| Never was there a more complete triumph - never a more thorough and speedy
recognition of a great work of art. The Times 1846 |
| Such was the rapturous reception of Mendelssohn's Elijah at its first performance that no fewer than eight of its items (four arias and four of the choruses) had to be encored! And despite fluctuations in fashion it remains as popular with British choirs and audiences today as it ever was, second only in popularity to Handel's incomparable Messiah. |
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| How do we account for this? The answer is quite simply that Elijah is the most genuinely dramatic work of its genre. Right from the outset, we are thrown headlong into the drama. Breaking with tradition, Mendelssohn opens the oratorio with a recitative As God the Lord of Israel liveth, in which Elijah prophecies the forthcoming drought in Israel. He then uses the overture, palpably screwing up the tension bar by bar, to prepare us for the choral outburst of Help, Lord! wilt thou quite destroy us? |
- truly one of oratorio's most spine tingling moments. He then proceeds to mimic musically the mixed emotions of the famine-stricken people - from the pathetic quasi-recitative depicting exhausted rivers, thirsting people and starving children, to prayers of desperation Lord! Bow Thine ear to our prayer! and finally to exasperation and indignation Yet doth the Lord see it not. Into this scena Obadiah interposes an alluring tenor recit. and aria Ye people, rend your hearts; If with all your hearts, offering a crumb of scriptural comfort to those who would repent - but still edging on desperation.
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| Elijah cures the widow's son . . . | ||
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Elijah's sojourn to Cherith's brook where he is guaranteed water and fed by ravens is summarily dealt with in the recitative Elijah! Get thee hence, but this only serves to heighten the impact of what follows. Firstly Elijah is given reassurance of God's care For He shall give His angels charge over thee, a passing moment of real sweetness which throws into relief the desperate plight of the widow whose son is ill. The dramatic exchanges between these two characters What have I to do with thee, O man of God? are profoundly moving - the frantic widow, Elijah's matter-of-fact response, the child's cure, his mother's subsequent reaffirmation of faith and the choral conclusion Blessed are the men who fear him are all the more powerful because they are credible and never overstated. | |
| . . . and the god who by fire shall answer, let him be God | ||
| With no preamble save a few chords in the brass (echoing the opening bars of the oratorio) Elijah resumes his prophetic role As God the Lord of Sabaoth liveth and we are precipitated back into the action. The heated exchanges between Elijah, Ahab and the people result in Elijah's Challenge - the ultimate trial of strength - a dramatic scenario by any measure, but made doubly exciting by the three Baal Choruses. |  | |
| and then we shall see whose god is Lord . . . | ||
| The first Baal, we cry to thee; hear and answer us! is almost cocky in its self-assurance, the second and third Call him louder, for he is a god! Call him louder! He heareth not! become progressively more frenetic as the people realise how ineffectual they are and Elijah goads and provokes them. Contrast this with the reverence, almost diffidence, of Elijah's own prayers Lord God of Abraham, | Isaac and Israel! before he receives scriptural reassurance from the chorus Cast thy burden upon the Lord and summons up the confidence to call down fire from heaven O Thou, who makest Thine angels Spirits. How powerful is the sudden change from sheer excitement to awe and reverence as the people become aware of the implications of the fire from heaven. | |
| Mendelssohn's genius . . . | ||
| How shocking the sudden change to sheer brutality in their treatment of the prophets of Baal mirrored in the chorus and the almost Handelian aria Is not his word like a fire? But a sheer stroke of genius Woe unto them resolves the seeming incongruities, musically and philosophically, bringing a hectic sequence to rest in a rapturously beautiful aria which creates the perfect ambience for the finale to Part One. | ||
| . . . Thanks be to God! | ||
| Elijah has just one piece of unfinished business - the drought - before Part One is satisfactorily concluded, and true to form, Mendelssohn invests it with just the right amount of suspense. In response to Obadiah's pleas 0 man of God, help thy people!, Elijah (in prophetic mode) prays to God for rain and is joined by the people, whose prayers are only successful after several attempts. The aural contrast between treble solo, baritone (Elijah) and chorus and the cumulative effect of a repeated sequence of prayers reflect Mendelssohn's treatment of the Baal episode, but in this section the momentum is unbroken and the outcome is wholly positive, satisfying psychologically and musically in its exhilarating choral conclusion Thanks be to God!. | ||
