Page 174 - (DK) The Classical Music Book - Big Ideas Simply Explained

172 19TH-CENTURY SACRED CHORAL MUSIC

1836. Its subsequent performance it still reflects the Early Romantic
(in an English translation) in period in its colorful orchestration
Liverpool, England, and later in and subtle lyricism. The chorales
the US gained him a reputation as mark structural divisions in the
a composer who was sympathetic music, as found in the Bach
to the possibilities of amateurs Never before was anything Passions. Also, unlike other works
performing his works. like this season … I got of the period, a surprisingly wide
Mendelssohn had conducted through more music in variety of styles and textures can
St. Paul for the Birmingham two months than in all be heard, which is reminiscent of
Triennial Music Festival in 1837, the rest of the year. Handel. However, Mendelssohn
and its organizers requested a new Felix Mendelssohn also uses innovative forms, such
oratorio for 1846, the year before he as including the choir in certain
died. The composer at first declined recitatives for dramatic effect, and
the invitation but was persuaded to he attempts to bring a sense of
write Elijah when told that the unity to the whole work by linking
festival could provide as many movements and using recurring
performers as he requested. Its motifs, both of which were musical
premiere featured an orchestra of Eventually, she sang the soprano devices of his own era. Of special
125 players and a chorus of 271 role of Elijah in London in 1848, interest are the fugues in the
singers. The organizers even tried after Mendelssohn’s death, in a overture and finale, which clearly
to engage the famous Swedish charity concert that funded the demonstrated to the Romantic
opera singer Jenny Lind, for whom Mendelssohn Scholarship, which generation that this Baroque form
Mendelssohn had tailored the still exists today. could be revived to great effect.
soprano part. However, because Elijah itself has a curious hybrid Elijah was immediately
this would have been her British quality. Although clearly influenced successful, especially in its English
debut, she declined, preferring an by the Baroque and modeled on version, and became a mainstay
opera to showcase her vocal skills. the oratorios of Bach and Handel, of choral concerts throughout the
19th century. Later commentators,
however, often found it too
conventional and considered it a
product of mid-Victorian values.

Grand sacred works
While many composers of the
period were not very interested in
choral music, Hector Berlioz created
two of the grandest choral works
in the repertoire. With their
extraordinarily large forces, his
Requiem of 1837 and his Te Deum,
first performed in 1855, are vivid
examples of the excesses of
High Romanticism; the Requiem
requires four off-stage brass
ensembles while the score of

The prophet summons the Israelites
in the bass recitative “Draw near all ye
people” from the oratorio Elijah. This
page, handwritten by Mendelssohn, is
from an original 1846 score of the work.

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