ORAMA ORATORY. 



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OR AM A, DIORAMA. See Panorama. 



ORANGE (citrus aurantiuni) ; a low, evergreen, 

 branching tree, bearing oblong, oval, acute, smooth, 

 and shining leaves, inserted on winged leaf-stalks, by 

 which character it is easily distinguished from the 

 lemon. The flowers are white, containing about 

 twenty stamens, and are disposed in clusters of from 

 two to six upon a common peduncle. The fruit is 

 globose, bright yellow, and contains a pulp, which 

 consists of a collection of oblong vesicles filled with 

 a sugary and refreshing juice/ : it is, besides, divided 

 into eight or ten compartments, each containing 

 several seeds. The principal varieties are the 

 sweet or China, and the bitter or Seville orange ; 

 the Maltese orange is also deserving of notice, from 

 its red pulp. Though now extensively cultivated in 

 the south of Europe, the introduction of the orange 

 is of modern date, and it was unknown in that con- 

 tinent till about the beginning of the fifteenth century. 

 At the present time, it forms an extensive branch of 

 commerce between the Mediterranean and the more 

 northern countries. It is exceedingly long-lived, and 

 is still esteemed young at the age of a century. An 

 essential oil is obtained from the flowers, which is 

 liardly less esteemed than the celebrated ottar of 

 roses. Bergamot is a well-known perfume, obtained 

 from the rind of a variety of the orange, and has re- 

 ceived the name from the town of Bergamo, in Italy, 

 where this variety is much cultivated. The wood of 

 this tree is fine-grained, compact, susceptible of a 

 fine polish, and is employed in the arts. The 

 orange, together with the lemon, citron, lime, 

 shaddock, and indeed almost the entire family auran- 

 tiaceae, is a native of tropical Asia and the East 

 Indies. A singular exception is found in America : a 

 species of orange, bearing fruit of a very agreeable 

 flavour, is extremely abundant in East Florida, and 

 according to the testimony of scientific travellers, is 

 undoubtedly native : it has not, however, been accu- 

 rately compared with other species, and, what is 

 more remarkable, although mentioned by early 

 travellers, has not hitherto found its way into syste- 

 matic works on botany. 



ORANGE ; an ancient principality in France, 

 which, from the eleventh to the sixteenth century, 

 had its own princes. Philibert of Chalons, the last 

 prince, having- died, without issue, in 1531, the 

 principality passed, through his sister (who was 

 married to the count of Nassau), to the house of 

 Nassau. It continued in this family till the death 

 (1702) of William Henry of Nassau-Orange (William 

 III. of England), when the succession became the 

 subject of a long contest. The principal claimants 

 were Frederic William I., king of Prussia (who 

 claimed through his mother), and the prince of 

 Nassau-Dietz, stadtholder of Friesland (who claimed 

 by the will of William III). The king of Prussia, 

 notwithstanding the protest of the other claimants, 

 ceded the principality, by the peace of Utrecht 

 (1713), to France. The reigning dynasty of the 

 Netherlands is of the house of Orange, and the heir- 

 apparent bears the title of prince of Orange. In 

 November, 183O, the national congress of Belgium 

 declared the house of Orange-Nassau to be for ever 

 excluded from all power in Belgium. 



Orange, the capital of the principality, an old city, 

 known to the Romans under the name of Arausio, 

 contains, at present, 8864 inhabitants. It is situated 

 on the Meyne, in the department of Vaucluse, five 

 leagues north of Avignon. 



ORANGEMEN ; the name given by the Catholics 

 in Ireland to their Protestant countrymen, on account 

 of their adherence to the house of Orange. Tyr- 

 connel, who had been appointed lord-lieutenant of 

 Ireland by James II., attemuted to hold the island 



for his master, and was supported in this design by 

 the Catholics,, while the Protestants declared for 

 William. The battle of the Boyne (1690) gave the 

 superiority to the latter, and the Catholics were sub- 

 jected to heavy civil and religious disabilities. See 

 Catholic Emancipation ; also the article Ireland. 



ORATORIO ; a musical drama of a dignified 

 character, which is destined only for musical execu- 

 tion, not for theatrical action. Hence, on the part 

 of the poetry, it requires, though not in the strict 

 sense of the theatrical drama, the representation of 

 an action or event, either immediately by the persons 

 concerned in the action or event, or mediately by 

 those who narrate the circumstances, and by the 

 chorus at intervals, in which the whole body of 

 individuals concerned express their feelings in music. 

 The subject should be of a noble character (as, for 

 example, the Creation), and the music adapted to 

 express various elevated and tender affections. 

 Oratorios are generally on religious subjects, parti- 

 cularly biblical histories and events. The oratorio, 

 properly speaking, commenced when sacred music 

 was distinctly separated from the worldly. It had its 

 origin partly in the songs and alternating choruses 

 of the Christian pilgrims, who sung on their pilgri- 

 mages, in the time of the crusades, of the life and 

 death of the Redeemer, the last judgment, and other 

 religious subjects, in the streets and public places ; 

 and partly in the mysteries, or dramatic representa- 

 tions of sacred narratives. As early as 1243, a 

 spirituale commedia was performed in Padua. St 

 Philip of Neri (born at Florence, 1515, and died at 

 Rome, in 1595), the founder of the congregation of 

 priests of the oratorio, is regarded as the person who 

 first instituted regular oratorios about the year 1540, 

 in order to direct the fondness for the musical drama 

 to religious subjects. The oratorios were then little 

 more than hymns accompanied by instrumental 

 music, whence they first appeared in Rome under 

 the name of laudi spirituali. The recitative or 

 musical narration, was invented afterwards. At 

 first, however, the oratorios were narratives, rather 

 than dramas, for an actor related the story to the 

 spectators, and detailed the principal points ; and 

 only a few musical passages were performed, by 

 which the feeling appropriate to the different situa- 

 tions was expressed. These performances in sacred 

 music obtained the name of oratorios in the middle 

 of the seventeenth century, either from the congre- 

 gation before spoken of, or from the church where 

 they were executed. Emilio del Cavalieri (about 

 1590) composed oratorios with recitatives. In the 

 seventeenth century, the oratorio, as well as the 

 opera, became developed in its poetical and musical 

 form. The first oratorios had short choruses, in 

 simple counterpoint ; but, in the second half of the 

 seventeenth century, it was customary to conclude 

 with a duet every separate portion of an oratorio, 

 which generally occupied about an hour in the per- 

 formance. In the beginning of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury, Pariati, the Jesuit Ceva, Lei. Orsini, Spagna, 

 Zeno, and Metastasio, wrote oratorios, and Caldara, 

 Jomelli, Leo, Buononcini, composed thejausic. A 

 more elevated character was given to the oratorio 

 by Handel, who devoted all his power to the chorus 

 till 1732. Haydn distinguished himself by richness 

 of description, and he introduced worldly subjects 

 and music into the oratorio. 



Oratorio signifies, likewise, a place of prayer, 

 especially in monasteries. 



ORATORY, PRIESTS OF THE; a religious order 

 founded by Philip Neri, in 1574, for the study of 

 theology, and for superintending the religious exer- 

 cises of the devout. The members are not bound 

 by the monastic vows. In Italy, the order stil 

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