To our minds, the strongest period in
the history of oratorio was the time of Handel and Bach, and writers of
to-day have yet to graft on to their work the more careful study, and
the strengthening influence of these noble masterpieces in stronger
cuttings, to make the struggling young plant a healthy and beautiful
tree. Let us progress, by all means, but true progression is but the
joining of all that is good in the preceding age with all the fresh
beauty God bestows upon us in this our day.
We seem to be comparing or contrasting the secular form opera and the
sacred oratorio, and it is interesting to know that the origin of both
may be traced back to the same source--viz., early miracle plays and
moralities. For some time after the introduction of Christianity into
Eastern Europe, the new converts seem to have retained their fondness
for the heathen practice used in religious, as in secular, celebrations
of theatrical representations, which were chiefly upon mythological
subjects, and all of which angered and distressed the priests of the new
religion. However, the latter soon found out that it was necessary to
reach the minds of these people through their more acutely trained
senses and the medium of their old traditions, and thus in these early
ages the dramatic element worked its way into the church worship.
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