Editing Elijah (oratorio) (section)

==Music and its style==
This piece was composed in the spirit of Mendelssohn's [[Baroque music|Baroque]] predecessors [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]] and [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]], whose music he greatly admired.  In 1829 Mendelssohn had organized the first performance of Bach's ''[[St Matthew Passion]]'' since the composer's death and was instrumental in bringing this and other Bach works to widespread popularity. By contrast, Handel's oratorios never went out of fashion in England. Mendelssohn prepared a scholarly edition of some of Handel's oratorios for publication in London. ''Elijah'' is modelled on the oratorios of these two Baroque masters; however, in its lyricism and use of orchestral and choral colour the style clearly reflects Mendelssohn's own skill as an early [[Romantic music|Romantic]] composer.{{citation needed|date = February 2013}}

The work is scored for eight vocal soloists (two each of bass, tenor, alto, soprano), full symphony orchestra including 2 [[flute]]s, 2 [[oboe]]s, 2 [[clarinet]]s, 2 [[bassoon]]s, 4 [[French horn|horns]], 2 [[trumpet]]s, 3 [[trombone]]s, [[ophicleide]], [[timpani]], [[organ (music)|organ]] and strings and a large chorus usually singing in four, but occasionally eight parts. The title role was sung at the premiere by the Austrian bass [[Josef Staudigl]].<ref>Todd, R. Larry (1991). [https://books.google.com/books?id=w_VTyeUpf-4C&pg=PA304 ''Mendelssohn and His World''], p. 304. Princeton University Press</ref>

Mendelssohn had discussed an oratorio based on Elijah in the late 1830s with his friend Karl Klingemann, who had provided him with the libretto for his comic operetta ''[[Die Heimkehr aus der Fremde]]'',<ref name=Boston>[http://www.concertoperaboston.org/MW_SonAndStranger2009.html Program notes for Concert Opera Boston performance of ''Son and Stranger'', March 15, 2009, accessed November 23, 2009]</ref> which resulted in a partial text that Klingemann was unable to finish. Mendelssohn then turned to {{ill|Julius Schubring (theologian)|de|Julius Schubring (Theologe)|lt=Julius Schubring}}, the librettist for his earlier oratorio ''[[St. Paul (oratorio)|St. Paul]]'', who quickly abandoned Klingemann's work and produced his own text that combined the story of Elijah as told in the Book of Kings with [[psalms]]. In 1845, the [[Birmingham Triennial Music Festival|Birmingham Festival]] commissioned an oratorio from Mendelssohn, who worked with Schubring to put the text in final form and in 1845 and 1846 composed his oratorio to the German and English texts in parallel, taking care to change musical phrases to suit the rhythms and stresses of the translation by [[William Bartholomew (writer)|William Bartholomew]], a chemist who was also an experienced amateur poet and composer.<ref>Temperley, Nicholas (1998) ''Programme note to the complete English recording of the oratorio'' (Decca Records)</ref>

The oratorio was first performed on 26 August 1846 at Birmingham Town Hall in its English version, conducted by the composer, and it was immediately acclaimed a classic of the genre. As ''[[The Times]]'' critic wrote: 'Never was there a more complete triumph &nbsp;– never a more thorough and speedy recognition of a great work of art'.<ref>''[[The Times]]'' (anonymous critic), 27 August 1846</ref> Notwithstanding the work's triumph, Mendelssohn revised his oratorio wholesale before another group of performances in London in April 1847 &nbsp;– one (23 April) in the presence of [[Queen Victoria]] and [[Albert, Prince Consort|Prince Albert]]. The German version was first performed on the composer's birthday, 3 February 1848, in [[Leipzig]], a few months after Mendelssohn's death, under the baton of the composer [[Niels Gade]].