Tl 



OKATORIO. 



ORATORIO. 



Tb akin of the sweet orange in the crude *Ute ia indigestible, and 

 even liangerous. Children ahould be prevented eating it or swallowing 

 the pips, u eren fatal results have followed eating the rind of one 

 orange. The pulp of the aweet orange, and, still better, the expressed 

 juice, U very grateful to person* with feverish or inflammatory dmnsuBS 

 Orangeade ia made by adding water and sugar to the juice. The 

 adjunct of sugar is objectionable. Greatly more objectionable is sugar 

 with lemon-juice, which i< much more digestible when pure or diluted 

 with water only. The utility of lemon-juice in exalting the digestive 

 powers of the stomach was long familiarly known to gourmands, and 

 taken by them as an accompaniment of young and fat meats, such as 

 real, lamb, pork, goose, and other food. These are almost all tchii-- 

 meats ; but in French cookery lemon-juice is taken with black meats, 

 such as game. Ducks of different kinds are seasoned by the English 

 with lemon-juice. It was, however, long before the observation of 

 iU power in these instances led to its employment to raise the depressed 

 condition of the stomach among seamen and others compelled to use 

 salted, hard, and innutritions meat for a length of time. To Sir Gilbert 

 Blane U due the merit of this great improvement, which has almost 

 entirely banished sea-scurvy from our navy. [ANTISCORBUTICS.] But 

 many medicines have their curative power increased by the accompa- 

 niment of lemon-juice. Bilious and autumnal fevers of an inter- 

 mittent type are often cured by cinchona with lemon-juice, which 

 cinchona could not affect alone, or in other combinations. The most 

 efficacious of antidotes to sea-sickness is lemon- juice alone, or with com- 

 mon table-salt dissolved in it. The health of many persona on land 

 is very greatly improved by the habitual employment of lemon-juice 

 at meals, in preference to malt liquors ; but it must be token with- 

 out sugar. Of late lemon-juice has been recommended as a cure 

 fur rheumatism, in some cases with unquestionable benefit ; but it 

 requires to be taken in large quantity, and fresh, not old imported 

 juice, or the imitation of genuine juice mode by dissolving citric acid 

 and adding tincture of lemon-peel. Headaches of a neuralgic kind and 

 malarious origin are often speedily relieved by pure lemon- juice. 

 Heartburn is often relieved by the same means. Slices of lemon 

 applied to the skin by a bandage often cure cutaneous disorders. 

 Lime-juice is used in the West Indies in the same way as lemon-juice. 

 Both are much employed as ingredients in punch; but sugar is an 

 objectionable accompaniment. 



OKATOOilO (Ital.), a sacred musical composition, consisting of airs, 

 duets, &c., and choruses. The text is generally a dramatic poem, as 

 Handel's ' Samson,' and Cimarosa's ' Socrifizio d'Abramo.' Sometimes 

 it takes the form of a narrative, as ' Israel in Egypt ; ' and occasionally 

 it is of a mixed kind, as Haydn's ' Creation.' The ' Messiah ' is a col- 

 lection of passages from our received translation of the Scriptures. 



Concerning the origin of the Oratorio, Dr. Brown, Sir John Hawkins, 

 and others seem to have misunderstood the Pore Menestrier, who, in 

 his work ' Des Representations en Musique,' attributes to the pilgrims, 

 on their return from the Holy Land, not the introduction of what we 

 UTIII oratorios, as those writers suppose, but of the sacred dramas 

 called ' Mysteries.' And the learned Jesuit is perhaps himself in error 

 on this subject. It ia Warton's opinion that about the 8th century 

 the merchants who frequented the fairs, employing every art to draw 

 numbers together, were accompanied by jugglers, minstrels, and buf- 

 foons, who were the source of great amusement to the people. The 

 clergy, thinking that such entertainments tended to irreligion, pro- 

 scribed them ; but their censures and fulmiuations being disregarded, 

 they took into their own hands the management of popular recreations 

 they turned actors and, instead of profane mummeries, presented 

 stories taken from legends or from the Bible. (' History of Poetry.') 

