Product Description
The Acts of the Apostles (2009), an oratorio for baritone, chorus, congregation/audience, and chamber orchestra (piano, organ, strings-suggested minimum of 3.3.3.2.1),
was commissioned by The Memorial Church at Harvard University. It is dedicated to Edward Elwyn Jones and the
Harvard University Choir.
The biblical books of Luke and Acts form a pair of documents from a single author and with a single audience (the
likely-metaphorical Theophilus), yet they are unusual for being composed in such contrasting genres. Lukes
gospel, using Mark as a primary source throughout, features a comparable literary style to that of the other
evangelists. Acts, by contrast, is a historical monograph that charts the birth of the Church with dramatic stories
aboutand speeches fromthe apostles, painting a vivid, if not necessarily chronological, picture of their victories
and struggles. As such, it is a book that provides excellent source material for a dramatic choral libretto of this scale.
Although much of Acts is focused on the ministry of Saul/Paul, this oratorio draws most of its material from the
first third of the book, prior to and including the conversion of Saul. In the Prologue, Christs ascension is narrated
andfollowing an orchestral Sinfoniathe chorus sings words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Plain in Lukes
gospel that foreshadow many of the trials the apostles go on to face. The astounding account of Pentecost follows:
here, words from the book of Ruth, customarily read on the feast of Shavuot (Pentecost), are included, telling the
story of a Moabite woman who converted to the Israelite faitha parallel to the expansion of the Christian message
to all nations by the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Prayer for Boldness, quoting Psalm 2, asks God for protection from
the threats of persecution that the apostles will now face.
Stephen, regarded as the proto-martyr of the Christian Church, offers one of the most developed speeches in Acts,
only a small portion of which is presented here. Full of scriptural references, including the quotation from Isaiah
Heaven is my throne, the end of the narrative is remarkable for two reasons: firstly, Stephens final words
mirror those of Christ on the cross in Lukes gospelwhere Jesus forgives his executioners and prays Father, into
your hands I commend my spirit (Luke 23:46); secondly, Saul is specifically mentioned as one who approved of
Stephens stoning, indicative of the redemptive possibilities of the Christian message.
The account of the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch here in the oratorio ends with the First Song of Isaiahwhile
not quoted in Acts, it seems a fitting conclusion to the scene as Philip and the eunuch were reading Isaiah together,
and the canticle has often been associated by Christians with the rite of baptism. Similarly, the story of Sauls
Conversion is followed here by a Christological poem found in Pauls letter to the Philippians, though it is likely a
quotation from an earlier source. It is often regarded as the earliest extant Christian hymn.
The Acts of the Apostles concludes with Lukes realistic assessment that in spite of Pauls energetic evangelism many
remained unconvinced by the Christian message. At the heart of both Lukes gospel and Acts is the tension between
the uniquely important role of the Jewish traditions that Jesus himself practiced and the expansion of the gospel to
gentiles, of whom Luke himself is one. It is appropriate, therefore, to follow Pauls message of salvation to the
gentiles with the Magnificat: a canticle that emphasizes the promises of God to the people of Israel throughout
history.
Three traditional hymn texts are found in the oratorio, each set congregationally to a pre-existing tune. The first,
Spirit of mercy, truth, and love is an eighteenth century poem that e
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