oratorio
noun
or·a·to·rio
| \ ˌȯr-ə-ˈtȯr-ē-ˌō
, ˌär-\
, ˌär-\
plural oratorios
Definition of oratorio
: a lengthy choral work usually of a religious nature consisting chiefly of recitatives, arias, and choruses without action or scenery
Examples of oratorio in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The preliminary screening submissions of an aria, oratorio or art song (or portion) of choice are not to exceed five minutes in length, recorded and submitted online. — Courtney Mcgee, baltimoresun.com, "Coloratura? Classical voice competition Towson-bound," 27 Aug. 2019 After filling stadiums to deliver his angry oratorio, Sanders is staging smaller, more intimate events intended to offer the up-close experience that voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, especially, have come to expect. — Los Angeles Times, "Bernie Sanders hasn’t changed. Is that his strength or a weakness?," 26 July 2019 Even people who knew nothing else by him would know his oratorio A Child of Our Time, written during the war in which Tippett had briefly gone to prison as a conscientious objector. — Douglas Murray, National Review, "Michael Tippett’s ‘Timeless Music in Time’," 11 July 2019 What remains is a gloomy, 65-minute oratorio that extends the prison setting to the wider world. — Heidi Waleson, WSJ, "‘prisoner of the state’ Review: Stripping Away the Story," 12 June 2019 For those of us who love classical music, performances usually fit into neat categories — operas, symphonies, oratorios and the like. — Georgia Rowe, The Mercury News, "Other Minds 2019 debut ‘The Pressure’: Grimm’s fairy tale meets Trump," 10 June 2019 Billboard caught up with the composer, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for his moving oratorio, The Little Match Girl Passion, to find out why the plot of a 200-year-old opera still sounds so eerily familiar. — Oussama Zahr, Billboard, "David Lang on Blending Politics & Opera in His 'Prisoner of the State'," 7 June 2019 The 1941 oratorio, after all, emphasizes intimacy over grandeur. — Rick Schultz, latimes.com, "'The Love Potion': Tristan and Isolde, the Long Beach Opera way," 16 May 2018 Considering Matthew Shepard Composer-pianist Craig Hella Johnson and vocal ensemble Conspirare perform Johnson’s oratorio that remembers the young gay student who was murdered in Wyoming in 1988. — Matt Cooper, latimes.com, "The week ahead in SoCal classical music: Partch, Pacific Symphony and more," 9 June 2018These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'oratorio.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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More Definitions for oratorio
oratorio
noun
English Language Learners Definition of oratorio
: a large piece of music for a group of singers and musicians that is usually about a religious subject
See the full definition for oratorio in the English Language Learners Dictionary
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