# Looking for a specific German oratorio...



## Stargazer (Nov 9, 2011)

A while back, I listened to an oratorio by a fairly well-known composer (I want to say Mendelssohn but I don't think that's right). It would basically alternate between musical/vocal parts, and then all the music would stop and a narrator (male) would talk for a bit, rather forcefully in German, before the next section of music began. It was definitely a major composer from the Romantic era, but I can't remember who exactly. I was thinking of posting this to the identifying music section, but I thought that it may be more appropriate here...because if nothing else, it'll probably get me some exposure to a few more oratorios (one of my classical weak points!) So, German oratorios, well-known composers, music/speaking parts alternate...show me what you've got!


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

Could it be Mendelssohn's Elijah (this piece can be performed in English or German)? Or perhaps Mendelssohn's St. Paul?


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

I don't seem to remember that Elijah or St. Paul had spoken parts, so I don't think it's either of them. Now, some sung parts in Haydn's "Die Schöpfung" rather sound like almost spoken or shouted... could it be this old war-horse? Haydn's music almost sounds like it's from the Romantic period, here.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Some on top of my head: Schumann´s "Manfred" perhaps - but not an oratorio, and rarely played. His "Faust Scenes" don´t include spoken interludes, as far as I remember.

There´s also Schubert´s "Die Zauberharfe" and Draeseke´s "Christus", which I haven´t heard.

The recordings I own of Liszt´s great "Christus" oratorio don´t comprise spoken word either.


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## Xaltotun (Sep 3, 2010)

joen_cph said:


> The recordings I own of Liszt´s great "Christus" oratorio don´t comprise spoken word either.


That is true, and also it's sung in Latin, not in German.


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2013)

Haydn has, in addition to Die Schoepfung (The Creation), Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons). Beethoven, while not Romantic, had an oratorio - Christus am Oelberge. All of those are in German.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Don't think (IRC) that Franz Schmidt's The Book with Seven Seals have a reciter either(?), nor has Schumann's "Paradise and the Peri" or "Scenes from Goethe's Faust" and You're sure its not Gurrelieder?

/ptr


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## Nick D (Sep 16, 2013)

Have you considered Mendelssohn's incidental music for Racine's play "Athalie" (1845), with its extensive choruses and occasional solos for female voices? Quite early on, the score was fitted out for concert use with a spoken "linking" text, and the German narration by Eduard Devrient (1801-77) has special historical status. There are at least three recent versions on CD in German with narrator, conducted by Helmut Rilling, Christoph Spering and Jun Maerkl respectively. (I know of only one that uses Racine's original French text.) That's my top candidate.


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