The Rise of the Oratorio.

The oratorio rose to prominence as a genre of religious vocal music performed outside of churches; the name came from houses of prayer built for devotional groups in Rome, in which these early works were performed. An oratorio is dramatic like an opera, and the form developed at nearly the same time as opera. One of the very earliest musical dramas, Emilio de' Cavalieri's Rappresentatione di Anima et di Corpo in 1600, seems in many ways as much like an oratorio as an opera. An oratorio's story line is normally religious, while that of opera normally is not. Another difference is the absence of acting; the singers in an oratorio do not act out their parts on a stage, so they do not usually use costumes or sets. Rather, they simply stand and sing, as do the rest of the...