| Part Two | |
| The personages should act and speak as if they were living beings - for Heaven's sake let them not be a musical picture, but a real world, such as you find in every chapter of the Old Testament. Felix Mendelssohn |  |
| Eventful though it undoubtedly is, Elijah owes as much to its dramatic characterisation as to its exciting events; Elijah's reactions seem at least as important to Mendelssohn as the events which caused them. | ||
| A recurrent theme of the entire work is Elijah's vulnerability and his constant need for reassurance. Such is the theme of the opening soprano solo Hear ye, Israel; hear what the Lord speaketh and the chorus Be not afraid, saith God the Lord which follows it. But drama of a more overt kind is never far away and there follows a heated exchange The Lord hath exalted thee in which Elijah condemns Ahab's wrongdoings and Jezebel incites the people to seize and slaughter him Woe to him, he shall perish. A warning from Obadiah Man of god, now let my words be precious sees Elijah back in the desert for fear of his life | and feeling an abject failure It is enough: 0 Lord now take my life but even in these depths of despair, Mendelssohn does not allow Elijah to wallow or lose his dignity; rather, this beautiful aria with cello obbligato, is a model of Bach-like understatement. Reassurance comes in the form of the recitative See, now he sleepeth and an angelic trio Lift thine eyes to the mountains whose theme is taken up by the full chorus He, watching over Israel, slumbers not, all three items, interpolated into the story by Mendelssohn, are the perfect foil to Elijah's desperation.
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| . . . self-doubt, reassurance and optimism | ||
| But Elijah's self doubt re-emerges in his exchange with the angel Arise Elijah and at the prospect of a forty day journey to Mount Horeb; he wishes he were dead. The angel's reply O rest in the Lord, is perhaps the best loved of the arias from Elijah (one which he was almost persuaded to omit!) and a poignant example of Mendelssohn's gift for melody. He that shall endure to the end, a chorale-like melody reinforces the angel's message, closing this episode on a note of optimism. Night falls and Elijah is taken by the angel to Mount Horeb Night falleth round me where he is to experience the power and presence of God firsthand Behold! Godthe Lord passed by. | Storm earthquake and fire are graphically depicted in this chorus, but it is only in the "still small voice" that Elijah finds the Lord. It seems that this truth is central to the whole work, such an essential feature is the contrast between violent extremes and sublime peacefulness. It is no coincidence that Mendelssohn uses music of such sweetness to portray Elijah's beatific vision Holy, holy, holy is God the Lord. Sustained by this, the ultimate privilege, he is sent back to his people Go, return upon thy way! and takes up the challenge with renewed confidence I go on my way in the strength of the Lord; For the mountains shall depart. | |
| he broke forth like a fire. . . his words like burning torches . . . kingdoms were overthrown . . . judgments made and vengeance was had in Horeb | ||
| The narrative of Elijah, really comes to an end in the next chorus Then did Elijah, which is in effect a summation of the rest of his prophetic life, portrayed with evangelistic fervour both verbally and musically.We are told how he "broke forth like a fire, his words -like burning torches" how kingdoms were overthrown, judgments made and vengeance was had in Horeb. | ||
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| Finally we hear how God took him to Heaven in a whirlwind on a fiery chariot with all the inherent excitement aptly captured by Mendelssohn. | ||
| . . . taken to heaven by a whirlwind in a fiery chariot | ||
| But that is not the end of the oratorio, nor should it be, for the chorus leads directly into a tenor solo Then shall the righteous shine forth, a reflection on what has gone before. Throughout Elijah Mendelssohn has caused us to reflect and empathise with the character of Elijah himself and what his plight means for us. Not surprisingly then this continues into the closing moments of the oratorio, not as an optional or arbitrary coda, but to give point to the whole experience. | Just like Elijah, Mendelssohn's audience is provided with scriptural wherewithal to comtemplate the life of the prophet and learn from it. Thus, the recitative Behold God hath sent Elijah, the chorus But the Lord from the north hath raised one and the quartet O come everyone that thirsteth are an appropriate preparation for the final paen of praise which breaks forth from the chorus And then shall your light break forth. | |
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