Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/569

ORATORIO. amount of experience. Yet it cannot be said that 'Elijah' is really a greater work than 'S. Paul': it is great in a different way. The history of its gradual development having already been narrated at length in the article, it remains for us only to speak of it in its perfect form. In one respect, the main idea is the same as that treated in 'S. Paul'—the triumph of Truth over Falsehood. In both Oratorios, the instrument by which this triumph is accomplished is a Heaven-commissioned Teacher, whose influence is distinctly perceptible throughout the entire work; only, in 'Elijah,' the personality of this Teacher is more frequently brought before us than in 'S. Paul,' where we are so frequently made to feel his influence without actually seeing him. As a natural consequence, the later Oratorio is much more dramatic in structure than the earlier one. The character of the Prophet is drawn with minute attention to the peculiar traits by which it is distinguished in the Scripture Narrative: and the Scenes in which he stands forth as the principal figure are painted with intense descriptive power. Eight such Scenes are brought most prominently into the foreground: four in the First Part—the Prophecy of the Drought, the Raising of the Widow's Son, the Sacrifice on Mount Carmel, and the Coming of the Rain; and four in the Second—the Persecution of Elijah by Jezebel, the Prophet's sojourn in the Desert, with all its awful revelations of Almighty Power, his return to his People and subsequent departure in the Fiery Chariot, and the magnificent conclusion which teaches us the deep signification of the whole. The Recitative in which the opening Prophecy is announced, placed before the Overture which so vividly describes its terrible effects, is a grand conception, scarcely exceeded in dramatic force by any subsequent passage, and immeasurably enhanced by the four solemn Chords with which the Brass Instruments prelude the first words of the terrible denunciation. The despairing phrases of the Overture lead so naturally into the cry of the wailing People, 'Help, Lord! the harvest is over, the summer days are gone,' that we cannot but believe the whole chain of Movements to have been the result of the same individual idea, the gradual development of which finds consistent expression in Obadiah's exhortation to repentance—clothed in the lovely Tenor Air, 'If with all your hearts'—and the noble chain of Movements, beginning with 'Yet doth the Lord,' which forms the climax of this division of the subject. In the next picture we find Elijah 'by the brook Cherith,' whence, after having been comforted by the soothing strains of the Double Quartet, 'He shall give His Angels charge over thee,' he is summoned to Zarephath, to the house of the Widow, the Raising of whose Son is painted in tender accents which find their fitting response, not, as the careless hearer might have expected, in a Chorale—for the Chorale belongs exclusively to the Christian Dispensation, and this is preeminently a Jewish Oratorio—but, in the contemplative Chorus, 'Blessed are the men who fear Him,' which brings the Scene to so appropriate and well-considered a conclusion. Then follows the Sacrifice, in which the thoroughly worldly yet never trivial strains sung by the Baal-worshippers are so strikingly contrasted with Elijah's sublime Prayer, 'Lord God of Abraham,' the softer harmonies of 'Cast thy burthen upon the Lord,' and the Descent of the Fire, and consequent recognition of the true God—a tremendous Scene, which readies its climax in the destruction of the prophets of Baal, and needs all the resources, both choral and instrumental, that the Orchestra can afford, for its efficient representation. How these resources are used will be best understood by those who have not only heard, but studied the Oratorio, and endeavoured to interpret it in the spirit in which it was composed. But this is not the culminating point of the First Part. After the beautiful Alto Song, 'Woe unto them,' we again meet the Prophet on Mount Carmel, to watch with him for the coming rain, until the Orchestra actually shows us the 'little cloud' arising 'out of the sea, like a man's hand,' and the storm bursts over us in welcome torrents, bringing salvation to the famine-stricken people, who, intoxicated with wonder and delight, unite in the thrilling Chorus, 'Thanks be to God,' which is so placed as to bring out its strongest points to the best advantage, while it derives additional effect from the skill with which it is fitted into its important position, where it forms so fitting a complement to the ail-but despairing cry for mercy with which the Oratorio began.

The Second Part opens with the Soprano Solo, 'I am He that comforteth,' followed by the quite exceptional Chorus, 'Be not afraid,' in which so many different emotions are portrayed by the master hand which makes them all subservient to a common end. After this, we are brought face to face with the hateful Jezebel, who comes before us, in all her meanness, and deceit, and treachery, to incite the People against the Prophet whose prayers have saved them, and so to compass his destruction. The Recitative in which Obadiah counsels the Seer to fly from persecution is strangely beautiful, and introduces us to oneof the most impressive pictures that have ever been attempted in the whole range of descriptive Music—the hiding in the Wilderness; the comfort proffered by the Angels, in the heavenly Trio 'Lift thine eyes,' and the Chorus which follows it; the sadness which almost overcomes even Elijah's constancy; the calm peace of the beautiful Air, 'O rest in the Lord'; and then the awful history which tells how the Holy One of Israel, Who was not in the Wind, nor in the Earthquake, nor in the Fire, revealed Himself, at length, in the Still Small Voice. It is impossible to do adequate justice to the power with which this terrible event is depicted—the combination of technical skill and depth of feeling needed to render that possible, which, had either quality failed, or even existed in excess of the other, could only have resulted in irreverence too ghastly for contemplation. There can be no