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Mendelssohn's forebears were Jewish, but when he was seven years old his parents had him baptized as a Christian, not so much out of religious zeal as from a desire to allow him to partake more fully of German culture and to gain greater social acceptance. Although they raised Felix as a Lutheran and he remained devoted to the church throughout his life, he was never fully accepted as a Christian by his contemporaries, nor was he ever fully cut off from his Judaic heritage. Musicians have long debated whether Mendelssohn's three major choral works reflect his religious duality. The main subject of St. Paul is a figure from the New Testament who, although born as a Jew, became an early leader of Christianity. The First Walpurgis Night sympathetically describes pagan rituals and presents Christians in a poor light. And Elijah probes the wisdom of an Old Testament prophet from Israel. Mendelssohn had made preliminary sketches on Elijah in 1837, but had to put them aside because of earlier commissions he had accepted. However, in 1845 he was approached by the Birmingham (England) Music Festival to write and conduct a new oratorio for the 1846 festival. The Reverend Julius Schubring, librettist of Mendelssohn's earlier oratorio, St. Paul, prepared the text for Elijah, but consistently tried to superimpose his New Testament beliefs on the Old Testament story. Mendelssohn, who had strong emotional ties to the biblical text, firmly rejected Schubring's theological revisionism, and eventually the two men agreed on the text. The premiere of Elijah on August 26, 1846, in Birmingham, brought the composer-conductor wild acclaim. Although audiences traditionally did not applaud at oratorio performances, The Times described the public's reaction on this occasion as a "unanimous volley of plaudits, vociferous and deafening!" The listeners demanded that eight sections – four choruses and four arias – be repeated during the performance. Mendelssohn composed Elijah for four soloists – bass (Elijah), tenor (Obadiah, Master of the King's Palace, and Ahab, Israelite King), alto (Angel and Queen Jezebel), and soprano (Widow and Angel) – four-part mixed choir (variously the people, the followers of Baal, bringers of the word of God, narrators, and commentators), and orchestra. The libretto of Elijah presents several key, dramatic incidents in the life of the prophet, including his warning that the terrible drought signaled God's wrath, his resurrection of the widow's son, his defeat of the priests of Baal and the coming of rain, his suffering under King Ahab, his vision of God on Mount Horeb , and his ascent into heaven. Elijah opens with four solemn chords, which Mendelssohn later associates with the word of God; these chords lead to a recitative in which the prophet announces the start of the drought. The story is then interrupted with an exciting, richly textured overture that leads, without pause, into the powerful opening chorus – "Help, Lord!" – after which the people lament their dreadful condition and plead for surcease. The two female soloists join the plaintive lament of the chorus until Obadiah introduces a note of hope in his recitative and very popular aria "If with all your hearts." After another chorus, "Yet doth the Lord," an angel announces God's will that Elijah go into the wilderness, where a widow will care for him. In a highly theatrical duet between the Widow and Elijah, the prophet brings her dead son back to life, and the choir joins in praise of the Lord. Elijah next returns to Israel, and the music moves toward the climactic contest between the priests of Baal and Elijah – the priests raging and ranting, Elijah taunting them – out of which comes Elijah's solemn prayer "Lord God of Abraham." In a musical high point, the chorus sings "Cast thy burden," followed by movements in which the people report that God sent flames to earth in response to Elijah's prayers and then unleashed a downpour to end the drought. The first part of the oratorio ends with the highly rhythmic chorus of thanksgiving "Thanks be to God!" Mendelssohn opens Part II with the major soprano aria of Elijah, "Hear ye, Israel," a contemplative, elegiac song that ends strongly and flows directly in the equally forceful chorus "Be not afraid." Now Queen Jezebel incites the crowd to slay Elijah, and the people show their anger in the stirring chorus "Woe to him," which is soon followed by the most popular aria of the work, Elijah's "It is enough." The best-known choruses of the oratorio follow – "Lift thine eyes," and "He, watching over Israel." Following the confident mood projected in the latter chorus, an angel calls the despondent Elijah into the presence of God on Mount Horeb. The alto aria of consolation, "O rest in the Lord" (which Mendelssohn wanted to omit, saying, "It is too sweet"), gives way to "He that shall endure," a chorus in rather severe chorale style. Another climactic point in the oratorio comes with the vivid, pictorial chorus "Behold, God the Lord passed by!" which is followed with the people then bidding Elijah to return to his people ("Go, return upon thy way"), which he does. Finally, the chorus describes Elijah's vengeful actions in the name of the Lord, after which he dramatically ascends to heaven in a "fiery chariot." The story of Elijah ends at this point and the oratorio is completed in a more pious and devout nature. The tenor soloist sings the beautiful aria, "Then shall the righteous shine forth," and the chorus concludes the work with the grand anthem "And then shall your light break forth." Without doubt, audiences around the world rank Mendelssohn's Elijah along with Handel's Messiah and Haydn's The Creation in the great choral triumvirate. from Guide to Choral Masterpieces, Melvin Berger © 1993
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