Oratorios by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Few nineteenth-century oratorios have attained such a firm place in the musical life of our times as those of Mendelssohn. With their timeless biblical settings, they combine elements of romanticism with the mighty choral style of Handel and the meditative chorales of Bach. Mendelssohn composed his first oratorio St. Paul influenced by Bach's St Matthew Passion, the revival of which he conducted in 1829. Just a year before his death he finally achieved success with his oratorio Elijah, which ever since has made him one of the most popular oratorio composers.