ELIJAH, An Oratorio by Felix Mendelssohn
featured in "THUS SAITH ELIJAH"
Sunday,
June 5, 2005 at 8:00 p.m.
St. Mary's Catheral, 1716 NW Davis, Portland, Oregon
FIRST CRITICAL REVIEW
The reception of the new work was rapturous--the London Times said, "Never
was there a more complete triumph-never a more thorough and speedy recognition
of a great work of art." Indeed, in England only the Messiah has remained
as popular, and similarly to Handel's influence, following composers have
continued to write music just like some of the more popular choruses and arias
from Elijah.
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
Elijah, a Tishbite from the region of Gilead, was a prophet in Israel during
the reigns of Ahab, Ahaziah and Jehoram. All his life Elijah was active in
the defense of God. His teachings brought him into constant conflict with
the Kings of Israel, and on one occasion had to flee for his life. He fought
against the cult of Baal, and clashed frequently with Ahab's wife Jezebel,
who had introduced the pagan cult in Israel.
Elijah performed some extraordinary miracles as a prophet of God, he brought the dead son of a widow back to life (1 Kings 17:22-23), caused a jar of meal and a jar of oil to constantly refill during a drought, caused fire to come out of the sky and consume a burnt offering, ended a drought, and ran faster than King Ahab's chariot.
In Kings 19 the Lord revealed Himself to Elijah. Elijah parted the waters of the Jordan River, by striking it with his mantle, and crossed on dry ground with his understudy, Elisha. "As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlpool into heaven" (2 Kings 2:11).
Elisha then picked up Elijah's mantle and became a prophet of God. Elijah remains one of the most intriguing of the prophets. In the New Testament, the angel Gabriel tells Zechariah that his wife Elizabeth will bear a son "with the spirit and power of Elijah" (Luke 1:17).
Many have identified John the Baptist with Elijah the forerunner of the Messiah. Some thought Jesus to be Elijah but Jesus rejected this, attributing the roll to John the Baptist. Elijah, with Moses appears with Jesus at the Transfiguration. The story of Elijah is found in 1 and 2 Kings, and in 1 and 2 Chronicles. The name Elijah means "Yah is my God"
Elijah is a much more traditional oratorio than Messiah in that it contains an historical narrative of the events in the life of the biblical character Elijah. It is interesting that Mendelssohn should choose such a subject as he was a Jew converted to Christianity and a rather mild-mannered man, yet Elijah is one of the most vengeful and fiercest of the prophets. However, being raised a Jew, Mendelssohn was certainly familiar with the story (shared by Jews and Christians alike) and he may have related the old testament leader to his hope for a modern political leader: In a letter in 1838 to his friend Schubring (collaborator on the libretto) he wrote, "I imagined Elijah as a real prophet through and through, of the kind we could really do with today: Strong, zealous and yes, even bad-tempered, angry and brooding-in contrast to the riff-raff, whether of the court or of the people, and indeed at odds with almost the whole world-and yet borne aloft as if on angels' wings."
