Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/302

 ORATORIANS

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ORATORIO

GlHB. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass (3rd cd., St. Louis. 1908). 547-50.

Adrian Fortescue. Oratorians. Soo Oratory of Saint Philip Neri.

Oratorio, a.'* at prosont. unflorstood, is a musical composition for solo voices, chorus, orchestra, and organ, to a rolif;ious text generally taken from Holy Scripture. The dramatic element contained in the text depends for its expression on the music alone.

The tradition that the oratorio originated in St. Philip Neri's oratory has recently been attacked, notably by the historian and critic E. Schelle, in "Neue Zeitschrift fiir Musik" (Leipzig, 1864). The chief point he makes is that the oratories of San Gir- olamo and Santa Maria in Vallicella, at Rome, were unsuitable for the performance of sacred dramas. In refutation, it suffices to recall the established fact that Emiglio del Cavaglieri's rapprasentazione sacra, "Anima e corpo", had its first performance in the Vallicella (Chiesa Nuova) in IGOO, five years after the death of St. Philip. Although the name oratorio was not apjilied to the new form until sixty years later (.\ndrea Bontempi, 1624-1705), there is an unbroken tradition connecting the exerci-ses established by St. Philip with the period when the new art-form received its definite character. While in the sixteenth century liturgical polyphonic music reached its highest devel- opment, secular music boasted only one ensemble or choral form, the madrigal. The spirit of the Renais- sance, that is the revolt against the domination of the arts by the spirit of the Church, led to the restoration of Greek monody, and gradually perfected composi- tions for one or more voices and instruments which ultimately culminated in the opera.

St. Philip, realizing the great power of music, pro- vided in the rule for his congregation, "that his fathers together with the faithful, should rouse themselves to the contemplation of heavenly things by means of musical harmony". He seized upon the good in the new trend and made it the foundation of a new form upon which he, perhaps unconsciously, put a stamp re- tained ever since. He practically created a style mid- way between liturgical and secular music. His love of simplicity caused him to oppose and counteract the prevailing artificial semi-pagan, literary, and oratori- cal style which had its musical counterpart in the display of contrapuntal skill for its own sake prac- tised to so great an extent at that time. He drew to himself masters like Giovanni Annimuccia and Pier Luigi da Palestrina, formed them spiritually, and bade them set to music, in simple and clear style, for three or four voices, short poems in the vernacular, gen- erally written by himself, and called "Laudi spirit- ual!". Many of these were preserved by F. Soto di Langa, a musician and a disciple of the saint. Their performance alternated with spiritual reading, prayer, and a sermon by one of the fathers, by a layman, or even by a boy. From these exercises, which attracted enormous crowds, and obtained great renown through- out Italy, it was but a step to the Commedia harmonica "Amfiparnas.so", by Orazio Vecchi (1.550-1605), a dia- logue in madrigal form between two choirs (first per- formed at Modena in 1594), and the rapprasentazione sacra " Anima e corpo", by Cavaglieri. The latter con- sisted of short phrases for a single voice, more varied in form than the recitativo secco, but not yet sufficiently developed to have a distinct melodic physiognomy, accompanied by instruments, and choral numbers, or madrigals. Similar productions multiplied rapidly. Wherever the Oratorians established themselves they cultivated this form to attract the young people. The municip.-il library of Hamburg contains a collection, gathered by Chrysander, of twenty-two different texts which originated with the disciples of St. Philip during the second half of the seventeenth century. Even more active in the creation and propagation of these

musico-dramatic productions throughout this period were the Jesuits, who, especially in Germany, used these musical plays in their schools and (•(lUcgcs every- where. Up to the latter part of the .scveMtccnIli cen- tury the burden of the texts for the.-sc cdinposilions was either a legend, the history of a conversion, the life of a .saint, or the passii>ii of a martyr.

Among those who cultivated, or helped in develop- ing, the oratorio in Italy were Benedetto Ferrari (1.597-1681), "Samsone"; Agostino Agazzari (1578- 1640), dramma pastorale, "Eumeho"; Loreto Vitorii (1.588-1670) "La pellegrina costante", "Sanf Ig- nazio Loyola". Giacomo Carissimi (1604-74), through whom the oratorio made a notable advance, was the first master to turn to Holy Scripture for his texts. His works, with Latin or Italian texts, many of which have been preserved (see Carissimi) together with those of his contemporaries, show prac- tically the same construction as is followed in the present time: recitatives, arias, duets, and terzettos, alternating with single and double choruses and in- strumental numbers. The historicus or narrator (in some scores designated by the word iesto, "text") has replaced scenic display and dramatic action. Caris- simi's orchestration exhibits a resourcefulness and charm before unknown. His oratorio "Jephtha" (in an arrangement by Dr. Immanuel Faisst) was per- formed successfully at Leipzig as recently as 1873. After him, the greatest Italian master was Alessandro Scarlatti (16.59-1725) a pupil of Francesco Provenz.ale and Carissimi. Chief among his works are "I dolori di Maria" and "II Sacrificio d'Abramo".

About this time the leadership passed to Germany, where Heinrich Schiitz (1585-1672) had previously prepared the soil by his compositions known as "Passion music" and other works resembling the Italian oratorio. Others who had received their for- mation in Italy, but whose activity was chiefly con- fined to Germany, and who transplanted the oratorio thither, were Ignatius Jacob Holzbauer (1711-83), "Bethulia liberata"; Johann Adolphe Hasse (1699- 1783), "La Conversione di S. Agostino" etc.; Antonio Caldara (1670-1736); Nicolo Jomelli (1714-1774); Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1634-1704), a pupil of Carissimi and a gifted composer, wrote, besides a large number of works for the church, eighteen ora- torios in the style of his master which had great vogue in France. His "Reniement de St. Pierre" has re- cently been revived with great success in Paris, and has since been published. In the hands of Johann Mattheson (1681-1764), the oratorio becomes identi- fied with Protestant worship in Germany. Contem- porary with George Frederick Handel (1685-1759) he wrote twenty-four oratorios, intended to be divided into two parts by a sermon, the whole constituting a religious service. His texts were mostly taken from Scripture. Biblical events are brought into conjunction and contrasted with contemporary happenings, and a moral is drawn. Others who cultivated the oratorio form, particularly in Protestant Germany, were George Philip Telemann (1681-1767), Constantine Beller- mann (1696-1758), and Dietrich Buxtehude (1637- 1707).

Through Handel the oratorio attained a position in musical art more important than at any previous period in its history and never surpassed since. In his hands it became the expression of the sturdy Saxon faith unaffected by the spirit of doubt latent in the religious revolt of the sixteenth century. Formed in Germany and Italy, he united in a pre-eminent degree the highest creative gifts. The most productive period of his life was spent in England, and, after having cultivated the opera for a number of years, he finally turned to the oratorio, producing a series of works ("The Messiah", "Israel in Egypt", "Saul". "Jephtha", "Belshazar", "Samson" etc.) unrivalled for heroic grandeur and brilliancy. It may be said