This is true, though Minkowski has some rough edges to his direction from time to time in his Handel recordings. All of Handel's big vocal pieces are top drawer stuff, and this amounts to dozens and dozens of works, mostly unknown to all but the most tasteful connoisseur.

However above all I mention again Theodora, but do not consider the current CD recordings of this, if you can get the DVD of the semi-staged production at Glyndebourne. This is truely a miracle. There is something supremely profound yet very forboding about this piece from the outset, something to do with death, and rightly so as the hero and heroine are executed in the final scene - something unheard of at the time for a theatre production. Indeed imagine Florestan and Leonore being cut down by Pizzaro in the last moments of Fidelio (which has a similar tale) and there you have Theodora. Of course the work was probably Handel's biggest boxoffice failure and was forgotten for over 200 years, despite the numerous anecdotes that Handel regarded it as his greatest work.

Of all the conspiraces discussed here, true or imagined, they all pale in to insignificance compared to that which has resulted in the outright neglect and disregard of Handel's music until the last 20 years of so. Handel has been squarely kept under lock and key as a result of the Bachian cult beloved of music academics. This is the legacy of the academisation of the art of music, and the devient tendencies that have developed over time as a direct result.

My favourite oratorios are Handel’s Messiah and Judas Maccabaeus, as well as Mendelssohn’s Elijah. In my opinion, Handel’s Messiah is the greatest oratorio ever written. It is among the most popular and is widely performed especially during Christmas or Easter. The melodic phrases are beautiful and easily remembered. What make this work more interesting are the difficult fugal passages as performed by the 4-voice chorale. Though I’m not fully acquainted with the entire oratorio repertoire, I must admit that there are a lot more oratorios equally beautiful as Handel’s Messiah.

Looking at some of the suggestions here it seems as if we are required to stay strictly to "oratorios" but any larger choral piece. Among my favorites I would surely include:

1. Bach- St. Matthew Passion
2. Bach- St. John Passion (unjustly ignored)
3. Haydn- The Creation
4. Beethoven- Missa Solemnis
5. Brahms- Deutsches Requiem
6. Mozart- Requiem
7. Mozart- Mass in C
8. Faure- Requiem
9. Verdi- Requiem
10. Handel- Messiah

... but that's just a start... I'm such a huge fan of choral music I wouldn't know where to end.

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Stlukesguild

If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking till you do succeed....." - Curly Howard

Modern art is what happens when painters stop looking at girls and persuade themselves that they have a better idea.
-John Ciardi

To draw, you must close your eyes and sing. -Pablo Picasso

Can only agree.

Check for Solomon, Saul, Israel in Egypt, Belshazzar, Hercules, Jeptha, etc.

And don't overlook some of his operas (Gulio Cesare and Alcina in particular)

"Belshazzar's Feast" William Walton.

Quite amazing, really.

stlukesguild2

Re your sig:
Modern art is what happens when painters stop looking at girls and persuade themselves that they have a better idea.
The same can be said of some Composers when compared the the Masters

I nominate the Faure Requiem which I find incredibly moving. You can listen to the Pie Jesu movement from the Requiem performed beautifully by Lucia Popp here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US9U4aXCfm8

I am confused, is a Requiem mass now classed as an oratorio??

No, I don't believe it is. I just nominated the Faure because there were a couple of other mentions of requiems and the Faure should not be overlooked. As we know, a requiem is composed using the specific latin text of the requiem mass, or mass for the dead. Similarly other masses that were written to celebrate specific days on the liturgical calendar are based on specific latin text. Oratorios do not necessarily need to use sacred themes or text.

Speaking of oratorios, I purchased the following two years ago in France. It is only available on import in Australia. It is a harmonia Mundi CD and is available on Amazon. It has become one of my top five CD's at this time.

Maddalena ai piedi di Cristo by Antonio Caldara
Antonio Caldara (Composer), Rene Jacobs (Conductor), Basel Scola Cantorum (Orchestra), Maria Cristina Kiehr, Rosa Dominguez,Bernarda Fink, Andreas Scholl, Gerd Turk, Ulrich Messthaler, Chiara Banchini. Label: Harmonia Mundi (France)
ASIN: B0000007C4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_2tP...eature=related
(Track 1 Disc 1.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFBp7puG6C4
(Track 58, Disc 2.)

Would Willam Walton's Christopher Columbus be considered an oratorio? No I suppose not -- it is secular. Whatever it is, it's wicked awsome! I used to have it on tape. There are three CD's I've found available and I wish I knew which of them is best. Perhaps I should save and go for the SACD version.

These voices are stunning. No - maybe calming is the word. I'm not entirely sold on Caldara yet, but I have subscribed to that person's channel. There's quite a bit of great stuff that is new to me.

I'm so used to Handel's oratorios with their recitatives that usually come to a pronounced ending before moving on to the aria or chorus. Caldara's end more gingerly in the two samples. It's interesting.

So much great music, so little time . . .

anmarwis

I can see how my post seemed as if I was addressing you but that was not what I intended, just my clumsy way of wording it, I did see the other references to non oratorio works made by other posters and that is what prompted my response.
I enjoy oratorio much more than opera perhaps because I am so fond of all types of choral singing, IMHO it is a bit closer to pure music and does not have the distraction of Great Singers showing themselves as very mediocre actors prancing about the stage, apologies to all opera lovers.

Weston
Here is a good guide to Oratorio I hope I am not being condescending
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oratorio

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Mine are :

1. St. John's Passion BWV 245 (Bach)
2. St. Matthew Passion BWV 244 (Bach)
3. Messiah (Handel)
4. Joshua (Handel)
5. Christmas Oratorio BWV 248 (Bach)