He
did much towards the great musical development in Germany. Following in
his footsteps came Sebastiani, at the end of the century, and Keiser at
the commencement of the eighteenth. In Keiser's Passion we find, in
addition to the Bible narrative, reflective passages for a chorus,
holding much the same functions as the old Greek chorus, with
interpolated solos for "the Daughter of Sion" and "the Believing Soul,"
some of which are used later on by Bach, especially in his setting of
the subject according to St. John's Gospel. John Sebastian Bach added,
moreover, many well-known chorales in which the people could join, and
these favourite old hymn tunes had the greatest power over the hearts of
the worshippers.
Now we have returned to the period at which we left oratorio, and side
by side with Bach's great Passion music stand up those massive
monuments, the oratorios of Handel, of which so much has been written,
and many of which you all know and love so well. It is worthy of notice,
if only to show how recently (viz., almost halfway through the
eighteenth century) action, and costume, and other accessories were
tolerated in connection with the sacred subjects, to tell you that at
the performance of his first English oratorio, "Esther," at the theatre
in the Haymarket, Handel appended the following note to the playbills:--
"N.
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