THE

EDISON

CHORALIERS

commemorating the birthday

of the late

Thomas Alva Edison

present

Felix Mendelssohn's Sacred Oratorio

Elijah

MRS. GEORGE T. MANN, Conductor

SOLOISTS:

Mrs. Paul E. Price, Soprano

Mrs. Thomas E. Blount, Soprano

Mrs. Ray Reid, Soprano

Jane Mulhollan Longino, Contralto

Claude M. Rhea Jr. Tenor

Jack Roew, Bass

ACCOMPANISTS:

Mrs. Horace B. Rhodes, piano

Mrs. E. Lowry Sherman, Jr., organ

Harold Moreland, violin

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1954

Eight o'clock

HIGH SCHOOL AUDITORIUM

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA

Broadcast: Station WINK

EDISON PAGEANT OF LIGHT

A TRIBUTE

Edison is the magic name that brings to mind a deep sense of gratitude for the many wonders of our daily life. To us, in Fort Myers, the name Edison means a neightbor and a friend that lived among us for almost half a century. His deeds and inventions are written in the story of man's progress.

Born in Milan, Ohio, 104 years ago, Thomas Alva Edison, came to Fort Myers in 1885, seeking a cure for his broken health. He established his home on the Caloosahatchee River, known now as Seminole Lodge.

Light's Diamond Jubilee slogan "Light For Freedom, Power For Progress" epitomizes the contributions made by Edison's gift of electricity to the world. And in giving us the symbol for our American way of life, we give you in commemoration . . . .

Thomas Alva Edison

Invocation- Rev. Jasper W. Smoak, Jr.

Representing the Fort Myers Ministerial Association

ELIJAH

AN ORATORI

The Author of this English Version has endeavored to render it as nearly in accordance with the Scriptural Texts as the Music to which it is adapted will admit; the references are therefore to be considered rather as authorities than quotations

Par 1

INTRODUCTION

Recitative.

Elijah.-- As God the Lord of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

1 Kings xvii. 1.

OVERTURE

Chorus:

The People.- Help, Lord! wilt Thou quite destroy us?

The harvest now is over, the summer days are gone, and yet no power cometh to help us! Will then the Lord be no more God in Zion?

Jeremiah viii. 20

Recitative Chorus.

The deeps afford no waterl; and the rivers are exhausted! The suckling's tonuge now cleaveth for thirst to his mouth: the infant children ask for bread, and there is no one breaketh it to feed them!

Lament. iv. 4.

Duet and Chorus.

The People.- Lord! bow Thine ear to ourprayer!

Duet.- Zion spreadeth her hands for aid; and there is neither help nor comfort.

Lament. i. 17.

Recitative.

Obadiah.- Ye People, rend your hearts and not your garments, for your transgressions the prophet Elijah hath sealed the heavens through the word of God. I therefore say to ye, Forsake your idols, return to God; for He is slow to anger, and merciful, and kind and gracious, and repententh Him of the evil.

Joel ii. 12. 13.

Air

If with all your hearts ye truly seek me, ye shall ever surely find me. This saith our God. Oh! that I knew where I might find Him, that I might even come before His presence.

Duet. iv. 29. Job xxiii. 3.

Chorus.

The People.- Yet doth the Lord see it not: He mocketh at us; His curse hath fallen down upon us; His wrath will pursue us, till He destroy us!

For He, the Lord our God, He is a jealous God; and he visiteth all the father's sins on the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him. His mercies on thous- and fall- fall on all them that love Him and keep his commandments. 

Duet. xxviii. 22. Exodus xx. 5. 6.

Recitative

An Angel.- Elijah! get thee hence; depart, and turn thee eastward: thither hid thee by Cherith's book. There shalt thou drink its waters; and the Lord thy god hath commanded the ravens to feed thee there: so do accordig unto his word.

1 Kings xvii. 2

Double Quartet

Angels.- For He shall give His angels charge over thee; that they shall protect thee in all the ways thou goest; that heir hands shall uphold and guide thee, lest thou dash they foot against a stone.

Psalm xci. 11. 12.

Recitative.

An Angel.- Now Cherith's brook is dried up. Elijah, arise and depart, and get thee to Zarephath; thither abide: for the Lord hath commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. And the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, untl the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the eart.

1 Kings xvii. 7 .9. 14.

Recitative and Aiir.

The Widow.- What have I to do with thee, O man of God? art though come to me, to call my sin unto rememberance?- to slay my son art thou come hither? Help me, man of God! my son is sick! and his sickness is so sore, that there is no breath left in him! I go mourning all the day long; I lie down and weep at night. See mine affliction. Be though the Orphan's helper!

