A History of the Oratorio: Volume 1 by Smither Howard E

Author:Smither, Howard E.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
Published: 2012-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER VI

The Later Baroque I: Social Contexts, Patrons, Composers, Poets

The period from the mid-seventeenth to the early eighteenth century was one of increasing oratorio activity, not only in the genre’s native Rome, but in other Italian cities and beyond the Alps as well. Among the reasons for the growing interest in the oratorio were the expansion of the Oratorians, who sponsored oratorio performances in many cities of Italy, and the increasingly close relationship between the functions of oratorio and opera. The latter was by far the most popular public entertainment of the Baroque era—a period in which the oratorio was increasingly seen as a viable substitute for opera, particularly during the Lenten season when opera theaters were closed. As a result of this function, the stylistic and structural features of oratorios grew closer to those of operas than they had been in the past. Although oratorios continued to be performed in a more or less devotional context in the oratories of Italy, they were also frequently presented in the palaces of noblemen, where they functioned as quasi-secular entertainments despite the religious basis of their texts. The following treatment of various social contexts, patrons, composers, and poets of the oratorio deals more with Rome than with other cities because of the greater emphasis on the genre there and because more previous research has been done on the Roman development. Nevertheless, with few exceptions the oratorio practices of Rome appear to be representative of those in other Italian cities.

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