Elijah (oratorio) - Reception

Reception

Elijah was popular at its premiere and has been frequently performed, particularly in English-speaking countries, ever since. It is a particular favorite of amateur choral societies. Its melodrama, easy appeal, and stirring choruses have provided the basis for countless successful performances.

A number of critics, however, including Bernard Shaw have treated the work harshly, emphasizing its conventional outlook and undaring musical style:

I sat out the performance on Wednesday to the last note, an act of professional devotion which was no part of my plan for the evening … You have only to think of Parsifal, of the Ninth Symphony, of Die Zauberflöte, of the inspired moments of Bach and Handel, to see the great gulf that lies between the true religious sentiment and our delight in Mendelssohn’s exquisite prettiness.

Charles Rosen praises the work in general — "Mendelssohn's craft easily surmounted most of the demands of the oratorio, and are the most impressive examples of that form in the nineteenth century." However, Rosen additionally has characterized Mendelssohn as "the inventor of religious kitsch in music". In Rosen's view, Mendelssohn's religious music "is designed to make us feel that the concert hall has been transformed into a church. The music expresses not religion but piety ... This is kitsch insofar as it substitutes for religion itself the emotional shell of religion."

Mendelssohn wrote the soprano part in Elijah for the "Swedish Nightingale", Jenny Lind. Lind was devastated by the composer's premature death in 1847. She did not feel able to sing the part for a year afterwards. She resumed singing the piece at Exeter Hall in London in late 1848, raising £1,000 to fund a scholarship in his name. After Arthur Sullivan became the first recipient of the scholarship, she encouraged him in his career.

Charles Salaman adapted "He that Shall Endure to the End" from Elijah as a setting for Psalm 93 (Adonai Malakh), sung on most Friday nights in the sabbath eve service of the London Spanish & Portuguese Jewish community.