Rehearsal notes and Practice Aids
SPRING 2025 CONCERT
REHEARSAL N0TES
Wednesday 8 January 2025 : rehearsals begin.
Spring Concert
Mendelssohn's Elijah
Saturday 29 March 2025 at 7.00p
Wednesday 15 January 2025
Elijah
Pg 6 No 1. Help Lord
Pg 20 No. 5 Yet doth the Lord see it not
Pg 145 no 29 He Watching Over Israel
Wednesday 22 January 2025
Recap on movements sung on Wednesday 15 January 2025
Pg 115 No 22 Be Not Afraid
Pg 178 No 38 Then did Elijah
Pg 199 No 42 And then shall your light break forth
Wednesday 29 January 2025
Finish no 38 Pg178 Then did Elijah
No 10 Recitative with Chorus ‘As God the Lord’ Pgs 55 and 57
No 11 Pg 59 Baal we cry to thee
Pg 68-69 Hear our cry Oh Baal
Pg 70 - 74 Baal! Hear and Answer
Pg 97/98 Thanks be to God
No 20 Pg 99 Thanks be to God
Wednesday 05 February 2025
No 11 Pg 59 Baal we cry to thee
No 16 Pg 79 The Fire descends from Hell
No 20 Pg 99Thanks be to God
Pg 125 Chorus responding to the Queen
No 24 Pg 131 Woe to Him
No 32 Pg 155 He that shall endure to the end
Wednesday12 February 2025
No 24 Woe to him Pg 131
Chorus The fire descends from heaven! Pg 79
No 11 Baal, we cry to thee Pg 59 - revision
No 28 Lift thine eyes Pg 143 - Sops and Altos only, at end of rehearsal. Early finish for Tenors and Basses.
Wednesday19 February 2025
Page 6 Help Lord
Page 115 Be not afraid
Page 199 And then shall your LIGHT
Page 59 Baal
Wednesday26 February 2025
Pg 20 Yet doth the Lord hear it not. Please listen to the end of the movement from “His mercies on thousands fall”.
Pg 93 The end of Be not afraid.
Pg 145 He watching over Israel.
Wednesday 05 March 2025
Baal sequence
Pages 55,59, 68,70
The fire descends from heaven Page 7
Thanks be to God page 99.
Wednesday 12 March 2025
We heard it with our ears (p.125)
Woe to him (p.131)
Lift thine eyes (p.143)
He that shall endure (p.155)
Then did Elijah (p.178)
If time:
Help Lord (p.6)
Yet doth the Lord (p.20)
The fire descends (p.79)
Thanks be to God (p.99)
Wednesday 19 March 2025
All choruses
Wednesday 26 March 2025
Sing through all choruses
Don’t forget the rehearsal is at Wellington Prep School Hall
Saturday29 March 2025
Concert day
Afternoon rehearsal at St John’s Church starts at 2.30 please arrive by 2.15pm
Elijah Vocal Score
We will be using the New Novello Choral Edition. Copies will be available from the choir OR you can buy your own: Mendelssohn Elijah (Forwoods ScoreStore)
Stands, sits and cuts
Performances of Elijah can last up to 2 hours 40 minutes!
STAND when conductor and soloists enter, then sit on gesture.
p.5 STAND 4 bars before the end of the page. Introduction leads into “Help, Lord!”
p.16 SIT at the end of the chorus.
p.19 STAND 4 bars before the end of the page (as the TENOR sings “God”)
p.28 SIT at the end of the chorus,
#6 - #9 CUT. Turn to page 54.
p.54 STAND at bottom line bar 3 (start of bar)
p.75 SIT when we reach the 2nd line, 3rd bar (marked p)
p.77 REMAIN SEATED and all sing No.15 (marked Quartet)
p.78 STAND very quietly at the end of the page.
p.85 SIT as the aria begins.
p.93 REMAIN SEATED until
p.96 STAND at the recit. on the 4th line down (“Unto thee will I cry)
(p.108 INTERVAL. LEAD OFF THE STAGE ON CUE)
p.109 STAND when conductor and soloists enter. WATCH to sit.
p.114 STAND 4 bars before the end of the page (accompaniment marked ff)
p.123 SIT at the end of the chorus.
p.125 STAND 2 bars before letter A (end of the third line)
p.135 SIT at the end of the chorus (wait until the accompaniment is finished)
P.142 SOP AND ALTO STAND as he sings “Angels” to sing #28.
P.145 TENOR AND BASS STAND quickly as the chorus begins.
p.150 SIT at the end of the chorus.
p.154 STAND at the end of the chorus.
p.156 REMAIN STANDING and CUT to p.178 (sing #38)
#33 - #37 CUT. Turn to page 178.
p.185 SIT at the end of the chorus.
p.187 STAND at the end of the aria
#40 - #41 CUT. Turn to page 199
Note learning files/resources
Cyberbass https://cyberbass.org/Major_Works/Mendelssohn_F/mendelssohn_elijah.htm
Choraline https://www.choraline.com/learn-to-sing-mendelssohn-elijah
Learn Choral Music https://www.learnchoralmusic.co.uk/Mendelssohn/Elijah/elijah.html
Choir Parts (YouTube) Soprano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NqRWk_7G6Y&list=PL9SD3GZ81VdjuKo1NPoXT0yaVEPTOmcdn, Alto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrcPhn-4CgA&list=PL9SD3GZ81VdhKKZaBMJ9ShZ5XqKh0maU6, Tenor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CBUh16S5p4&list=PL9SD3GZ81Vdge6Keh9zd00xl_8C9JsZEk, Bass https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iTKqKNESS0&list=PL9SD3GZ81VdjR2pPY4mhBO3s26_7VNvKB
Additional Links
Elijah is a dramatic oratorio with some wonderful choruses for the choir and arias for the soloists. Here are a couple of items that choir members might enjoy listening to :
Introduction, overture and first chorus (usually the first three tracks)
The piece opens with Elijah proclaiming that there will be a drought upon the land of Israel. “As God the Lord of Israel liveth… there shall not be dew nor rain these years”.
After a very exciting overture, the chorus pleads for help, as the summer and harvest are past and there is still no water (“the deeps afford no water, and the rivers are exhausted”).
https://open.spotify.com/track/2saJetZaieMa8RwRzU3bgj?si=pdAgpHgVR7GmZ-cUxGEVdg&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A49O4zv8fAuvgtGVVDYhoG1 onwards
https://youtu.be/55iQWao-0FQ?si=DV3c_9izagJRk_HL onwards
Lift thine eyes
Elijah journeys to the wilderness, and tells God that he is ready to die. Whilst sleeping, the angels (to be sung in the WCS performance by our sopranos and altos) urge him to lift his eyes to the mountains, which is where help comes from.
https://open.spotify.com/track/2fZMUVXLCgz64WT2O7V5v8?si=YkJv28WyQEqnPuCtBY60vA&context=spotify%3Aalbum%3A49O4zv8fAuvgtGVVDYhoG1