ORATORIO. 
of the dialogue, and aa fituation into which the moft 
facred perfons a rown, feem, though printed 
foon after the pine et the prefs, to be much more an 
cient than that difc 
Gio Battitta Doni (Trattato della Mufica Scenica, C. Vi. 
p. 15. Op. omn. tom. ii. nie Paolo, one of the 
Colle&. was written by Lorenzo il Magnifico: Santa Domi- 
tilla, and Santa Guglielma, by Antonia, ft oet 
Pulci, in the fifteenth century), {peaking of oratorios, fays 
that by a /piritual reprefentation he does not that grofs, 
vulgar, and legendary kind of drama ufed by the nuns and 
nks in convents, efer the n fr) etr 
exis, by the in 
times reprefented, and always received ~ great applaufe. 
This oratorio, which is a int sed Dra 
printed in fcore, in folio, 1634, 
apal chapel, and | performe 
in 
chinery, and ev 
rietées Litt. tom. i. p. 29.), fays that 
church in the firft ages of Chriftianity, indulging the paffion 
of the people for public fpeCtacles, oppofed religious dramas, 
built on the facred ale to the profane, which had been 
long ufed by the Pa 
t the revival ia cheaical amufements, when the re- 
ee began to difleminate their doftrines throughout Eu- 
rope, religious plays were made the vehicles of opinion, both 
by the Catholics and Proteftants ; and ae are Latin dramas 
of this kind, as well as others in modern 
ginning of the Reformation in England, it was fo common 
for the defenders of the old and new doctrines to avail them- 
elo r 
ung ing, Edward VI., that he he ad wr ten a a mot elegant 
comedy, called The Whore of Babylon. The number of 
comedies, and tragi-comedies, written about this ae: 13 in- 
credible; they are, however, faid to have been 
oe the hiftory of Luther and his two t 
e pope and Calvin; A pleafant comedy of the true old 
Catheli and Avoftolic church, &c. Storia Crit. de’ Teatri, 
p- ce ‘- 
e Converfion of St. Paul, performed at Rome, 1440, 
as safer by Sulpicius, has been, bene called the 
opera, or mufical drama. (Hitt m. 
i 241. and Meneftrier, fur les Reprel en ‘Mat Abram 
et Ifaac fuo Figliuolo, a facred drama Gel facra) * thew- 
ing how Abraham was commande od to facrifice his 
fon Ifaac on the mountain,”’ was petanned in the church of 
St. Mary Magdalen in Pincac, 1449. Another on the 
me 
fame fubje@, called Abraham and Sarah, ‘containing the 
ood life of their fon Ifaac, and the bad eondua of Ifhmael, 
the fon of his hand-maid, and how se? were turned out of 
ie houfe,”’ was printed in 1556. Abele Caino, and Samp- 
15543 Lhe Prodigal Son, 1565 § ; and La Commedia 
Spiritvale dell? Anima, “The Spiritual Comedy of the 
Soul,” printed at Siena, but acu date; in which there 
are near thirty perfonifications, befides St. Paul, St. John 
Chryfoftom, two little boys who repeat a kind of prelude, 
and the announcing angel who always {peaks the prologue in 
thefe old myfteries. Hei is called Pangelo che — and his 
figure is almoft always oe in a SS ut on the title- 
page of printed oe 
oe] 
ercy, Pow 
mility : with Hatred, a Depa, 
enfuality, a Choris of Demons, andthe Dev 
None of thefe airs are totally pita mufic, a& 
there are chorufes and /ax 
1519, according to Crefcimbeni, tom. i. p. 10 mk att gan 
ginning of every act there was an oGtav> ftanza, which w 
{ung to the found of the lyra viol, by a el ee called Or. 
pheus, who was folely retained for that purpofe ; at other 
times a madrigal was fung —— the acts, after the manner 
of a chorus. 
It was, however, by {mall degrees that entire mufical myf- 
teries had admi me into the church, or were improved into 
oratorios. e Italian writers on the fubjet se tincot that 
provitr, by uate: i. p. 16 
ended for a merchant, but was draw 
citi its by Vocation. Oraiort, Ital. Oratorium, Lat. im- 
plies a {mall chapel, or particular part of a houfe or church, 
where there is an altar. The {paces between the arches of 
Romifh Seubiag are called Orator ii, Ital. Oratoires, Fr, 
1583 to Santa Maria della Vallicella, By degrees this ee 
blifhment ipread itfelf all over Italy, where it has ftill m 
houfes. The members are bound by no vow, Dict. a 
Cultes Reli 
ig. 
ta “aay that thefe fathers, in whatever city of Ital 
eftablifhment, entertained their congregations 
: uring the fervice, and after fer ermon, it 
o draw youth to fecular 
ies, to have hymns, pfalms, and other ff piritual laudi, 
or fongs, fung e either in chorus, or by a fingle favourite 
voice, divided into two ports the one performed before the 
fermon, and the other after it. 
But though this devout practi ce was begun in fo fimple a 
manner, with only fpiritual cantatas, or fongs, gn m moral 
fubje&ts ; in order to render ee e fervice fill more a lar 
3 
