Oratorio had its origin in an attempt by a sixteenth century Italian
monk to make divine service more interesting--to draw to church people
who might not be attracted by the opportunity to hear a sermon, but
could be persuaded to come if music a trifle more entertaining to the
common mind than the unaccompanied (_a capella_) ecclesiastical
compositions of Palestrina and other masters of the polyphonic school,
were thrown in with them. Music still is regarded as a prime drawing
card in churches, and when nowadays a fine basso rises after the
sermon and sings "It is enough," we can paraphrase it as meaning, "It
is enough so far as the sermon is concerned, and now to make up for it
you are going to have a chance to listen to some music." When the
announcement is made that such-and-such a well-known singer has been
engaged for a church it means that the Reverend ---- is doing just
what the monk, Neri, did, about four hundred years ago--fishing for a
congregation with music.
As it exists to-day, however, oratorio has little to do with religious
worship, and usually is practiced amid secular surroundings, with a
female chorus in variegated evening attire and a male chorus in
claw-hammers, the singers hanging more or less anxiously on the baton
of the conductor. This living picture which, so far as this country is
concerned, I have, I believe, drawn in correct perspective, is so much
out of keeping with the religious subjects which usually underlie the
texts of oratorios that it may account for the comparative lack of
interest shown by Americans for this form of musical entertainment.
It also is true, however, that in this country oratorio never has had
more than half a chance. This is due to the fact that the American man
is not as sensitive to music nor musically as well educated as the
American woman, the result being that the male contingent of the
average American oratorio chorus is less competent than the women
singers. Tenors are "rare birds" in any land, and rarer here
apparently than elsewhere, so that in this division of our mixed
choruses there is a lack of brilliancy in tone and of precision in
attack. These several circumstances combine to prevent that
well-balanced ensemble necessary to a satisfactory performance.
An Incongruous Art-Form.
Even at its best, however, oratorio is an incongruous art-form,
neither an opera nor a church service, but rather an attempt to design
something that shall not shock people who consider it "wicked" to go
to the opera, nor afflict with _ennui_ those who would consider an
invitation to listen to sacred music during the week an imposition. It
seems peculiarly adapted to the idea of entertainment which prevails
in England, where apparently any diversion in order to be considered
legal must be more or less of a bore. Fortunately, however, there be
many men of many minds; so that while, for example, one could not well
draw a gloomier picture of the hereafter for a critic like Mr. Henry
T. Finck than as a place where he would be obliged to hear, let me
suggest, semi-weekly performances of "The Messiah," the annual
Christmas auditions of that work have been the financial salvation of
oratorio in America.
San Filippo Neri, who was born in Florence in 1515, and was the
founder of the Congregation of the Fathers of the Oratory, was the
originator of oratorio. In order to attract people to church, he
instituted before and after the sermon dramatic and musical renderings
of scenes from Scripture. It is not unlikely that the suggestion for
the underlying dramatic text came from the old Mystery and Miracle
plays, which, to say the least, were naive. In one of these,
representing Noah and his family about to embark in the ark, _Mrs.
Noah_ declares that she prefers to stay behind with her worldly
friends, and when at last her son _Shem_ seizes and forces her into
the ark, she retaliates by giving the worthy _Noah_ a box on the ear.
In another play of this kind which represented the Creation, a horse,
pigs with rings in their noses, and a mastiff with a brass collar were
brought up to _Adam_ to name. But in one performance the mastiff spied
a cow's rib-bone which had been provided for the formation of _Eve_,
grabbed it and carried it off, in spite of the efforts of the _Angel_
to whistle him back, and _Eve_ had to be created without the aid of
the rib.
Primitive Efforts.
It is not likely that any such contretemps accompanied the performances
of San Filippo's primitive oratorios, and yet it is probable that they
were not only sung, but also acted with some kind of scenic setting
and costumes; for Emelio del Cavaliere, a Roman composer, whose
oratorio, "La Rappresentazione dell' Anima e del Corpo" (The Soul and
the Body), was performed in February, 1600, in the Church of Santa
Maria della Vallicella, but who died before the production, left
minute directions regarding the scenery and action. In this oratorio,
as in some of the other early ones, there was a ballet, which,
according to its composer's directions, was to enliven certain scenes
"with capers" and to execute others "sedately and reverentially."
It was the composer, Giovanni Carissimi, who first introduced the
narrator in oratorio, this function being to continue the action
with explanatory recitatives between the numbers. In his oratorio,
"Jephtha," there is a solo for Jephtha's daughter, "Plorate
colles, dolate montes" (Weep, ye hills; mourn, ye mountains), which
has an echo for two sopranos at the end of each phrase of the
melody. Alessandro Scarlatti, who developed the aria in opera, also
gave more definite form to the solos in oratorio and a more dramatic
accompaniment to the recitatives which related to action, leaving
the narrative recitals unaccompanied.
Up to this point, in fact, oratorio and opera may be said to have
developed hand in hand, but now, through the influence of German
composers and especially through their Passion Music, it assumed a
more distinct form. "Die Auferstehung Christi" (The Resurrection), by
Heinrich Schuetz, produced in Dresden in 1623, and his "Sieben Worte
Christi" (The Seven Words of Christ), subjects which have been
reverentially set by many German composers, are regarded as pioneer
works of their kind. In the development of Passion Music much use was
made of church chorales, the grand sacred melodies of the German
people, which have had incalculable influence in forming the stability
of character that is a distinguishing mark of the race. They are
conspicuous in the "Tod Jesu," a famous work by Karl Heinrich Graun, a
contemporary of Bach, whose own "Passion According to St. Matthew" is
regarded by advanced lovers of music as the greatest of all works in
oratorio or quasi-oratorio style, although the English still cling to
Haendel.
"However close the imitation or complicated the involutions of the
several voices," says Rockstro, in writing of Haendel, "we never meet
with an inharmonious collision. He (Haendel) seems always to have aimed
at making his parts run on velvet; whereas Bach, writing on a totally
different principle, evidently delighted in bringing harmony out of
discord and made a point of introducing hard passing notes in order to
avail himself of the pleasant effect of their ultimate resolution."
The "inharmonious collisions," the "hard passing notes" are among the
very things which make Bach so modern; since modern ears do not set
much store by music that "runs on velvet."