has been followed in this field by comparatively few American composers, though many worthy works in cantata-form have been written.

‘St. Peter,’ by John K. Paine (1839-1906), received its first performance in Portland, Maine, in June, 1873, under the direction of the composer. Its second performance took place in Boston on May 9, 1874, by the Handel and Haydn Society. The main theme of the oratorio is the establishment of Christianity, as illustrated by the four main events in the life of St. Peter. It consists of two parts--(1) The Divine Call, followed by the denial of Peter and his repentance, and (2) The Ascension and Pentecost. The work abounds in strong, well-written choruses and beautiful arias, which, where the text demands it, become at times touching (as, for example, in the aria, ‘Let not your hearts be troubled’) and at times dramatic, as is the scene of the emphatic denials of Peter and the accusations of the people. A noble chorus, ‘Awake, thou that sleepest,’ closes the first part. Probably the most beautiful choral number, however, is in the second part, ‘The voice of the Lord,’ which follows the description of the Pentecostal miracle; though it is not massive, as is the majestic closing chorus, ‘Great and marvellous are Thy works.’

Horatio Parker’s _Hora Novissima_, the most ambitious and finely conceived choral work by an American, was written in 1892, while the composer was associated with Dvořák as teacher of counterpoint in the National Conservatory of Music in New York, and received its first hearing on May 3, 1893, when it was given by the Church Choral Society of New York under the direction of the composer. Soon after it was given in Boston and at the Festivals of Cincinnati and Worcester, Mass. In 1899 it was the chief novelty at the Three Choirs Festival in Worcester, England (also conducted by the composer), and bears the distinction of being the first work of an American to be performed under these historic auspices.

The subject of the oratorio deals with the New Jerusalem and the text, selected from a Latin poem of the twelfth century by the monk Bernard de Morlaix entitled ‘The Rhythm of the Celestial Country,’ has been most skillfully translated by the composer’s mother, Isabella G. Parker. The oratorio consists of eleven numbers grouped into two parts, and the larger portion of it is choral, there being only four numbers for solo voices. The opening chorus, following the instrumental prelude in which the principal motives are set forth, begins with the words, _Hora novissima_ (‘Cometh earth’s latest hour’), which at once reveals the composer’s dignified style of choral writing. The most effective portion of the first part, however, is the fugal chorus. _Pars mea, rex meus_ (‘Most Mighty, most Holy’), which is built up on massive lines. Another very broad and truly splendid number is the joyous double chorus, _Stant Syon atria_ (‘There stand those walls on high’), which is in the second part. An _a cappella_ chorus, _Urbs Syon unica_ (‘City of high renown’), is finely developed in strict fugal form and leads over into the final number--broad and again fugally treated--for quartet and chorus, _Urbs Syon inclyta_ (‘Thou city great and high’), which forms a majestic close to a noble work, conceived on broad lines and constructed with conspicuous skill and scholarship. Among the solo portions the lovely soprano aria, _O bone patria_ (‘O country, bright and fair’), is especially distinguished by graceful, dignified and appealing melody.

‘The Legend of St. Christopher,’ a dramatic oratorio on a theme that has often been chosen by composers, was written soon after the _Hora Novissima_ and was published in 1898. In September, 1902, Parker conducted the third part of this oratorio at the Worcester (England) Festival and in October of the same year the entire work was performed at the Bristol Festival. The text, as in the case of many of the composer’s choral works, is by his mother, Isabella G. Parker. It presents in attractive poetic form the main features of the familiar legend and requires the following characters: Offerus, the King, the Queen, the Hermit and Satan. The chorus frequently assumes the burden of narration. The legend relates how the giant Offerus sought the mightiest earthly monarch, that he might serve him with his great strength and stature. But he finds that the king to whom he attaches himself is not the mightiest on earth, for he fears Satan, whom the giant straightway seeks to serve. Satan in turn trembles as they pass a cross by the roadside before which women are singing a hymn to the Lord of Heaven. Offerus finally finds a hermit who serves this Lord of Heaven and who teaches him the meaning of service. During a furious storm at night a child with a quiet light upon its head piteously begs to be carried across the raging stream. Offerus heeds the cry and carries the child in his strong arms, only to find, when he reaches the further shore, that it was the Christ-child he bore; the hermit exclaims ‘Christopher be now thy name, thine henceforth by rightful claim.’

The musical handling of the theme shows the composer’s marked skill and preference for choral-writing. The choral portions of the work are the strongest, though there are not wanting lyric solo-passages of great beauty, as witness the melodies assigned to the Queen and the Hermit, and the fine trio in the last part (an Angel, the Hermit and Offerus). It would be difficult to find among modern works a more exquisite piece of effective unaccompanied part-writing than Parker has given in his setting of the Latin hymn, _Jam sol recedit igneus_, which follows immediately after the above trio.