Guildford Corporation Concerts
Director of Music : J. CROSSLEY CLITHEROE
SATURDAY, 2Ist MAY, 1960, at 7 p.m.
TECHNICAL COLLEGE, GUILDFORD
‘ELIJAH’
(Mendelssohn)
FESTIVAL CHOIR
GUILDFORD
MUNICIPAL ORCHESTRA
Leader: TATE GILDER
Soprano:
Contralto:
ALICE HALIFAX
MAUREEN GUY
Youth: BARBARA LANK
Bass:
Tenor:
JOHN LAWRENSON
JOHN MITCHINSON
*
Conductor : CROSSLEY CLITHEROE
*
PROGRAMME
-
-
PRICE SIXPENCE,
PROGRAMME
PART 1
““As God the Lord of Israel liveth”’
Introduction
Overture
Chorus
““Help, Lord!”’
Duet and Chorus
“Lord, bow Thine ear to our prayer’’
Recitative
‘“Ye people, rend your hearts’’
Air
“If with all your hearts”’
Chorus
“Yet doth the Lord see it not”’
Recitative
‘““Elijah, get thee hence”’
Double Quartet ...
““For He shall give His angels charge over
Recitative
““Now Cherith’s brook is dried up”’
Recitative, Air
and Duet
““What have I to do with thee, O man of God?”’
Chorus
““Blessed are the men who fear Him’’
thee’’
Recitative and
““As God the Lord of Sabaoth liveth”’
Chorus
‘‘Baal, we cry to thee’’
Double Chorus
Recitative
Chorus
Recitative
Chorus
%
3
““Call him louder”
‘““Hear our cry, O Baal”’
““Call him louder”’
§ ‘‘Baal, hear and answer’’
Air
“Lord God of Abraham’’
Quartet
‘““Cast thy burden upon the Lord’’
Recitative
Chorus
Air
j
““O Thou, who makest Thine angels spirits”’
““The fire descends from heaven”
““Is not His word like a fire?”’
Air
“Woe unto them who forsake Him!”’
Recitative
Recitative and
Chorus
““O man of God, help thy people’’
““O Lord, Thou hast overthrown Thine
enemies’’
Chorus
4
““Thanks be to God”’
INTERVAL
PART I
Air
‘““Hear ye, Israel”
Chorus
“‘Be not afraid”’
Recitative and
Chorus
““The Lord hath exalted thee’’
Chorus
“Woe to him”’
Recitative
““Man of God”’
Air
“It is enough”
Recitative
‘“‘See, now he sleepeth”
Trio
“‘Lift thine eyes’’
Chorus
‘““He watching over Israel”’
Recitative
““Arise, Elijah”’
Air
““O rest in the Lord”’
Chorus
‘“He that shall endure to the end”’
Recitative
...
“*Night falleth round me”’
Chorus
...
‘“‘Behold, God the Lord passed by”’
Recitative, Semi-Chorus,
...
‘‘Holy, Holy, Holy”’
Recitative
and Chorus
...
‘I goon my way in the strength of the Lord”’
Chorus
s
Prhhen-did-Elijah*’
Air
...
“‘Then shall the righteous shine forth as the
Chorus
...
‘‘And then shall your light break forth”’
Sun??
During his life-time by general consent Mendelssohn was given a place
alongside Bach, Handel, Mozart and Beethoven.
But after his death his
prestige fell and his music for the most part began to be dismissed as
superficial and trifling.
It is the old story of the swing of the pendulum
of values from one extreme to the other.
Even to-day musicians are
generally uncritical in their estimate of Mendelssohn’s achievements:
either his music is dismissed with contempt, or else it is treated with a
reverence that reminds one of Queen Victoria's attitude towards her
deceased husband’s clothing.
Apart from the *““Songs without words,” the choral works ““St. Paul,”
“Elijah” and “Hymn of Praise” brought more fame and popularity to
Mendelssohn in England than any other of his works. The effectiveness
of Mendelssohn’s writing, his wealth of simple and pleasing melodies, and
his clear and well-balanced designs appealed to that immense public,
both active and passive, who loved singing in consort, particularly music
of a devotional character. And Mendelssohn provided the very material
that was wanted—material eminently suitable for both festivals and concerts and yet at the same time not too profane to be presented in church
and cathedral.
The words
of
“Elijah”
come
from
various sources in
the
Old
Testament and the story, which outlines the great prophet’s meditations
between God and the Israelites, is made up of incidents in the life of the
prophet, though strict Biblical sequence is not followed.
The chief
characters are Obadiah, the Angel, the Widow, the son Elijah restored
to life, the boy whom Elijah instructs to watch for signs of coming rain,
King Ahab and the Queen. While the soloists are allotted the parts of
the most important characters, the chorus generally represents the
Israelites but occasionally the prophets of Baal and the Angels.
Part | opens with a brief introduction in which Elijah proclaims the
words: ‘‘As God, the Lord of Israel liveth, for whom I stand, there shall
not be dew or rain these years, but according to my word.”
This is
followed by a lengthy orchestral overture which leads straight into the
opening chorus, depicting the Israelites bewailing the drought that is
spreading over the land, and which God has sent to scourge the people
of Israel. The remainder of this section is concerned with various incidents, including Elijah’s trial by fire and his intervention and prayer in
the form of rain.
In Part 2 Elijah first denounces Ahab, is denounced to the people
by Jezebel, is warned by Obadiah and goes into the wilderness, is shown
a vision of God upon Mount Horeb, and is subsequently taken up to
heaven. The oratorio finishes with prophecy foretelling the advent
of Christ.
After the first performance of “‘Elijah’ at the Birmingham Festival
in 1846, Sir Julius Benedict, the famous biographer of Weber and the
composer of the popular opera “The Lily of Killarney,”” wrote an account
of the occasion in which he described how ““The Noble town Hall was
crowded at an early hour of that forenoon with a brilliant and eagerly
expectant audience.
It was an anxious and solemn moment. Every eye
had long been directed towards the conductor’s desk, when, at half-past
eleven o’clock, a deafening shout from the band and chorus announced
the approach of the great composer.
The reception he met with from
the assembled thousands on stepping into his place was absolutely overwhelming; whilst the sun, emerging at that moment, seemed to illumine
the vast edifice in honour of the bright and pure being who stood there,
the idol of all beholders.””
Benedict was surely a forerunner
of modern
“purple”’ journalism!
In the following year the work was given in its revised and present
form at Exeter Hall, London, to which performance the Queen and Prince
Consort went to pay homage to their beloved Mendelssohn.
Albert the
Good was so enthusiastic that he wrote in his book of words a message
which he sent round to Mendelssohn: ““To the Noble Artist who, surrounded by the Baal worship of debased art, has been able by his genius
and science to preserve faithfully, like another Elijah, the Worship of
True Art, and once more to accustom our ear, amid the whirl of empty
frivolous sounds, to the pure tones of sympathetic feeling and legitimate
harmony: to the Great Master, who makes us conscious of the unity of
his conception, through the whole maze of his creation, from the soft
whispering to the mighty raging of the elements.
Inscribed in grateful
remembrance by ALBERT."