Elijah, Op. 70, MWV A 25, is an oratorio by Felix Mendelssohn depicting events in the life of the Prophet Elijah as told in the books 1 Kings and 2 Kings of the Old Testament. It premiered on 26 August 1846.
The manuscript used for the premiere, by a copyist with notes by Mendelssohn, now in the collection of the Library of Birmingham
The oratorio depicts events in the life of the prophet Elijah
Birmingham Town Hall, where Elijah premiered
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonies, concertos, piano music, organ music and chamber music. His best-known works include the overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Italian Symphony, the Scottish Symphony, the oratorio St. Paul, the oratorio Elijah, the overture The Hebrides, the mature Violin Concerto, the String Octet, and the melody used in the Christmas carol "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing". Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words are his most famous solo piano compositions.
Portrait from 1846
Felix Mendelssohn aged 12 (1821) by Carl Joseph Begas
First page of the manuscript of Mendelssohn's Octet (1825) (now in the US Library of Congress)
The composer's study in Mendelssohn House, a museum in Leipzig
