Etymology The word
oratorio comes from the
Latin verb
ōrō (present infinitive
ōrāre), meaning to orate or
speak publicly, to pray, or to beg or plead, related to the
Attic Greek noun ἀρά (
ará, 'prayer'). (Hence the
disambiguation entry for 'oratory', including
oratory (worship).) The musical composition was "named from the kind of musical services held in the church of the
Oratory of St. Philip Neri in
Rome (''Congregazione dell'Oratorio'') in the latter half of the 16th cent." The word is only attested in English from 1727, with the equivalent 'oratory' in prior use, from 1640.
John Stainer's
The Crucifixion (1887) became the stereotypical battlehorse of massed amateur choral societies.
Edward Elgar tried to revive the genre around the turn of century with the composition of
The Light of Life (
Lux Christi),
The Dream of Gerontius,
The Apostles and
The Kingdom.
20th century Oratorio returned haltingly to public attention with
Igor Stravinsky's
Oedipus Rex in Paris (1927),
William Walton's ''
Belshazzar's Feast'' in Leeds (1931),
Paul Hindemith's
Das Unaufhörliche in Berlin (1931),
Arthur Honegger's
Le Roi David and ''
Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher'' in Basel (1938), and
Franz Schmidt's
The Book with Seven Seals (
Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln) in Vienna (1938).
Michael Tippett's oratorio
A Child of Our Time (first performance, 1944) engages with events surrounding the
Second World War. Postwar oratorios include
Dmitri Shostakovich's
Song of the Forests (1949),
Sergei Prokofiev's
On Guard for Peace (1950),
Vadim Salmanov's
Twelve (1957),
Alfred Schnittke's
Nagasaki (1958),
Bohuslav Martinů's
The Epic of Gilgamesh (1958),
Krzysztof Penderecki's
St. Luke Passion (1966),
Hans Werner Henze's
Das Floß der Medusa (1968),
René Clemencic's
Kabbala (1992), and
Osvaldo Golijov's
La Pasión según San Marcos (2000).
Mauricio Kagel composed
Sankt-Bach-Passion, an oratorio about Bach's life, for the tercentenary of his birth in 1985. Oratorios by popular musicians include
Léo Ferré's
La Chanson du mal-aimé (1954 and 1972), based on
Guillaume Apollinaire's poem of the same name,
Paul McCartney's
Liverpool Oratorio (1991), and
Mikis Theodorakis's
Canto General and
Axion Esti, based on poems of
Pablo Neruda and
Odusseas Elytis.
21st century When
Dudley Buck composed his oratorio
The Light of Asia in 1886, it became the first in the history of the genre to be based on the life of
Buddha. Several late 20th and early 21st-century oratorios have since been based on Buddha's life or have incorporated Buddhist texts. These include
Somei Satoh's 1987
Stabat Mater,
Dinesh Subasinghe's 2010
Karuna Nadee, and
Jonathan Harvey's 2011
Weltethos. The 21st century also saw a continuation of Christianity-based oratorios with
John Adams's
El Niño and
The Gospel According to the Other Mary. Other religions represented include
Ilaiyaraaja's
Thiruvasakam (based on the texts of
Hindu hymns to
Shiva). Secular oratorios composed in the 21st century include
Nathan Currier's
Gaian Variations (based on the
Gaia hypothesis),
Richard Einhorn's
The Origin (based on the writings of
Charles Darwin),
Jonathan Mills'
Sandakan Threnody (based on the
Sandakan Death Marches),
Neil Hannon's
To Our Fathers in Distress, and
David Lang's
The Little Match Girl Passion (2008).
Because of My Name (2016) is based on the
assassination of Father
Jerzy Popiełuszko on 19 October 1984, including the song dedicated to him,
Błogosławiony ksiądz Jerzy Popiełuszko", composed by
Piotr Rubik. The oratorio ''
Laudato si', composed in 2016 by Peter Reulein on a libretto by Helmut Schlegel, includes the full Latin text of the Magnificat, expanded by writings of Clare of Assisi, Francis of Assisi and Pope Francis. Bruder Martin'' was composed by
Thomas Gabriel, setting a text by
Eugen Eckert about scenes from the life of
Martin Luther, for the 500th anniversary of the
Reformation in 2017. In 2017,
Jörg Widmann's oratorio
ARCHE premiered. A transfer of sacrality to secular contexts takes place. ==See also==