Elijad.- Give me thy son. Turn unto her, O Lord my God: in mercy help this widow's son! For thou art gracious, and full of compassion, and plenteous in mercy and truth. Lord, my God, O let the spirit of this child return, that he again may live!

The Widow.- Wilt though show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee?

Elijah.- Lord, my God, O let the spirit of this child return, that he again may live!

The Widow.- The Lord hath heard thy prayer, the soul of my son reviveth!

Elijah.- Now behold, thy son liveth!

The Widow.- Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that His word in thy mouth is the truth. What shall I rnder to the Lord for all His benefits to me?

Both.- Though shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

O Blessed are they who fear him!

1 Kings xvii. 17. 18. 21-24. Job x. 15. Psalm xxxviii. 6; vi. 7; x. 14; lxxxvi. 15. 16; lxxxviii. 10; cxxviii.1.

Chorus.

Blessed are the men who fear Him; they ever walk in the ways of peace. Through darkness riseth light to the upright. He is gracious, compassionate: He is righteous.

Psalm cxxviii. 1. cxii. 1. 4.

Recitative.- ELIJAH, AHAB, and CHORUS.

Elijah.- As God the Lord of Sabaoth liveth, before whom I stand, three years this day fulfilled, I will show myself unto Ahab: and the Lord will then send rain again upon the earth.

Ahab.- Art thou Elijah? art thou he that troubleth Israel?

Chorus.- Though art Elijah, he that troubleth Israel!

Elijah.- I never troubled Israel's peace: it is though, Ahab, and all thy father's house. Ye have forsaken God's commands; and thou has follow Baalim!

Now send and gather to me, the whole of Israel unto Mount Carmel: There summon the prophets of ball, and also the prophets fo the groves, who are feasted at Jezebel's table.Then we shall see whose God is the Lord.

Chorus.- and then we shall see whose god is god the Lord.

Elijah.- Rise then, ye priests of Baal: select and slay a bullock, and put no fire under it: uplift your voices, and call the god ye worship; and I then will call on the Lord Jehovan: and the God who by fire shall answer, let him be God.

Chorus.- Yea: and the God who by fire shall answer, let him be God.

Elijah.- Call first upon your god: your numbers are many: I, even I, only remain, one prophet of the Lord! Invoke your forest gods and mountain dieties.

1 Kings xvii. 17; xvii. 1. 15. 18. 19. 23-25.

Chorus.

Priests of Baal.- Baal, we cry to thee! hear and answer us! Heed the sacrifice we offer! Hear us! O hear us, Baal!

Hear, mighty God! Ball, O answer us! Let thy flames fall and extripate the foe! O hear us, Baal!

Recitative.

Elijah.- Call him louder, for he is a god! He talketh; or he is pursuing; or he is in a journy; or, peradventure, he sleepeth; so awaken him: call him louder.

Chorus.

Priests of Baal.- Hear our cry, O Baal! now arise! wherefore slumber?

Recitative and Air.

Elijah.- Call him louder! he hearthe not. With knives and lancets cut yourselves after your manner: leap upon the alter ye have made: call him and prophecy! not a voice will answe you; none will listen, none head you.

Chorus

Priests of Baal.- Her and answer, Baal! Mark! how the scorner derideth us! hear and answer!

1 Kings sviii. 1. 15. 17. 18. 19. 23-29.

Recitative and Air.

Elijah.- Draw near, all ye people: come to me!

Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel! This day let it be known that Thou art God; and I am Thy servant! O show to all this people that I have done these things according to Thy word! O Hear me, Lord, and answer me; and show this people that Thou art Lord God; and let their hearts again be turned!

1 Kings xvii. 30. 36. 37.

Quartet.

Angels.- Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. he never will suffer the righteous to fall; He is at Thy right hand.

Thy mercy, Lord, is great; and far above the heavens. Let none be made ashamed that wait upon Thee!

Psalm lv. 22; xvi. 8; cviii. 5; xxv. 2.

Recitative.

Elijah.- O Thou, who makest Thine angels spirits;- Thou whose ministers are flaming fires, let them now descend!

Psalm civ. 4.

Chorus.

The People.- The fire descends fromHeaven; the flames consume his offering!

Before Him upo your faces fall! The Lord is God: O Israel hear! Our God is one Lord: and we will have no other gods before the Lord!

1 Kings xviii. 38. 39.

Recitative.

Elijah.- Take all the prophets fo Baal; and let not one of them escape you: bring them down to Kishon's brook, and there let them be slain.

Chorus.

The People.- Take all the prophets of Baal; and let not one of them escape us; bring all, and slay them!

1 Kinds xviii. 40.

Air.

Elijah.- Is not His word like a firel and like a hammer that breaketh the rock into pieces?

