[Classical] Masterpieces of oratorios. Recommended classical music.

JephthahGiacomo Carissimi

Plorate filii Israel (Jephte) Giacomo Carissimi

It is a Latin oratorio that premiered in Rome around 1649.

Giacomo Carissimi, a composer of the Roman School, wrote a great deal of church music, including seventeen oratorios.

After this work, vernacular-language oratorios developed in various Italian cities and countries.

Although there is no definitive answer as to which work is the world’s first oratorio, the oratorio scholar Lino Bianchi suggests that this piece was likely the earliest.

For those who wish to study or perform representative works of the oratorio genre, Carissimi’s Jephte is recommended, as it is considered to be close to the original model.

Children of Our AgeMichael Tippett

LSSO – A Child of Our Time by Sir Michael Tippett – 1982

Michael Tippett was a British composer, and he wrote this oratorio in 1938 based on the incident in which Herschel Grynszpan, a Polish Jew, shot a Nazi diplomat in protest against the Nazis.

Spirituals of African American origin are also interwoven throughout the oratorio.

Guardians of PeaceSergei Prokofiev

ON GUARD FOR PEACE – Sergei Prokofiev

This is an oratorio composed in 1948, late in life and from his sickbed, by Sergei Prokofiev, one of Russia’s leading composers.

Having witnessed the horrors of war, Prokofiev set a libretto themed on averting war and safeguarding peace.

A children’s chorus appears throughout, and its hopeful sonority has led many to regard the work as a moving appeal for the preciousness of peace.

While oratorios often take on religious subjects such as the Resurrection of Christ, there are also non-religious examples, such as “Nagasaki” by the German-Jewish composer Alfred Garrievich Schnittke.

Both works pray for peace and depict the tragedy of war, making them unusual within the oratorio genre, but they are pieces I strongly encourage you to hear.

Joan of Arc at the StakeArthur Honegger

Arthur Honegger – Oratorio «Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher» – 14.03.2015, National Opera House, Kyiv

An oratorio composed by the Swiss-born modern French composer Arthur Honegger, with a libretto by the French poet Paul Claudel.

It premiered in Basel, Switzerland, in 1938.

On the night before Joan of Arc’s execution by burning, the monk Dominique visits Joan, and she reflects back on her past, returning to her childhood.

Cain: The First MurderDomenico Scarlatti

A. Scarlatti – Oratorio «Il primo omicidio» | Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin

In the Baroque era, Scarlatti was one of Italy’s representative composers.

He, too, wrote several oratorios.

This piece is based on the Old Testament story of Cain and Abel.

Cain and Abel offered sacrifices to God, but while Abel offered what God desired, Cain’s offering did not please Him, so Cain grew angry and killed Abel.

This is the first murder in human life.

The opening violin solo sounds as if it foretells a tragic fate.