Felix Mendelssohn's oratorio St Paul, Op.36: facts, the cast, brief history and other Mendelssohn-related information.

Felix Mendelssohn, German composer of the Romantic era, produced St. Paul oratorio 10 years before the more famous Elijah.

Oratorio St. Paul, Op.36

• Composer: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy(1809-1847)
• Original Title: Paulus, op.36
• Original Language: German
• Text: Based on the passages from the Holy Scriptures, compiled by Julius Schubring.
• Form: Oratorio in Two parts, with a total of 45 musical numbers.
• Date of Writing: 1832, plans and first drafts, composed in 1834, 1835, and first months of 1836.
• First Performance: May 22, 1836, at the Rhenish Music Festival in Düsseldorf. ugust 26, 1846, in Birmingham, 1846. Mendelssohn conducted with the world-famous Jenny Lind in the soprano role.

History of Oratorio St. Paul

Mendelssohn began to compose St Paul in Düsseldorf. In 1835, Mendelssohn was appointed conductor of the renowned Leipzig Gewanhaus concerts, ushering in one of the happiest periods of his life.

However, death soon cast its shadow when his beloved father he was close to, died. In great anguish, he wrote to the Dessau councilor Julius Schubring, whom he had commissioned to assemble the text for St. Paul. Mendelssohn tried his best to have it ready on time.

The first performance, on May 22, 1836, was an unqualified success. Schumann, always an enthusiastic devotee of his friend's work, spoke fondly of it but Mendelssohn, as so often, was less satisfied and wrote later to a friend that he hopes to do better if he composes another oratorio. He did ten years later, Elijah.

St. Paul contains a wealth of wonderful music, the four chorales deserving special mention even though they have been attacked for reasons of both religion and form.

Synopsis of St. Paul

Evidently, St. Paul oratorio has a lot of influence from Bach and Handel in form and music, particularly, in the chorales. Few years prior to St. Paul's conception, Mendelssohn had rediscovered Bach's St. Matthew Passion and given it an effective and widely acclaimed performance. St Paul is characterized not only of the inclusion of four Protestant chorales, which closely shows great influence of Bach, but one of these chorales actually serves as a Leitmotiv for St Paul, beginning with Bach's Wachet Auf in the overture, and later in the chorus.

St. Paul oratorio is a story of Paul's conversion (formerly Saul from Tarsus.)

Mendelssohn was a Jew and converted to Christianty himself but it's not certain whether this oratorio has any bearing with his personal experiences.

Part I recounts the stoning of Stephen (the first Christian martyr), the miracle of Paul's conversion to Christianity, and closing with Ananias commissioning Paul as a Christian minister.

Part 2 relates to Paul and Barnabas becoming the ambassadors and evangelists of the Christian church, celebrated by another familiar melody, "How Lovely are the Messengers."

The chorus and soloists drew from other passages of the Holy Scriptures, including Isaiah (Old Testament), and Timothy and St John's gospel from the New Testament.

Despite its familiar melodies, St. Paul is rarely performed in its entirely or chosen amongst the more favored ones like Handel's Messiah, Haydn's The Creation, Bach's St. Matthews Passion or Mendelssohn's own Elijah. St. Paul has its own wonderful choral and solo music to offer.

St. Paul Oratorio's Cast of Characters

• Ananias (soprano)
• Stephen (soprano or alto)
• Barnabas (tenor)
• St. Paul (bass)
• Two False Witnesses (basses)
• Four-part mixed chorus

Orchestration: Flutes, clarinets, bassoons, oboes, horns, trumpets, trombones, timpani, strings, one bass tuba, strings, and organ.

Suggested Recording

Mendelssohn: Paulus (St. Paul)/Hickox, Critton, et al CD

Source

The World of Oratorio by Kurt Pahlen (1990)