Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) was born in Hamburg, the grandson of Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and the son of a wealthy banker, Abraham Mendelssohn, who raised his four children as Protestants and even assumed the surname Bartholdy. Felix was baptized in 1816, but to his father's disappointment refused to take "Bartholdy." While Felix embraced no religion, as one who revered Bach and spent his most successful years in Leipzig, he probably felt Protestant.

Mendelssohn, a child prodigy, began composing at age 6, first performed in public at age 9, and by his teens had already composed numerous symphonies, cantatas, piano and string quartets. At age 20 he conducted the much-celebrated revival of Bach's Saint Matthew Passion in Berlin.

Highly respected and dearly loved, he led what was regarded as a very successful life with seemingly few setbacks. He was music director in DÂsseldorf from 1834, then conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig from 1835 to 1841, and the Royal Kapellmeister in Berlin until 1844.

An avid traveler, even during the years when he held official positions, Mendelssohn reserved periods during which he could fulfill guest engagements in distant cities. He traveled throughout Europe and was in great demand as conductor, performer, and composer of new works.

On his first visit to London in 1832, he conducted the London Philharmonic, performed piano recitals, even produced a benefit concert for flood victims, and established himself as the darling of British society. Considering England to be his second home, he returned to London nine times.

The Birmingham Festival, which Mendelssohn was to direct, commissioned Elijah for presentation there. At first Mendelssohn declined the invitation, but then accepted, thinking that he finally would have unlimited means at his disposal. For the first performance, he had an orchestra of 125 players and a chorus of 271 singers.

Mendelssohn repeatedly appealed to his friend Karl Klingemann for assistance, but it was Dr. Julius Schubring, who had worked with Mendelssohn on the oratorio Saint Paul, who finally provided the text. For Birmingham, William Bartholomew translated it into English with Klingemann overseeing.

Mendelssohn wrote the soprano role for Jenny Lind, whom he had met in 1844 and with whom he had a warm friendship. He knew her voice well, and Lind's biographer claims that Mendelssohn especially loved her high F-sharp. It is for her that the F-sharp rings in "Hear ye, Israel." Lind, however, decided that she would prefer to make her English debut in an operatic role, and Elijah premiered without her.

The soprano who sang the role demanded that Mendelssohn transpose "Hear ye" a whole tone lower. Mendelssohn refused and threatened in turn to find another soprano.

From its first performance on August 26, 1946, at the Birmingham Festival in England, the oratorio was a triumph.

The following May, Felix's sister Fanny died. She had been his closest friend and confidante, and the loss was like a deathblow to him. He retreated to Switzerland.

In September, he returned to Leipzig, seemingly restored. He was scheduled to conduct the first German performance of Elijah in Berlin and then another performance in Vienna, where Jenny Lind was to sing the soprano part. When he arrived in Berlin, he visited Fanny's home and was overcome with grief. The concerts were canceled.

He became ill on October 9 and died November 4, five months after Fanny's death. A chorus of 600 sang his funeral service in Leipzig, and a thousand mourners carried his coffin to the railroad station. He was buried in Berlin.

On November 14, Elijah was performed in Vienna, without Jenny Lind. Orchestra stands and singers were draped in black. The chorus master conducted from a lower stand while the conductor's podium remained vacant. On the conductor's desk lay a score and a laurel wreath. On the anniversary of Mendelssohn's death, Jenny Lind did finally perform Elijah in Exeter Hall at a concert that she organized.

Before the overture, Elijah prophesies a drought. The overture portrays the suffering from the famine that the drought brings to Israel. The people of Israel plead for relief in the chorus "Help, Lord!" and in the duet with chorus "Lord, bow thine ear."

Obadiah, who has stayed faithful to God, reminds the people that the drought is to punish them for worshipping idols. His aria "If with all your hearts," advises them to be true to God. They respond with "Yet doth the Lord see it not."

An angel advises Elijah to hide in a small valley east of the Jordan to avoid Ahab's wrath, and the angels sing "For He shall give His angels."

Later, the angel returns to tell Elijah to go back to Zarephath by the sea, where a widow takes him in. While he stays with her, her supplies of grain and cooking oil miraculously replenish themselves.

The first extended scene of the oratorio is between the widow and Elijah. When her son falls ill and dies, Elijah prays three times to God, and the boy revives. They pledge their devotion to God, and the chorus sings "Blessed are the men who fear him."

After three years of drought, Elijah presents himself before King Ahab and proposes a test to show that God is the true God and Baal is not. The people of Israel assemble around Mount Carmel to observe the contest on its summit.

Elijah and the prophets of Baal each place sacrificial steers on their altars but do not burn them. Instead, Baal's prophets appeal to Baal to set their offering on fire in "Baal, we cry to thee," and when Elijah taunts them, in "Hear our cry" and "Baal, hear and answer." But nothing happens.

Then Elijah prays to God in the aria "Lord God of Abraham." An angel chorus reassures him with "Cast thy burden upon the Lord." And the people of Israel see how God answers Elijah's prayers in "The fire descends from heaven."

Elijah orders the people to kill the prophets of Baal and glories in God's fearsome justice in the aria "Is not His word like a fire?" The alto seconds his sentiment in "Woe, woe unto them!"

Elijah helps the people pray to God to end the drought. After each prayer, he sends a youth to look out to sea for rain clouds. When the storm arrives, the people rejoice with "Thanks be to God."

Ahab and Jezebel persist in worshipping Baal, and Elijah condemns them prophesying that God will again punish Israel. In revenge, the queen whips the people into a frenzy until, in "Woe to him," they vow to kill Elijah. Obadiah warns the prophet to flee to the desert.

A desperate Elijah asks God to let him die in the aria "It is enough." As he sleeps, the angels sing "Lift thine eyes" and "He, watching over Israel." An angel appears to send Elijah far south to Mount Horeb, also known as Mount Sinai. When he still despairs that his prophesies to the people of Israel have been in vain, the angel comforts him with the aria "O rest in the Lord," and an angel chorus sings "He that shall endure."

Elijah reaches Mount Horeb and asks God to appear to him. An angel tells him to veil his face to withstand the presence of God. The chorus sings "Behold, God the Lord passed by." The heavenly host appears, and an octet and chorus of angels sing praises back and forth in "Holy, holy, holy."

Afterward, the angels tell Elijah to return to Israel as a prophet to the people there in "Go, return upon thy way." Elijah sings of God’s eternal mercy in "For the mountains shall depart."

In "Then did Elijah the prophet break forth," the chorus mentions fiery triumphs over King Ahaziah, Ahab's successor, and describes Elijah's ascent to heaven, also fiery. The tenor aria "Then shall the righteous shine forth" tells of his arrival in heaven.

The finale links Elijah with the Messiah’s coming. The chorus sings "But the Lord from the north," the four soloists sing "O come everyone that thirsteth," and the chorus ends with "And then shall your light" and a fugue, "Lord, our Creator."

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