The style of Beethoven as a composer of sacred music is reflected in his
single oratorio "Christ on the Mount of Olives," that like his single
opera stands apart, amply sufficient to prove what he was capable of
accomplishing. Mendelssohn, in his "St. Paul" and his "Elijah," embodied
a high ideal, building on his predecessors and attaining, especially in
the latter, an eclectic spirit that manifests keen discrimination. The
oratorios of Liszt, the "Christus," "St. Elizabeth" and some lesser
works, reveal high purpose and original treatment of a revelation in
tones of sacred events. In the oratorios of the Frenchman Gounod,
preeminently in his "Redemption," it is interesting to find modern
chorals based on those of the German Bach, and, in fact, as it has been
aptly said, a modernized treatment of Bach's passion form.
What may be the next step in the evolution of the oratorio it were
difficult to estimate. Whether modern efforts can ever surpass, or even
equal, the sublime productions in this field, or whether creative genius
will be turned into wholly new channels, the future alone may
determine.
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