Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Paulus – Oratorio based on the Biblical story of St. Paul, Op. 36
The first performance of the oratorio ‘Paulus’ took place in May 1836, and the work was presented with unprecedented success at the Rhine Music Festival in Düsseldorf. The following year, Mendelssohn himself conducted the same piece in Leipzig, and later the musical composition was also performed in the United States and England. The oratorio ‘Paulus’ was one of Mendelssohn’s most frequently performed compositions during his lifetime and has remained one of his most popular pieces. His contemporaries considered ‘Paulus’ a model of this genre in the 19th century. The first news of the Oratorio first appeared in the Hungarian press in 1841, when a concert to be held on Easter Sunday was advertised as follows: “At the Town Theatre in Pest, approximately 500 individuals will perform the magnificent oratorio ‘Paul’ composed by Mendelssohn Bartholdy Bódog.”
When the work was performed in a somewhat abridged form at the Hungarian National Theatre in 1862, the enormous size of both the orchestra and the choir once again caused a surprise. As a Hungarian daily paper writes: “The performers filled the stage to such an extent that it had to be extended by almost 20 feet towards the auditorium.” It is interesting that, despite the lavish dimensions of this Mendelssohnian piece, by the 1860s ‘Paulus’ had become an example of moderation, proportion and classical balance in music. A report in the Hungarian daily paper ‘Hölgyfutár’ is very telling in this regard: “If Verdi were to orchestrate ‘Paulus’ and if these 400 vocals and instruments were to sound, we would have good reason to fear the collapse of our theatre. But fortunately, Mendelssohn is not Verdi. Mendelssohn is great not at destruction but at creation. And so it happened that the oratorio ended at 10 o’clock, and it was not only the theatre that survived the event unharmed, but also the audience was edified by the music.”
The libretto for the Oratorio was compiled by Mendelssohn himself and his friend pastor Julius Schubring (1806-1889) based on biblical texts. However, unlike Bach’s Passions, for example, ‘Paulus’ does not include freely composed, lyrical texts.
The composition consists of two major parts. The first part recounts the story of Saul’s conversion from persecutor of Christians to the Apostle Paul. Notably, the composition depicts the drama of the stoning of the Apostle Stephen, the miracle of Saul’s conversion to Christianity in Damascus, the story of Saul/Paul’s being struck blind, the restoration of his eyesight, and his baptism. The second part of the piece draws on stories from the apostolic missions, and the Oratorio ends with the foreshadowing of Paul’s imprisonment.
The recitatives, arias, joint performances, and choral movements are linked by the concise dramaturgy of the narrative and the theological message that permeates every moment of the Oratorio.
The musical style of the work’s magnificent, contrapuntally elaborated choral pieces is primarily reminiscent of Handel’s style, while the piece’s chorale inserts evoke Lutheran church music, and especially the musical world of Bach. The orchestration, the increased role of tones, and the character-like and more subjective sound of the arias are thoroughly Romantic in both spirit and nature.
‘Paulus’ was first performed in Budapest in its complete, unabridged form in 1884.
Mendelssohn: Paulus – Oratorio
SEPT 24, 7:30 PM
Liszt Academy
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