For God is angry with the wicked every day; and if the wicked turn not, the lord will whet his Sword; and He hath bent His bow, and made it ready.

Jer. xxiii. 29. Psalm vii. 11. 12.

Air.

Woe unto them who forsake Him! destruction shall fall upon the, for they have transgressed against Him. Though they are by Him redeemed, yet they have spoken falsley against Him.

Hosea vii. 13.

Recitative and Chorus.

Obadiah.- O man of God, help Thy People! Among the idols of the Gentiles, are there any that can command the rain or cause the heavens to give their showers? The Lord our God alone can do these things.

Elijah.- O Lord, Thou has overthrown thine enemies and destroyed them. Look down on us from Heaven, O Lord; regard the distress of Thy people: open the heavens and send us relief: help, help Thy servants now, Oh God!

The People.- Open the heavens and send us relief: help, help Thy servant now, O God!

Elijah.- Go up now, child, and look toward the sea. Hath my prayer been heard by the Lord?

The Youth.- There is nothing. The heavens are as brass above me.

Elijah.- When the heavens are closed up because they have sinned agaist Thee, yet if they pray and confess Thy name, and turn from their sin when Thou dost afflict them; then hear from heaven, and forgive the sin! Help! send Thy servant help, O God!

The People.- Then hear from heaven, and forgive the sin! Help! send Thy servant help, O Lord!

Elijah.- Go up again, and still look toward the sea.

The Youth.- There is nothing. The eart is as iron under me!

Elijah.- Hearest thou no sound of rain?- seest though nothing arise from the deep?

The Youth.- Nol; there is nothing.

Elijah.- Have respect to the prayer of Thy servant, O Lord, my God! Unto Thee will I cry, Lord, my rock; be not silent to me; and Thy great mercies remember, Lord!

The Youth.- Behold, a little cloud ariseth now from the waters; it is like a man's hand! The heavens are black with clouds and with wind: the storm rushed louder and louder!

The People.- Thanks be to God for all His mercies!

Elijah.- Thanks be to God, for is is gracius and His mercy endureth for evermore!

jer. xiv. 22. 2. chron. vi. 19. 26. 27. Duet. xxviii. 23. Psalm xxviii. 1.; cvi. 1. 1 Kings xviii. 43. 45.

Chorus.

Thanks be to God! He laveth the thirsty land! The waters gatherl they rush along; they are lifting their voices! The stormy billows are high; their futy is mighty. But the Lord is abvoe them, and Almighty!

Psalm xciii. 3. 4.

FIVE MINUTES INTERMISSION

Part 11.

Air.

Hear ye, Israel; hear that the Lord speaketh:- "O, hadst though heeded my commandments!"

Who hath believed our report; to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

This saith the Lord, the Reedemer of Israel, and His Holy One to him oppressed by tyrants; thus saith the Lord:- I am He that comforteth; be not afraid, for I am thy God, I will strengthen thee. Say, whoa rt though, that thou art afraid of man that shall die; and forgettest the Lord thy Maker, who hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the earth's foundations? Be not afraid, for I, thy God will strengthen thee.

Isaih xiviii. 1. 18: liii. 1. xlix. 7: xli. 10; 1i.12. 13.

Chorus.

Be not afraid, saith God the Lord. Be not afriad! they help is near. God, the Lord thy God saith utno thee, "Be not afraid!"

Though thousands languish and fall beside thee, and tens of thousands around thee perish, yet it shall not come nigh thee.

Isaiah xli. 10. Psalm xci. 7.

Recitative and Chorus.

Elijah.- The Lord hath exalted thee from among the people; and over his people Israel hath made thee king. But thou, ahab, hast done evil to provoke him to anger above all that were before thee: as if it had been a light thing for thee to walk in the sins of Jeroboam. Thou has made a grove and alter to Baal, and served him and worshipped him. Thou hast killed the righteous, and also taken possesion.

And the Lord shall smite all Israel, as a reed is shaken in the waterl; and he shall give Israel up, and thou shalt know He is the Lord.

1 Kings. xiv. 7. 9. 15; xvi. 30. 31. 32. 33.

The Queen.- Have ye not hear he hath prophesied against all Israel?

Chorus.- We heard it with our ears.

The Queen.- Hath he not prophesied also against the King of Israel?

Chorus.- We heard it with our ears.

The Queen.- And why hath he spoken in the name of the Lord? Doth Ahab govern the kingdom of Israel while Elijah's power is greater than the king's?

The gods do so to me, and more; if by tomorrow about this time, I make not his life as the life of one of them whom he hath sacrificed at the brook of Kishon!

Chorus.- He shall perish!

The Queen.- Yea, by the swore he destroyed them all!

Chorus.- He destroyed them all!

