Jonah (1775 Felsted), oratorio
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Jonah (1775) is an oratorio by Samuel Felsted (mus.). The anonymous libretto is based on the Book of Jonah.
Abstract
Felsted's Jonah was the first (and only) oratorio composed in the New World in the 18th century, and the first oratorio ever to be heard in its complete form in the United States, where since 1770 only excerpts from Haendel's oratorios (The Messiah more often than any other) had been previously performed.
Editions, performances
Published in London, England: 1775.
Premiered in Jamaica, probably in 1779. It was then performed in the United States--in New York, NY at the German Church on Nassau Street, 11 June 1788; again at the Musical Society of New York on 18 June 1789; and a third time on 2 December 1789 at Boston's Stone Chapel.
References
- Smither, 3 (1987) 236-37. 311-26; 4 (2000) 383.