Carissimi - Jephte / Iudicium Extremum

The Counter-Reformation was intended to elevate the spiritual feelings of the Catholic faithful and the oratorio was influenced by monodic song and the transformation of the lauda spirituale into a more dramatic, performance-oriented form. Indeed, the term "oratorio" initially meant somewhere that a lay congregation met to pray and sing hymns like the Lauda. Carissimi's are the first real oratorios in the history of music and although he did not invent the genre, he certainly put it on the map. Most of his 16 surviving oratorios are in Latin and among the finest are not only his renowned Jephte, but Iudicium extremum itself with it's majestic three-choir structure. Carissimi had a huge influence on the development of the oratorio in Italy and throughout Europe in the work of his many pupils who achieved greatness, such as Charpentier in France and Kerll in Germany. And that influence continued upon later composers such as Haendel and all the major exponents of the mature Baroque.