The Queen.- He also closed the heavens!

Chorus.- He also closed the heavens!

The Queen.- And called down a famine upon the land.

The Queen.-  So go ye forth and seize Elijah, for he is worthy to die; slaughter him! do unto him as he hath done!

Chorus

Woe to him, he shall perish; for he closed the heavens! And why hath he spoken in the name of the Lord? Let the guily prophet perish! He hath spoken falsely against our land and us, as we have heard with our ears. So go ye forth; seize on him! He shall die!

Jeremiah xxvi. 9. 11. 1. Kings xviii. 10; xix. 2; xxi. 7. Ecclesiates xiviii. 2. 3.

Recitative.

Obadiah.-Man of God, now let my words be precious in thy sight. Thus saith Jezebel; "Elijah is worthy to die." So the mighty gather against thee, and they have prepared a net for thy steps; that they may seize thee, thay they may slay thee. Arise, then, and hasten for thy life; to the wilderness journey. The Lord thy God doth go with thee; He will not fail thee. He will not forsake thee. Now begone, and bless me also.

Elijah.- Though stricken, they have not grieved! Tarry here, my servant; the Lord be with thee. I journey hence to the wilderness.

2 Kings 1. 13. Jer. v. 3; xxvi. 11. Psalm lix. 3. 1. Kings xix., 4. Duet. xxvi. 6. Exodus vii. 32; 1 Samuel xvii. 37

Air

Elijah.- It is enough, O Lord; now take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers! I desire to live no longer; now let me die, for my days are but vanity!

I have been very jealous for the Lord God of Hosts! for the children of Israel have broken Thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain Thy prophetas with the sword: and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away.

Job vii. 16. 1 Kings xix. 10

Recitative.

See, now he sleepeth beneath a juniper tree in the wilderness; and there the angels of the Lord encamp round about them that fear Him.

1 Kings xix. 5. Psalm xxxiv. 7.

Trio.

Angels.- Lift thine eyes to the mountains whence cometh help. They help cometh from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He hath said, thy foot shall not be moved: they Keeper will never slumber.

Psalm cxxi. 1-3.

Chorus.

Angels. He, watching over Israel, slumbers not, nor sleeps. Shouldst thou, walking in grief, languish, He will quicken thee.

Psalm cxxi. 4. cxxxviii. 7.

Recitative.

An Angel.- Arise, Elijah, for thou hast a long journey before thee. Forty days and forty nights shalt thou go; to Horeb, the mount of God.

Elijah.- O Lord, I have labored in vain; yea, I have spent my strength for naught!

O that Thou wouldst rend the heavens, that Thou wouldst come down; that the mountains would flow down at Thy presence, to make Thy name known to Thine adversaries through the wonders of Thy works!

O Lord, why hast Thou made them err from Thy ways, and hardened their hearts, that they do not fear Thee? O tha I know might die!

1 Kings. xix. 8. Isaiah xlix. 4; lxiv. 1. 2. lxiii. 7

Air.

O rest in the Lord; wait patiently for Him, and He shall give thee they heart's desires. Commit they way unto Him, and trust in Him, and fret not theyself because of evil dors.

Psalm xxxvii. 1. 7.

Chorus.

He that shall endure to the end, shall be saved.

Matthew xxiv. 13.

Recitative.

Elijah.- Night falleth round me, O Lord! Be Thou not far from me! hide not Thy face, O Lord, from me; my soul is thirsting for Thee, as a thirsty land.

An Angel.- Arise now! get thee without, stand on the mount before the Lord; for there His glory will appear and shine on thee! Thy face must be veiled, for He draweth near.

Psalm cxliii. 6. 7. 1 Kings xix. 11.

Chorus.

Behold! God the Lord passed by! And a mighty wind rent the mountains around, brake in pieces the rocks, brake them before the Lord; but yet the Lord was not in the tempest.

Behold! God the Lord passed by! And the sea was upheaved, and the earth was shaken: but yet the Lord was not in the earthquake.

And after the earthquake there came a fire; but yet the Lord was not in the fire.

And after the fire there came a still small voice; and in that still voice, onward came the Lord.

1 Kings xix. 11. 12.

Air.

The shall the righteous shine fore as the sun in their heavenly Father's realm. Joy on their head shall be everlasting, and all sorrow and mourning shall flee away for ever.

Matthew xiii. 43. Isaiah.

Chorus.

And then shall your light break forth as the light of morning breaketh; and your health shall speedily spring forth then; and the glory of the Lord ever shall reward you.

Lord, our Creator, how excellent Thy name is in all the nations! Thou fillest heaven with Thy glory. Amen!

Isaiah lviii. 8. Psalm viii. 1.

(The audience is requested to refrain from applause)