Oratorio

An oratorio is a large-scale musical composition for soloists, choir, and orchestra, usually performed without scenery, costumes, or acting. It originated in 17th-century Italy as a form of sacred dramatic music associated with church or private devotion, drawing on biblical or sacred texts. Unlike opera, an oratorio is intended for concert performance and does not involve staged drama or acting, though it shares Baroque musical language and the use of aria, recitative, and ensembles.

The typical structure includes recitative (closely speechlike), arias (reflective or expressive), choruses, and instrumental interludes or overtures. Some works include a narrator or biblical text read aloud. Instrumentation ranges from small continuo groups in early works to full orchestra with organ and trumpets in later examples. The text is often in Italian in the Baroque period; German or English became common in later centuries.

Historically, the form began with composers such as Carissimi and was developed in the late Baroque by George Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach, who produced many enduring examples like Messiah, Israel in Egypt, Christmas Oratorio, and the St. Matthew Passion. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the genre broadened to German and English audiences, with Mendelssohn's Elijah among the most celebrated later examples. In the 20th century, composers revived and renewed the form in various languages, responding to religious and social themes; Vaughan Williams and Britten contributed notable modern oratorios.

Examples: Handel's Messiah; Bach's Christmas Oratorio; Haydn's The Creation; Mendelssohn's Elijah.