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Oratorio

1910 New Catholic Dictionary

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Dictionaries
1910 New Catholic Dictionary
• Oratorio
Webster Dictionary
• Oratorio
Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Oratorio
McClintock and Strong's Bible Encyclopedia
• Oratorio
The Nuttall Encyclopedia
• Oratorio
The Catholic Encyclopedia
• Oratorio

A musical composition for solo voices, chorus, orchestra, and organ set to a religious text generally taken from Holy Scripture. Said to have originated in Saint Philip Neri's oratory, the first of these sacred dramas, the "Anima e Corpo" by Emiglio del Cavaglieri, was performed in the oratory of the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, 1600, and the name "Oratorio" applied to the new form about 60 years later.