The Classical Music Book

170

THE LAST NOTE

WAS DROWNED ...

IN A UNANIMOUS

VOLLEY OF PLAUDITS

ELIJAH (1846), FELIX MENDELSSOHN

C

horal music had started

to wane in popularity by

the 19th century. The

Classical period had heralded a

new philosophy that deemed

music to be at its purest when it

was self-contained and referenced

nothing outside itself. Instrumental

music—especially the symphony—

had become the most important

genre. While church musicians kept

the choral tradition alive to some

extent, they were increasingly

amateurs. Secular choirs began to

flourish, but because they were not

professional musicians, the prestige

of choral music suffered, compared

to other types of music. In the

absence of a market for choral

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

19th-century sacred

choral music

BEFORE

1741 Handel composes his

oratorio, Messiah.

1829 Felix Mendelssohn

conducts Bach’s St. Matthew

Passion for the first time since

the composer’s death in 1750.

AFTER

1857 The Handel Festival at

the Crystal Palace in London

includes a performance of

Messiah with a choir of 2,000

people and an orchestra of

500, creating a vogue for very

large choral performances

in England.

1900 Edward Elgar composes

The Dream of Gerontius—a

setting of an 1866 poem by

Cardinal Newman—for the

Birmingham Music Festival.

US_170-173_Mendelssohn.indd 170 26/03/18 1:01 PM