David and Goliath: An Oratorio

Abstract

This thesis involves composing a dramatic work, David and Goliath: An Oratorio, for chorus and orchestra, with an emphasis on emulating eighteenth-century English oratorio style. A framework for writing compositions based on appropriating foreign cultural or historical characteristics is suggested, with specific emphases on choral works incorporating sacred text. The Baroque oratorio’s history is examined, and its prominence in ‘Georgian’ Britain throughout the eighteenth century and its corresponding stylistic aspects is investigated, including form, instrumentation, notation, harmony, and text. In addition, the cross-cultural differentiations of the biblical text of David and Goliath are discussed, as it is paraphrased into a libretto to complement music with similar tonality, figurations, and harmonic language of late Baroque style.