A History of the Oratorio: Vol. 3: the Oratorio in the Classical Era

The Oratorio in the classical Era is the third volume of Howard Smither's monumental History of the Oratorio, continuing his synthesis and critical appraisal of the oratorio. His comprehensive study surpasses in scope and treatment all previous works on the subject. A fourth and final volume, on the oratorio in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, is forthcoming.

In this volume Smither discusses the Italian oratorio from the 1720s to the early nineteenth century and ora…