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

And it is fascinating to observe that Handel’s oratorio and Melville’s novel, two works of immense popularity that are among the greatest works of their genres, both function on the outskirts of narrative.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 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

Despite dealing with an oratorio, “The Choral” is more of a medley, briefly touching on one theme after another, but never convincingly.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 2025

In 1889, the enormous popularity in Britain of Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah caused George Bernard Shaw to lampoon its Sunday-school sentimentalities and its Music-school ornamentalities’.

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

Staging oratorios in the opera house is nearly routine nowadays, especially those by Handel; for every “Agrippina,” you’re likely to get a “Messiah” too.

From New York Times ● Jul. 16, 2023

Their next recording, scheduled for release this fall, is a lineup of numbers from Handel oratorios titled “Eternal Heaven.”

From New York Times ● Aug. 12, 2022

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

Before long, Handel’s English-language oratorios even featured home-grown English singer-soloists, too, fulfilling contemporary actor-playwright and Poet Laureate Colley Cibber’s aspiration to ‘reconcile Musick to the English Tongue’.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Related Words

• chant
• ditty
• paean
• psalm