The name of Oratorios was given, some think, to these performances because they owed their birth to the Priests of the Oratory ; we are, however, as already stated, more inclined to derive the term from the place, the oratorio {oi-atorium, oratory or small chapel), in which they were first heard. But the word does not appear to have been in use till about the year 1630, when Balducci applied it to two of his sacred poems. The unfortunate Stradella was one of the first of those who distinguished themselves in this exalted kind of composition ; his Oratario di Sail Giovanni Battista, produced about the j-ear 1670, is analyzed and much praised by Burney (iv, 105). A fine chorus from this, in five parts, is printed in the fourth volume of " The Fitz- william Music." The increasing popularity of the sacred drama at length induced poets of eminence to employ their pens in its service. Apostolo Zeno, the imperial poet-laureate, produced seventeen works of this kind, under the title of A zioni Sacre, most of which were set by Caldara, imperial vice-chapelmaster to Leopold I, whose reputation as a composer of sacred music stands deservedly high. The first of them, Sisara, was per- formed in 1717. Metastasio wrote seven Azioni, of which Caldara set two ; the first. La Passione, in 1730. This was reset by Jomelli, and is justly reckoned among the best of his works. Sebastian Bach's Passions-Mu- sik was a species of oratorio, originally performed during the service of the church, the congregation joining in the chorals. Its form arose out of the practice preva- lent in the Lutheran Church of having the gospels of the day repeated on Good-Friday, and some other fes- tivals, by different persons, in a recitative and dialogue style. See Passion.
The oratorio was introduced into England in 1720, when Handel set Esther — Racine's tragcdj- abridged and altered by Mr. Humphreys — for the chapel of the duke of Chandos (Pope's Timon) at Cannons. Previous to this time Handel had produced an oratorio entitled La Resurrezione, which he brought out at Rome when onlj' twenty years of age, but Esther was his first brought out in England. In 1731 it was performed by the chil- dren of the Chapel-Royal at the house of their master, Bernard Gates. The next year it was publicly pro-
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duced. as appears from the following advertisement in the Vuili) Journal: "By his majesty's command, at the Kini^'s Theatre in the Haymarket, on Tuesday, May 2, will be performed the sacred story of Esther, an oratorio in English, formerly composed by Mr. Han- del, and now revived by him, with several additions, and to be performed by a great number of voices and instruments. N. K. — There will be no acting on the stage, but the house will be lifted up in a decent man- ner for the audience." The success of this was of the most decided and encouraging kind. The custom of performing oratorios on the Wednesdays and Fridaj's in Lent is to be dated from 1737, from which time they were, with few intermissions, continued till a verj' re- cent period. By Handel himself no oratorio was pro- duced after the appearance of Esther, until, in his fifty- third year, he became afflicted with blindness. From this his declining period of life date the great oratorios which have made his name immortal. These were performed for the most part in the Old Haymarket Theatre. Deborah was first performed in 1733 ; A tha- liuh, in 1734; Israel in Egypt, in 1738; The Messiah, in 1741; Samson, in 1742; Judas Maccabeeus, in 1746; Joshua, in 1747; Solomon, in 1749; and Jephthah, in 1751. The two crowning works were Israel in Egypt and The Messiah — the former ranks highest of all com- positions of the oratorio class. The Messiah — which, in consequence of its text being taken entirely from Scripture, was called by Handel The Sacred Oratorio — ranks very near it in point of musical merit, and has attained an even more universal popularity; from the time when it was first brought out, down to the present day, it has been performed for the benefit of nearly ev- ery important charitable institution in Britain, and also in the U. S., though somewhat less frequently for the same purpose. Judas Maccabceus is perhaps best known from the flowing and martial grace of that unrivalled military march, "See the Conquering Hero comes;" and Saul is associated in every one's mind with the most solemn of all funeral marches. The orchestra was but imperfectly developed in Handel's time, and his oratorios had therefore originally but meagre instru- mental accompaniments; they have since been gener- ally performed with additional accompaniments written by Mozart. Handel was succeeded in this musical speculation by his friend, J. C. Smith, who was followed by Stanley and the elder Linley. Linley and Dr. Arnold then in conjunction most successfully carried on the oratorios, which were continued by the latter on the retirement of his colleague. An opposition was now started by Ashley, who had been active as a subordi- nate agent at the commemoration of Handel in 1784. This person soon transformed the performances into secular and often vulgar concerts, though retaining the original name ; and from that time the oratorios began to degenerate.
(jlreat masters of oratorios are Haydn, INIendelssohn, Bach, Cimarosa, and Jomelli. Haydn composed three oratorios. The Return of Tobias, The Seven Last Words, and The Creation. The first-named work is full of sweetness and of energy, but it hardly answers to the common conditions of an oratorio ; the second is rather a series of symphonies, intended to follow as many short sermons on the sentences uttered by Jesus on the cross, the text being a subsequent addition bj' the composer's brother, Michael Haydn. The chef-d'oeuvre, The Crea- tion, originated in a visit to London in 1791, when Haydn heard for the first time some of Handel's compositions, then unknown in the great musician's native country. Though less grand than the oratorios of this Anglicized- German musical master, The Creation is full of fresh, lovely songs, bright choruses, picturesque recitatives, and exquisite instrumentation. Beethoven's sole ora- torio, The Mount of Olives, is a pure drama rather than the mixed composition generally designated as oratorio. Spohr's Last Judgment, produced in 1825, contains some grand music, especially in the choruses. Costa's Eli