69: The Oratorio and the Passion

I’ve already written an article on opera explaining what it is and why it’s so important in history earlier in this series on form. And even before this series began, I explained what a Mass setting is. Today, then, I want to talk about something that’s a sort of hybrid between the two— a deeply spiritual, often Scripturally-based opera without costumes or scenery. This form is the oratorio. There are defined characters (Bach’s Easter Oratorio, for example, has Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Less, Peter, and John— but no Jesus, Narrator, or Crowd), just like in an opera. Perhaps the most famous oratorio of them all is Handel’s Messiah, of great fame thanks to its “Hallelujah”.

(Allow me an aside: I just discovered as I was writing this article that there is a German translation of “The Messiah”— as “Der Messias”—by none other than Mozart himself! Nothing changes except the language of the text.)

There is no strict definition of what counts and doesn’t count as an oratorio. The Easter Oratorio is about 40 minutes long (a bit longer than a typical cantata), while Messiah and the Christmas Oratorio are each 2-plus (even 2 1/2) hours, and it can be about almost anything— typically with the stipulation that most of the text is from Scripture.

There exists a special type of Oratorio: the Passion. These do have a set text: one of the four Passion Narratives in the Gospel of the composer’s choice. Bach wrote all four, but Mark has been lost, and Luke probably isn’t (all) Bach’s work. Matthew and John, however, definitely are, and each is among the greatest choral works ever written. They’re both about 2 1/2 hours, so you’ll need a long uninterrupted stretch, but I highly, highly recommend listening to both, whatever your religious convictions, simply because the music is so masterful.

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