ELIJAH, Op. 70 (1846) Libretto: Julius Schubring Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847) English Translation: William Bartholomew PART ONE The Biblical tale of Elijah dates from c. 800 BCE. "In fact I imagined Elijah as a real prophet The core narrative is found in the Book of Kings through and through, of the kind we could (I and II), with minor references elsewhere in really do with today: Strong, zealous and, yes, the Hebrew Bible. The Haggadah supplements even bad-tempered, angry and brooding — in the scriptural account with a number of colorful contrast to the riff-raff, whether of the court or legends about the prophet’s life and works. the people, and indeed in contrast to almost the After Moses, Abraham and David, Elijah is the whole world — and yet borne aloft as if on Old Testament character mentioned most in the angels' wings." – Felix Mendelssohn, 1838 (letter New Testament. The Qu’uran also numbers to Julius Schubring, Elijah’s librettist) Elijah (Ilyas) among the major prophets of Islam. Elijah’s name is commonly translated to mean “Yahweh is my God.” PROLOGUE: Elijah’s Curse Introduction: Recitative — Elijah Elijah materializes before Ahab, king of the Four dark-hued chords spring out of nowhere, As God the Lord of Israel liveth, before Israelites, to deliver a bitter curse: Three years of grippingly setting the stage for confrontation.1 whom I stand: There shall not be dew drought as punishment for the apostasy of Ahab With the opening sentence, Mendelssohn nor rain these years, but according to and his court. The prophet’s appearance is a introduces two major musical motives that will my word. jarring interruption, a point where the writer of serve as unifying gestures throughout the the Book of Kings drops the main story to focus oratorio: The first, a rising triad (D-F-A-D) on (I Kings 17:1) intensively on a sudden, divine intervention. the words “As God the Lord…”. The second, a Elijah’s penchant for appearing out of the blue grating series of descending tritones2 (C-F#, G- (even in disguise) as a warning messenger will C#, D-G#), signifying a rupture between the become a common theme in scripture. God of Israel and his chosen people. This wake- up call is scored for woodwind and brass instruments in their darker registers. A trombone blast at the final tritone interval 1 The opening chord progression is a direct musical quotation from Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” (1815), a song depicting the famous medieval legend. 2 The tritone (or augmented fourth) is the most distant interval from the endpoints of the diatonic scale – equidistant from either end of the octave. Called the diabolus in musica (“devil in music”), it was incomprehensible to the modal system of music that predated the modern era, and composers would do almost anything to avoid its occurrence. It retains its symbolism in Western music, where its dissonance is used to signify strife, danger, separation, anxiety, almost any negative emotion. 1 amplifies the ill omen. A quiet roll from the timpani completes the feeling of dread. Overture Elijah’s curse is followed by a scene that is as Mendelssohn initially resisted the customary ambitious dramatically as it is musically. The instrumental overture: Anything he could use full famine episode consists of an instrumental to precede Elijah’s curse would only dull its overture, an opening chorus, a choral recitative impact. His English librettist, William and a duet with chorus – an unrelenting Bartholomew, who recognized the need to narrative that stretches a full ten minutes. connect Elijah’s dark incantation to the suffering of the people, came up with the novel idea of placing the overture after the curse. The fugal subject begins in the murky shadows of the cellos and basses, and borrows a tritone from the opening curse. After the theme is fully explored by the strings, a faster and more insistent rhythmical pattern takes hold, gathering the force necessary to propel us into the chorus that follows. The effect is one of a pang of hunger that starts small, in the pit of the stomach, but rapidly intensifies into a general crisis. SCENE ONE: The Famine 1. Chorus — The People Julius Schubring, the German cleric, friend of The scrim lifts, the lights come up, and we are Help, Lord! Wilt thou quite destroy us? Mendelssohn and Elijah librettist, chose for the hurled headlong into a riotous demonstration The harvest now is over, the summer opening chorus a text from Jeremiah – the so- against the famine. The opening shouts, “Help, days are gone; and yet no power called “broken-hearted prophet” – whose works Lord! Wilt thou quite destroy us?” give way to cometh to help us. Will then the Lord are divided between the Books of Jeremiah and another fugue on the text, “The harvest now is be no more God in Zion? Lamentations. over, the summer days are gone”.3 The “curse theme” –descending fourths and tritones – (Jeremiah 8:19, 20) recurs in the bass and soprano lines at measures 55-56 as the chorus draws to a close. 