Kölner Kurrende

The text comes from the Bible. The form is a spiritual oratorio. And yet Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's »Elias« could just as easily be performed on an opera stage. The composer tells the story of this deeply human prophet in such a gripping, dramatic and theatrical way.

He doubts, suffers and grieves, fearlessly confronts the followers of Baal and the autocratic King Ahab, miraculously saves a child, ends a drought and, in the end, ascends spectacularly to heaven in a chariot of fire. But contrary to the title, the secret protagonists in »Elias« are the »rather thick, strong, large choruses,« as Mendelssohn Bartholdy himself put it: from simple, touching choral settings to powerful displays of splendour with the support of the full orchestra.