 Voltaire conjectures that religious .dramas come from Constantinople, 

 where, about the 4th century, Gregory of Nazianzus, an archbishop, 

 and one of the fathers of the church, banished plays from the stage of 

 that city, and introduced stories from the Old and New Testament. 

 As the ancient Greek Tragedy was originally a religious representation, 

 a transition was made on the same plan, and the choruses turned into 

 Christian hymns. " This opinion, says Worton, " will acquire pro- 

 bability, if we consider the early commercial intercourse between Italy 

 and Constantinople." Admitting this, we need perhaps seek no further 

 for the original source of the sacred musical drama. 



As regards the more recent introduction of the oratorio, Crescimbeni, 

 in his ' Comentarj,' tolls us that it is attributable to San Filippo Neri, 

 born in lM. r >. who, in his chapel, (' nd ma oratorio') after sermons 

 and other devotions, in order to allure young people to pious olliccs, 

 and to detain them from earthly pleasure, had hymns and psalms sung 

 by one or more voices. [NERI, in BIOG. Div.J liourdelot is rather 

 more circumstantial on this subject. He says, 3. Philippe de Nery, a 

 native of Florence, founder, in 1 640, of the congregation of the Priests 

 of the Oratory in Italy, observing the taste and passion of the Romans 

 for musical entertainments, determined to afford the nobles and people 

 the means of enjoying them on Sundays and festivals in his church, 

 and engaged for this purpose the ablest poets and composers, who pro- 

 duced dialogues in verse on the principal subjects of Scripture, \vlii.-h 

 he caused to be performed by the moat beautiful voices in Rome, 

 accompanied by all sorts of instrument*. These performances con- 

 sisted of airs, duets, trios, and recitatives for four voices : the subjects 

 were, Job and his Friends ; the Prodigal Son received by his father ; 

 the Angel Gabriel with the Virgin ; and the Mystery of the Incarnation. 



N ..thing was spared to render these attractive, the novelty and per- 

 fection whereof drew a crowd of auditors, who were delighted with 

 the performances, and contributed largely, by admission money, to the 

 expenses incurred. Hence are derived what we now call oratorios, 

 or sacred representations. (' Histoire de la Musique,' 1743, i. 256.) 

 Some of these poems were printed, under the title of ' Laudi Spiritual;,' 

 and among the first authors of them was P. Agostino Manni. One of 

 the most remarkable was entitled ' Rapprcsentatione di Anima e di 

 Corpo, del Signor Ernilio del Cavalieri, per recitar cantando.' It was 

 the first attempt in the recitative style, anil performed in action, on a 

 stage erected in the church of Santa Maria della Vallicella at RI/IIH-, 

 with scene*, dances, &c., as appears from the editor's dedication to 

 Cardinal Aldobrandini, and the composer's instructions for the per- 

 formance. From the latter Dr. Buruey (' Hist,' iv. 88) gives some 

 curious extracts, among which are the following : 



The accompanying instruments namely, a double lyre, a harpsi- 

 chord, a large guitar, and two flutes to be behind the scenes ; but the 

 performers are desired to have instruments in their hands, as the ap- 

 pearing to play would help the illusion. 



The books of the words were printed. Instead of the modern over- 

 ture, a madrigal, with all the parts doubled, and fully accompanied, U 

 recommended. 



When the curtain rises, two youths, who recite the prologue, appear. 

 Then Time, one of the characters, comes on, and has the note with 

 which he is to begin given him by the instruments behind the scenes. 

 The charm id to be placed on the stage, part sitting and part standing ; 

 and when they sing they are to be in motion with gestures. 



Ilcorpo (the body), at the words Si the iiormai alma ria, throws 

 away his ornaments. The World and J/nman Life are to be gaily 

 dressed, and when divested of their trappings are to appear poor and 

 wretched, and finally dead carcasses. 



