ied.
Rubinstein's "sacred operas" are oratorios profusely interspersed with
stage directions, many of which are impossible of scenic realization.
Their whole purpose is to work upon the imagination of the listeners
and thus open gate-ways for the music. Ever since its composition,
Saint-Saens's "Samson and Delilah" has held a place in both theatre
and concert-room. Liszt's "St. Elizabeth" has been found more
effective when provided with pictorial accessories than without. The
greater part of "Elijah" might be presented in dramatic form.

[Sidenote: _Influence of the Church plays._]

[Sidenote: _Origin of the oratorio._]

[Sidenote: _The choral element extended._]

[Sidenote: _Narrative and descriptive choruses._]

[Sidenote: _Dramatization._]

Confusing and anomalous as these things are, they find their
explanation in the circumstance that the oratorio never quite freed
itself from the influence of the people's Church plays in which it had
its beginning. As a distinct art-form it began in a mixture of
artistic entertainment and religious worship provided in the early
part of the sixteenth century by Filippo Neri (now a saint) for those
who came for pious instruction to his oratory (whence the name). The
purpose of these entertainments being religious, the subjects were
Biblical, and though the musical progress from the beginning was along
the line of the lyric drama, contemporaneous in origin with it, the
music naturally developed into broader forms on the choral side,
because music had to make up for the lack of pantomime, costumes, and
scenery. Hence we have not only the preponderance of choruses in the
oratorio over recitative, arias, duets, trios, and so forth, but also
the adherence in the choral part to the old manner of writing which
made the expansion of the choruses possible. Where the choruses left
the field of pure reflection and became narrative, as in "Israel in
Egypt," or assumed a dramatic character, as in the "Elijah," the
composer found in them vehicles for descriptive and characteristic
music, and so local color came into use. Characterization of the solo
parts followed as a matter of course, an early illustration being
found in the manner in which Bach lifted the words of Christ into
prominence by surrounding them with the radiant halo which streams
from the violin accompaniment. In consequence the singer to whom was
assigned the task of singing the part of _Jesus_ presented himself to
the fan