The books of the words were printed. Instead of the modern over ture, a madrigal, with all the parte doubled, and fully accompanied, is recommended.
When the curtain rises, two youths, who recite the prologue, appear. Then Time, one of the characters, comes on, and has the note with which he is to begin given him by the instruments behind the scenes. The chorus is to be placed on the stage, part sitting and part standing; and when they sing they are to be in motion with gestures.
Il corpo (the body), at the words Si the hormai alma via, throws away his ornaments. The World and Human Life are to be gaily dressed, and when divested of their trappings are to appear poor and wretched, and finally dead carcasses.
The performance may conclude with or without a dance. If with out, the Last chorus is to be doubled in all its parts; but if a dance is preferred, a verse beginning " Chiostri altissimi " is to be sung, accom panied reverentially by the dance. During the ritornels the four principal dancers are to perform a ballet, saltato eon capriole (danced with capers), without singing. They may sometimes use the halliard step, sometimes the canary, and sometimes the courant.
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, more inclined to derive the term from the pLace, the oratorio (oratorium, 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 Baldueci applied it to two of his sacred poems.
The unfortunate Stradella was one of the first of those who distin guished themselves in this exalted kind of composition [STRADELLA, in Moo. Div.]: his Oratorio di S. Gio, Battista,' produced about the year 1670, is analysed and much praised by Burney (iv. 105). A fine chorus from this, in five parts, is printed in the fourth vol. of ' The Fitzwilliam 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 Azioni Sacre; most of which were set by Caldara, imperial vice-chapel-master to Leopold I., whose reputation as a composer of sacred music deservedly stands high. The first of them, Sisara,' was performed in 1717. Dfetastasio wrote seven Azioni,' of which Caldara set two ; the first, La Passione,' in 1730. This was re-set by Jomelli, and is justly reckoned among the best of his works.
The oratorio was introduced into England in 1720, when Handel set Esther ' (Racine's tragedy abridged and altered by Mr. Humphreys)
for the chapel of the Duke of Chandoa (Pope's Tinton ') at Cannons. This, in 1731, was performed by the children of the Chapel Royal, at the house of their master, Bernard Oates, The next year it was publicly produced, as appears from the following advertisement in the Daily Journal :'—" By his Majesty's command, at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket, on Tuesday, the 2nd of May, will be performed the sacred story of ' Esther,' an oratorio in English, formerly composed by Mr. Handel, and now revived by him, with several additions, and to be performed by a great number of voices and instruments. N.B. There will be uo acting on the stage, but the house will be fitted up iu a decent manner for the audience." The success of this was of the most decided and encouraging kind ; but for an account of the great master's other oratorios, and of his inducement for first producing them, we refer to the life of liANDEL, in the Moo. Div. of this work.
The custom of performing oratorios on the Wednesdays and Fridays in Lent is to be dated from 1737, from which time they were, with few intermissions, continued till a very recent period. Handel was succeeded in this musical speculation by his friend J. C. Smith, who was followed by Stanley and the elder Linley. [STANLEY, and LiNtsv, in Bioo. Div.) Linley and Dr. Arnold then in conjunction most suc cessfully carried on the oratorios, which were continued by the latter on the retirement of his colleague. [Aaxotn, in thou. Div.) An opposition was now started by Ashley, who had been active as a subor dinate 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, till at length, having been for some years carried on by different persons, and generally at a loss, they ceased altogether. Though it would be unjust not to admit that, even during this unfavourable interval, there were two or three seasons that reflected some credit on the managers, in which `The Messiah,' with Mozart's added accompaniments, was first publicly produced in London, and also Beethoven's 'Mount of Olives.' Of late years, chiefly through the exertions of the Sacred Harmonic Society, oratorios have been restored to more than their early popularity in this country, and are probably performed with more power, feeling. and precision than at any previous period. The oratorios of Mendelssohn have contributed not a little to this work. [31ENDELS90111C, in Bioo. Dry.]