Paulus

Paulus by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, arguably the most naturally gifted composer of the Romantic era, was commissioned to write an oratorio commemorating the life of Paul in 1832. He finished this work nearly four years later in 1836. Upon first glance, similarities to such large-scale oratorios from the bygone era of Handel and Bach seem to pervade the entire piece. With further review, however, one begins to notice that those similarities are the result of the utmost reverence that Mendelssohn has for the traditions of his musical forefathers. The booming chorus sections that seem to overwhelm the listener’s senses are then seen as Mendelssohn’s tribute to the Baroque era He does manage to weave in his own modern style with the use of chromatic harmony as well as recitative and aria portions that mirror their respective counterparts in the opera tradition of Mendelssohn’s time.

This two-act oratorio recounts the New Testament story of Saint Paul and runs a little over two hours in length. The first section describes the life and martyrdom of St. Stephen and Saul’s conversion. The second act focuses on the missionary work of Saul, going by his newly-christened name of Paul, and his fellow prophet Barnabas. This second movement ends with Paul’s death at the hands of the Romans. The piece is written for chorus with four soloists: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Each of the soloists depicts various characters and contributes to the narration of the story. Paul is portrayed by the bass throughout and the tenor sings the roles of Barnabas and Stephen while the soprano and alto soloists chime in during the narrative recitative sections The sections of this work include choral works, chorales, recitatives and arias.

The work opens with a lengthy thematic overture. Mendelssohn, known for his conducting prowess, demands the utmost attention of his audience for seven minutes in this stunning display of majesty that delivers many haunting and foreboding themes that appear later throughout the overture, acting as connecting material. Following the overture, Mendelssohn begins with a magnificent choral piece entitled “Herr! der du bist der Gott.” With this movement, Mendelssohn makes clear his attempt to bring back the overwhelming aspect of Baroque oratorios. This work introduces the sacred context of the rest of the oratorio. Whereas other oratorios might be confusing in regards to their purpose, Mendelssohn seems disinterested in making his story entertaining. He focuses on the events that actually occurred in the Bible in hopes of conveying their deeper spiritual meanings.

The mention of Mendelssohn’s overbearing religious perspective in this oratorio warrants further explanation. Mendelssohn grew up with a strong Jewish heritage. His grandfather was a prominent Jewish rabbi and scholar; however, Jews were not looked upon favorably during Mendelssohn’s time, so eventually his family adopted the name Bartholdy to replace their existing last name. Mendelssohn took both names, to the dismay of his father, although he remained a devoted Lutheran. This reasoning explains why this particular story of conversion has a special meaning for Mendelssohn.

Following a conventional homophonic chorale singing the praises of God, Mendelssohn launches into the story of Stephen. The soprano and bass act as narrators as they sing a duet telling of the people’s frustrations with Stephen. The chorus, playing the part of an angry mob, then voices these frustrations in an eerie choral tune, an effect achieved by percussive orchestration. Two typical traits are highlighted here. The first is Mendelssohn’s tendency to have a recitative section before each choral or aria section. This penchant continues for the duration of the work. The other typical trait is this characteristic orchestral accompaniment. Mendelssohn was a celebrated conductor and knew how to effectively compose a work for an orchestral setting. For example, a narrator tells how Stephen was stoned by his own people. During the stoning, the angry mob repeatedly calls for Stephen to be stoned. Their incessant chants are reminiscent of the mob cries Jesus faced before he was crucified. The question may be beginning to creep into the reader’s mind at this point of why the death of Stephen is depicted in an oratorio about Paul. The reasoning for this is not entirely clear, but the connection between the two is that Stephen’s martyrdom is the first time Saul is mentioned in the New Testament. By depicting Stephen’s death using a substantial amount of time, Mendelssohn shows the absolute determination of Saul in his quest to persecute all Christians. This device lends further credibility to Saul’s amazing conversion that is to come.

Recitative passages describe Saul’s actions on his journeys to persecute Christians. His destructive actions are catalogued in dramatic fashion by the tenor narrator with a sparse accompaniment from the orchestra. An aria follows that praises the glory and goodness of God. This leads us to the conversion of Saul. In a perhaps somewhat premature climax, the chorus plays the role of God speaking to Saul during his conversion. “Wachet auf! Ruft uns die Stimme,” a well-known chorale still sung in churches today, follows in what is an appropriate choice following Saul’s “wake-up call” that he received from God. The first act ends with Ananias christening the newly-named Paul as a Christian minister followed by a relatively generic choral piece proclaiming the glory of God.

