| Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah |
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| Brighton
Orpheus Choir with the Musicians of All Saints orchestra conducted by Stella Hull soloists: Saturday 27 November 2010 All Saints' Church, The Drive, Hove Mendelssohn’s second oratorio was commissioned in 1845
by the Birmingham Festival. Its first performance, conducted by the composer himself, took
place on 26 August 1846 in Birmingham Town Hall before an audience of some two thousand.
The music correspondent of The Times reported a rapturous reception for the new work,
"The last note of Elijah was drowned in a long-continued unanimous volley of
plaudits, vociferous, and deafening .... Never was there a more complete triumph; never a
more thorough and speedy recognition of a great work of art." |
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| The
drama of the piece starts with Elijah immediately taking centre stage and announcing the
impending famine. Throughout the oratorio Mendelssohn dispenses with a narrator, letting
the characters tell their own story, with the choruses either as characters or as
commentators on the action. As a choral work, there is an astonishing diversity in the
writing, with fugues, a canon, chorales and choral recitative. The people are in despair and Obadiah, a follower of Elijah’s, explains the reason for the famine – the people are worshipping false gods. An angel appears and commands Elijah to go to Zarephath, where a widow will look after him until the famine is over. (The ensuing scene between Elijah and the widow, whose dead son he miraculously restores to life, caused Mendelssohn much concern and it was extensively revised before the second performance.) Three years have passed and Elijah returns to confront King Ahab and challenges the priests of Baal to make a sacrificial altar and call upon their god – “the God who by fire shall answer, let Him be God.” The priests of Baal and the people call in vain, and Elijah urges them on: “Call him louder … peradventure, he sleepeth.” But when Elijah calls on his God, fire comes down from heaven; the people immediately switch their allegiance and the unfortunate prophets of Baal are rounded up: “bring all, and slay them!”
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In
another highly dramatic episode, Obadiah pleads with Elijah to bring rain now that the
people of Israel have turned to God. Elijah prays, and sends a youth to look out. Finally
the youth sees a cloud; it is like a man’s hand; and the rains come. The people
rejoice: “Thanks be to God.” The second part opens with a substantial aria for solo soprano invoking the people to trust in the comfort of the Lord. Elijah prophesies punishment for Ahab, and when Jezebel hears it she persuades the people that Elijah is the source of their troubles and incites them to kill him. Obadiah warns Elijah of Jezebel’s plan and urges him to flee. The brief orchestral passage at the end of this recitative represents the prophet’s journey and his weariness on the way. In despair at his failure to convert the people, Elijah longs to die, but angels are watching over him and bid him make the long journey to Mount Horeb. In the famous aria “O rest in the Lord” the angel comforts Elijah, exhorting him to put his trust in God. It is night, and Elijah is on Mount Horeb praying for the presence of the Lord, and in a wonderful chorus the approach of God is announced – “not in the earthquake, not in the fire, but in the still small voice onward came the Lord.” As the Lord commands Elijah returns to his people and carries on his work strengthened and reinvigorated. His work complete, Elijah is carried to heaven in a blazing chariot drawn by fiery horses. The final chorus praises the shining glory of the Lord and anticipates the blessings brought to the righteous. Story notes © Highgate Choral Society 2010 |
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