oratorio

American  

[awr-uh-tawr-ee-oh, -tohr-, or-] / ˌɔr əˈtɔr iˌoʊ, -ˈtoʊr-, ˌɒr- /

noun

• oratorios
  plural

1. an extended musical composition with a text more or less dramatic in character and usually based upon a religious theme, for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra, and performed without action, costume, or scenery.

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oratorio British  

/ ˌɒrəˈtɔːrɪəʊ /

noun

1. a dramatic but unstaged musical composition for soloists, chorus, and orchestra, based on a religious theme

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oratorio Cultural  

1. A musical composition for voices and orchestra, telling a religious story.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• oratorios
  plural

Etymology

Origin of oratorio

1625–35; < Italian: small chapel < Late Latin ōrātōrium oratory ²; so named from the musical services in the church of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in Rome

Explanation

An oratorio is a musical piece that is usually lengthy and based on some Biblical or religious event. It is a performance for voice and orchestra, but the story is told through the music, and not with scenery, costumes, and action. In Rome, musical services were presented in the church of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. An oratory, from the Latin word oratorium, meant "place of prayer." These sorts of musical services spawned the type of music known as oratorios. Handel's Messiah is a well known oratorio that is often performed at Christmas. You are probably familiar with the part that goes "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!"

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

oratorio oratorios

Boyer’s multimedia oratorio, “A Hundred Years On,” was given its premiere by the Philadelphia Orchestra last month at the orchestra’s outdoor summer home, the Mann Center.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

The second program doubled down with the premiere of David Lang’s “the wealth of nations,” a 75-minute oratorio for orchestra, chorus and two soloists, here the inimitable mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron and bass-baritone Davóne Tines.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 3, 2026

Harry Bicket and the English Concert presented the composer’s highly theatrical but little-known 1745 oratorio in an uneven but frequently arresting performance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 18, 2026

The composer struts in during a rehearsal, uncorks an embarrassingly stagey speech about his life and views, and forbids Guthrie from putting his modern spin on the oratorio.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 2025

Handel even quotes from Carissimi’s Rorate Filii, Israel in his own oratorio Samson, composed a hundred years later.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

George Frideric Handel wrote some 42 operas across his career — his unstaged oratorios such as “Messiah” constitute a separate category — but Seattle Opera has presented only three of these to date.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 6, 2023

But the larger ideas of “unEarth” are more directly delivered than those of any of her other socially conscious but primarily historical oratorios, dating back to “Steel Hammer” more than a decade ago.

From New York Times ● May 31, 2023

Theodorakis wrote more than 200 popular songs, 10 symphonies, two oratorios, three ballets, a folk opera and the Olympic anthem, first performed at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

From Reuters ● Sep. 8, 2021

Franz Joseph Haydn: I wrote a hundred symphonies, and 50-some sonatas, Masses, oratorios, concertos and cantatas.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 2, 2020

Nothing could be further from the omnipotent, benevolent creative force of Handel’s oratorios or Bach’s cantatas and Passions - yet Handel was still alive, just, and Bach had only died five years earlier.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Related Words

• chant
• ditty
• paean
• psalm