Omaha daily bee., 1911-05-14
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which the fire from heaven showed Ahab
the right way.
Then the gentle Jezebel who was the
daughter OF a bad man and Baal wor-
shipper, comes to the front and she starts
an anti-E Elijah demonstration. She has not
forgotten the slain prophets. and the empty
dining room. She is determined to get
Rlijah's life and to do to him what had
been done to the false prophets. She asks
the people II he isn't bad man, and the
PEOPLE. who had been shown over and
oyer again that he was their friend i'm
medlately turned against him, just as peo-
pie always did and always will do. Do
things for them, and they will turn and
rdnd you. These same people who had
witnessed the work Of Elijah, and his
genuineness, turn right around, and cry,
He must die: he shall perish" But
obadiah, a ruler in Ahab's household, who
had sympathy with Blijahs cause Cthere
we're saints" we remember in Caesars
household) whispered to him that it was
time for him to move somewhere else, as
Jezebel and the wicked were plotting
against him.
Then comes the scene Of encouragement
in the wilderness. Elijah wants to die. he
people will bow the knee TO the false
gods But angels come and minister to
him. This is one Of the most exalted
scenes in musical literature, the conflict
Of the soul, alone, unsupported by the peo-
pie who should be supporting, the apparent
failure, the apparent helplessness and
then the almost petulant, semi-rebellious
prayers, and the desire to die, to be done
NnytNn Ala
Nothing is more pathetic than to hear
strong man say7 1T is enough Now take
away my life" But the angels come and
Elijah is comforted with the promise that
he shall see God the Lord pass by. And
God the Lord passed by, but not in the
tempest; nor yet in the earthquake when
the sea was upheaved and the earth was
shaken; nor yet in the fire, but after all
Of these lin the still, small voice onward
came the Lord" And Elijah, though his
face was yelled, saw the Lord. And he
was new being. Soul on fire,
The next scene depicts Elijah as having
overthrown mighty kings, seen the hidden
things OF time and OF eternity, and finally
being taken in a fiery chariot with fiery
horses. in a whirlwind to heaven. A beau
tiful quartet 20 come every one that thir-
accompaniment OF the full orchestra closes
the Oratorio.
Mendelssohn worked on the Elijah" for
ten years, and he died the year after Il
was completed and presented. Here is the
composers idea of the subject expressed
in a letter to a friend II figured to my
self Elijah as a thorough prophet, such as
we might again require in our own day
energetic and jealous, but also stern,
wrathful, and gloomy; striking contrast
to the whole world, and yet borne on an
gels wings 1 am most anxious to do
full justice to the dramatic element"
Again writing to the librettist, he says:
II am glad to learn that you are search
ing out the always heart-atfecting sense
of the Scriptural words; but IL might
make one observation. 1t is that I would
fain see the dramatic element more promi-
nent as we'll as more exuberant and de-
fined--appal and rejoinder, question and
answer. sudden Interruptions etc. etc"
Writing again on the matter he says;
with q subject like Elijah 1t appears to
me that the dramatic element should pre-
dominate. as It should in all Old Testa-
ment subjects, Moses. perhaps excepted
The personages should act and speak as II
tney were nNlnB pelnss-ior nehNeh sane
let them not be musical picture, but q
real world"
And the Elijah" is a real work about a
real world and Mendelssohn has made it
alive. THOMAS ]. KELLY.
The following program was given by the
Visiting Nurses association on May 9, re-
oelved to late for publication last week:
An den Fruehling. ..,,.....,,,.....,..,..Gr ieg
Valse Op 70 No. 1,..........,..,.........C Chopin
Valse Op 70 No. 3,...................,.Ch Chopin
Mr.. Festner.
| In a Brahmin Garden "a Song Cycle),.,.
| ...,..,....,...,..,.Fr Frederic Knight Logan
Miss Gertrude Sanborn.
Prelude ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. Chopin
Miss Elizabeth Barker.
| SAlrl lance OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.
Miss Virginia Barker.