CHAPTER VII
ORATORIO IN ENGLAND
Influence of oratorio in England—Commonwealth period and effect on music—Italy original home of oratorio—Origin of the word—Similarity to opera in early stage—Handel—Absurdity of claiming him as an Englishman—Italy has greater claims—Handel's versatility—Early oratorios—"Messiah"—King George III. and the "Hallelujah" chorus—Greatness of the oratorio—Its hold on the people—Effect on the religious feelings of the country—Joseph Haydn—"The Creation"—Its immediate popularity—Reasons for it—Its claims to greatness—Bach—Mendelssohn his greatest disciple—"Elijah"—Its amazing reception at Birmingham—Its continued popularity in England—Spohr—"Last Judgment"—Ephemeral popularity—Reasons—Samuel Sebastian Wesley—"Redemption" and "Golden Legend"—Many years of great popularity—Hallé and English music—Wrong method of teaching—"Dream of Gerontius," and conclusion.
Of all forms of music, that which has long appealed most deeply to the English people is, without question, the oratorio.
For it they entertain not only affection but, and with good reason, gratitude.
The oratorio became, as it were, a city of refuge to them. Within its walls they sought shelter from the grim and forbidding austerity to which Puritanism had doomed them.
To what an extent music had been banned by the intolerant and fanatic spirit of the times, is shown by one fact which is almost picturesque in its weirdness. When, on the Restoration, boys who could sing were wanted for the choirs
of the Chapels Royal, none could be found! The treble parts of the music had to be played on cornets or similar instruments. Music had been banished from the home as well as the Church, and this astonishing fact proves with what profound results.
What years of silence those, during the Commonwealth, must have been. It makes one shudder to think of it. What an infancy for those born during those dark days. So completely had all ear for music been, apparently, lost, that it took some years of training before any children could be fitted to take their places in these choirs. The effect of those terrible years was destined to remain, as may be seen by the number of people who may be found in England to-day, possessed of no ear for music whatever.
Oratorio was to prove, in after years, the means of reconciliation between the art of music and the English people. Divested of the taint of frivolity with which, with good reason, they had for so long associated it, music was once more presented to them as the ally of religion. How eagerly they grasped the olive branch held out to them, will be seen later on.