Elijah - The Work
Elijah, Op. 70
Felix Mendelssohn (1809 - 1847)
Elijah is in two parts, each with its own dramatic summit. The two parts
comprise a series of chapters in Elijah’s struggle against King Ahab and his
Baal-worshipping wife Jezebel. On a larger scale though, the prophet’s
task was to recall the people of Israel to repentance, and to lead them
back to the worship of Yahweh, the one true God.
Part I begins with Elijah’s solemn prophesy of a long and cruel drought
that will afflict Israel. Immediately, the drought begins and an overture
evokes the increasing distress of the people who can find no bread for
their children. At the end of a thrilling crescendo, they call out “Help, Lord!”
Soprano and contralto soloists lend their voices to the supplication (“Lord,
bow thine ear”) and a tenor soloist sings the imploring words of the minor
(and unheeded) prophet Obadiah: “If with all your hearts”. When there
is no effect, the backsliding people tell of their realisation of Yahweh as a
jealous God (“Yet doth the Lord heed it not”).
A new chapter begins with a contralto recitative that commands Elijah to
go to the brook Cherith, which flows into the River Jordan, and prepare
himself for his own role as a prophet and champion of Yahweh. In the
region of Zarephath he encounters a widow who gives him hospitality but
whose son falls mortally ill. The widow blames Elijah (“What have I to do
with thee . . . ?”) but the prophet falls to his knees in prayer and the miracle
of the boy’s return to life takes place. Rejoicing follows, with the chorus
joining in with “Blessed are the men who fear Him!” and spreading light
everywhere in the music of upward thirds at the words “through darkness
rises the light.”
Now that Elijah has been confirmed in his divine task, he returns to the
court of King Ahab, where he issues a challenge to the followers of Baal
to prove the existence of their god on Mount Carmel. Mighty double-
choruses of “Baal we cry to thee” and much gnashing of teeth prove
ineffective, and the false priests also have to endure Elijah’s barbed taunts
(“Call him louder!”). After they have fallen silent, Elijah summons a great
fire from Heaven, which more than convinces the people. They pray for
rain and in the distance (a marvellous moment here for the treble-solo
lookout) a white cloud nears, growing larger all the time until a downpour
breaks out, the rain being depicted in rushing, downward scales. In an
overwhelming wave of gratitude, the people shout “Thanks be to God”
and the orchestra joins in a tumult of praise to close the first part.
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