Paulus. Carus Choir Coach. Alt

Mendelssohn composed his first oratorio "Paulus" under the impression of his own revival of J. S. Bach’s "St. Matthew Passion" in 1829. He integrated chorale settings into "St. Paul", for which he was accused by his contemporaries of making a stylistic break, using an element unsuitable to church music. In spite of these reservations, during Mendelssohn’s lifetime "St. Paul" was one of his most popular works, which received numerous performances throughout Europe. Robert Schuman praised the “inextinguishable color of the instrumentation” and the “brilliant play with all the forms of composition.” He described it as a “jewel of the present.” The Carus edition is the first critical edition of the famous oratorio. It is based on the the first printing of the score which was supervised by Mendelssohn himself, and on the autograph.