Beyond ev’ry valley: a tenor’s guide to late Baroque and early Classical oratorio arias and recitatives beyond the standards

This thesis and recording project present selections from oratorios composed between 1712 and 1776. It offers a written and recorded guide to oratorio recitatives and arias composed for the tenor voice for singers seeking to expand their repertoire beyond the standard oratorio literature. The recordings consist of selected arias and any preceding recitatives with piano accompaniment from each oratorio, with three arias featuring additional instruments. The recording includes selections from George Frideric Handel’s Brockes-Passion, settings of Der Tod Jesu by Georg Philipp Telemann and Carl Heinrich Graun, and Jan Dismas Zelenka’s Sub olea pacis, among others, all oratorios with few available recordings. Many of these selections feature texts centering around the Passion of Jesus. An historical and musical overview of each oratorio and its composer is presented with each selection, followed by a performer’s guide giving overall range (lowest to highest pitch), primary tessitura (where the music generally lies in the voice), and recommended singer skill level. The texts and translations of each musical selection are provided in the liner notes.