The performance may conclude with or without a dance. If with- 

 out, the last chorus is to be doubled in all its ports ; but if a dance is 

 preferred, a verse beginning " Chiostri altissimi " is to be sung, accom- 

 panied reverentially by the dance. During the ritomels the four 

 principal dancers are to perform a ballet, taltato con capriole (danced 

 with eapen), without singing. They may sometimes use the gattiard 

 step, sometimes the canary, and sometimes the courant. 



The name of oratorios was given, some think, to these performances, 

 because they owed their birth to the prietlt of the Orntm-i/. We are, 

 however, more inclined to derive the term from the place, the ; 

 (oralurinm, oratory, or small chapel), in which they were first heard. 

 But the word does not appear to have been in use till about the year 

 1 (530, when Balducci applied it to two of bin sacred poems. 



The unfortunate StradeUa was one of the first of those who distin- 

 guished themselves in this exalted kind of composition [STHADEI.LA, in 

 Bioo. Div.J : his ' Oratorio di S. Gio. Battista,' produced about the 

 year 1670, U analysed and much praUed by Burney (iv. 105). A fine 

 chorus from this, in five parts, is printed in the fourth voL of ' The 

 Fitzwilliam Music.' The increasing popularity of the sacred drama at 

 length induced poets of eminence to employ their pens in its service. 

 Apoatolo Zeno, the imperial poet-laureate, produced seventeen works of 

 tlii- kind, under the title of ' Azioni Sacre/ most of which were set by 

 Caldara, imperial vice-chapel-master to Leopold I., whose reputation as 

 a composer of sacred music deservedly stands high. The first of them, 

 ' Sisara,' was performed in 1717. Metastasio wrote seven 'Azioni,' 

 of which Caldara set two; the first, 'La Possioue,' in 1730. This 

 was re-set by Jomelli, and is justly reckoned among the best of his 

 works. 



The oratorio was introduced into England in 1720, when Handel set 

 ' Esther ' (Racine's tragedy abridged and altered by Mr. Humphreys) 

 for the chapel of the Duke of Chandos (Pope's ' Timon ') at Cannons. 

 This, in 1731, was performed by the children of the Chapel Royal, at 

 the house of their master, Bernard Gates. The next year it was 

 publicly produced, as appears from the following advertisement in the 

 ' Daily Journal : ' " By his Majesty's command, at the King's Theatre 

 in the Hay-market, on Tuesday, the 2nd of May, will be performed the 

 sacred story of ' Esther,' an oratorio in English, formerly composed by 

 Mr. Handel, and now revived by him, with several additions, and to be 

 performed by a great number of voices and instruments. N.B. There 

 will be no acting on the stage, but the house will be fitted up in a 

 decent manner for the audience." The success of this was of the most 

 decided and encouraging kind ; but for an account of the great master's 

 other oratorios, and of his inducement for first producing them, we 

 refer to the life of HAXIU :i ., in the Bioa. Div. of thin work. 



The custom of performing oratorios on the Wednesdays and Fridays 

 in Lent is to be dated from 1737, from which time they won-, with 

 few intermissions, continued till a very recent period. Handel was 

 succeeded in this musical speculation by his friend J. C. Smith, who 

 was followed by Stanley and the elder Linley. [STAXI.KV, and LIM.I i , 

 in Bioo. Div.] Linley and Dr. Arnold then in conjunction most suc- 

 cessfully carried on the oratorios, which were continued by the Utter 

 on the retirement of his colleague. [ARNOLD, in BIOQ. Drv.] An 

 oppiwition was now started by Ashley, who had been active as a cubor- 

 dinate agent at the Commemoration of Handel in 1784. This person 

 soon transformed the performances into secular and often vulgar 

 concerts, though retaining the origitul name : .-uul from tli.it time the 

 oratorios began to degenerate, till at length, having been for some years 