This first act deserves some discussion before continuing to the oratorio’s second act. Several typical Mendelssohn features are present and many have been previously mentioned. Because this in an oratorio, certain aspects are necessary to propel the plot along. These are present in the recitative sections. The orchestra plays an almost equal role as the singers throughout the work. The mood, whether joyful, sad, or foreboding, can at once be determined by a cursory listen to the orchestration. During aria sections, for example, the orchestra often played a scant accompaniment of one or two melodic lines that perfectly complemented what the singer was singing. The orchestra plays a vital role in providing the dramatic accompaniment for the conversion scene. Another distinctive characteristic is Mendelssohn’s use of common themes, known as leitmotifs, to unify his work as a whole unit. These themes are heard at the onset of the oratorio in the overture and return at various times throughout the movement.

The second half of Mendelssohn’s work tells the story of Paul’s travels with Barnabas as an apostle of Christ and his ensuing martyrdom. Mendelssohn starts this portion of his oratorio with an energetic choral fugue. As was standard for these types of pieces, the choir begins by singing a homophonic portion and then quickly breaks into dense imitative polyphony. This initial movement, entitled “Der Erdkreis ist nun des Herrn,” assertively proclaims God’s presence on earth. The next few movements of the piece go by quickly with a relatively small amount of action occurring. A narrator describes Paul’s travels and the Jews’ initially welcoming reactions. Throughout this portion of the oratorio the chorus sings another chorale entitled “O Jesu Christe.” Mendelssohn introduces this widely sung chorale with an imitative polyphonic choral section. After this lull in the action, events begin to happen rapidly and Paul’s martyrdom becomes imminent. Paul delivers a dynamic message to an anxious public, who then begin to worship Paul in the choral movement “Die Götter sind den Menschen gleich geworden.” Literally translated, this means “The gods have become equal to man.” Paul, enraged with these views, unleashes a scathing rebuke saying that the people “don’t know what [they] are doing.” This group of overly devoted followers suddenly changes into a frenzied mob, expressing their frustration and overall disappointment. A soprano narrator then describes Paul’s persecution by the people and a simple air sung by the tenor makes note of Paul’s unwavering devotion to God until the time of his death. The oratorio ends with the entire ensemble singing “Nicht aber ihm allein.” Like most of the other choral pieces within Paulus, this movement features extensive imitative polyphony as well as sections of homophony.

When examining this work with respect to the common musical practices of the Romantic era and the times before, one can see that this oratorio follows the precedents of the oratorio style. The oratorio’s popularity was waning. The time of Handel has already passed, and with it the unparalleled master of the genre. The oratorio at the time of Mendelssohn was not necessarily considered a viable genre in which to compose a work. It was simply out of fashion and not popular enough with the general public. Mendelssohn was seeking to resurrect this genre with Paulus.

With Paulus, I believe Mendelssohn has created a masterpiece. Mendelssohn was know for churning out works at a furious pace and the completion of this oratorio took four years from the time it was commissioned to the day it was premiered. I only mention this fact to underscore the wondrous and unparalleled beauty and passion portrayed throughout the work. I find that the most characteristic portions of Paulus is the incredible beauty of the orchestra. Whether playing simple counterpoint or a booming accompaniment for the full chorus, Mendelssohn’s orchestration always seems to be absolutely perfect. During arias and recitatives, the accompaniment is fittingly scarce and seems to ideally convey Mendelssohn’s concepts.

I especially have come to admire Mendelssohn’s compositional style in this work. Having been composed in the earlier stages of the Romantic era, one might expect the work to not express the intentions of this era at its fullest. However, I do not think that this was Mendelssohn’s intentions. He sought to compose this new work in the style of a Handel oratorio. This explains the prominent chorus sections, a typical characteristic of the Handel style. Also similar to Handel, the chorus of Paulus depicts the mood and feelings of the text. Mendelssohn’s intent of composing in a bygone musical style is a continuation of his reverence for the older styles that he alone was responsible for resurrecting.

This work belongs in the Canon. It is a compositional masterpiece of a well known Biblical figure. I would assume that this work is not performed all that often due to the fact that Mendelssohn composed another oratorio entitled Elijah. Also, Paulus tends to be somewhat circuitous and longwinded. It is almost two hours long, and Paul’s character is not introduced until the end of the first act. The opening portions of the oratorio are instead used to tell the story of Stephen. This is also a fascinating tale, but the fact that it uses up at least thirty minutes of the oratorio suggests that Stephen’s martyrdom possibly warrants an oratorio of its own. Also, not enough time is devoted to Paul’s missionary work. There is literally one single song in which Paul delivers any sort of teaching to the people. I would like to have seen Paul speak out more and deliver his messages to the people. I believe these few reasons led to this work’s relative obscurity in relation to Mendelssohn’s Elijah; however, despite this apparent lack of public acclaim, Paulus still deserves recognition as a masterpiece and a tribute to the oratorios of Handel and Bach.

In summation, I believe that Mendelssohn depicted Paul’s biblical journey with fervor and passion. There is a large degree of incredible musical material throughout the work and the chorus scenes are wonderfully overwhelming. Overall though, the work suffers from little focus on Paul’s ministry and too much focus on the martyrdom of Stephen.