3 With its multiple entrances, or voices, the fugue as a musical form is often seen as an allusion to the organic nature of the human community – individuals expressing many views that are incorporated into a larger body of opinion. Its use is often reserved in sacred music for when the composer wants to make a serious point, or for openings (see the Mozart Requiem) or closings (traditionally, the final “Cum Sancto Spiritu” section of the Gloria of the Mass Ordinary is set to a fugue). 2 Recitative Chorus Here again, text from the works of the prophet A notable feature of Elijah is the flexible use of The deeps afford no water, and the Jeremiah, this time from Lamentations. The the chorus to represent, at turns, the people, the rivers are exhausted! The suckling’s imagery is searing: Imagine thirst and priests of Baal, the angels, and the number of tongue now cleaveth for thirst to his dehydration so acute you literally can’t open different styles (4-part, 8-part, mixed mouth; The infant children ask for your mouth. solo/choral) Mendelssohn chooses to fill out bread, and there is no one breaketh it each of these roles. The choral recitative that to feed them! connects the opening chorus and the duet functions both as a transition and an expression (I Kings 17:7; Lamentations 4:4) of an authentic public emotion. 2. Duet with Chorus Our eye is drawn to a pocket of domestic — The People suffering within the larger frame: Two women Lord, bow thine ear to our pray’r. take up a mournful lament, doubled by two — Soprano and alto duet lowly clarinets and a repetitive, workaday string Zion spreadeth her hands for aid; and accompaniment – perhaps a spinning song. In there is neither help nor comfort. the background, the chorus intones a simple prayer. The piece is in A minor, but the chant is (Psalm 86:1, 6; Lamentations 1:17) in a haunting modal style, centered on E. The specter of hunger is conveyed with ghostly evanescence. 3. Recitative — Obadiah (tenor) Obadiah, a tangential figure in the Biblical story Mendelssohn completed Elijah in response to a Ye people, rend your hearts, and not of Elijah, is given greater prominence in the commission from the Birmingham Choral your garments; For your transgressions Schubring libretto. As Ahab’s royal Festival. Its rapturously received premiere in the prophet Elijah hath sealed the chamberlain, Obadiah uses his wealth and 1846 showed that Mendelssohn knew his heavens through the word of God. I influence to shield Jehovah’s prophets against English public well. In the first of a number of therefore say to ye, forsake your idols, persecution. In the oratorio, he is also the nods to Messiah, soon to be joined by Elijah return to God; for He is slow to anger, bearer of a message of hope and encouragement atop the pedestal of greatest oratorios, and merciful, and kind and gracious, that balances Elijah’s severity. By exhorting the Mendelssohn sets the first major recitative and and repenteth Him of the evil. people to “rend your hearts, and not your aria for a tenor soloist, as Handel did with garments,” he tells us to look within, and not in “Comfort ye my people/Ev’ry valley shall be (Joel 2:12, 13) the trappings of ritual, for redemption – a exalted.” The message is similar. message that hits home with full force in Part Two. 4. Air — Obadiah Mendelssohn’s gift for melody is almost “If with all your hearts ye truly seek unmatched in the annals of Western music. A me, ye shall ever surely find me.” Thus peerless writer of songs – with and without saith our God. Oh! that I knew where I words – Felix adorns Elijah with some of the 3 might find Him, that I might even most heartfelt tunes in his entire oeuvre. Felix’s come before His presence! older sister, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel appropriated the tune to “If with all your hearts” (Deuteronomy 4:29; Job 23:3; Jeremiah for her Piano Trio in D minor (Op. 11).4 29:13) 5. Chorus — The People Texts chosen from the Pentateuch – the “law” The strictness of the law is depicted with great Yet doth the Lord see it not: He part of the both the Hebrew Bible and the verve in a chorus redolent of the Passions of J.S. mocketh at us; His curse hath fallen Christian Old Testament – close the famine Bach.5 The two principal themes of the down upon us; His wrath will pursue scene.