St. Paul (oratorio) a translation by Mendelssohn's friend, Karl Klingermann. Contralto Mary Shaw was one of the soloists at the English premiere. The first performance in the United States was in Boston on March 14, 1837. Mendelssohn himself conducted the first performance in Leipzig in the Paulinerkirche on 16 March 1837. Numerous performances followed in Europe and in the United States. During Mendelssohn's lifetime, "St. Paul" was a popular and frequently performed work. However, compared with such oratorios as Handel's "Messiah", Bach's "Christmas Oratorio" and "St Matthew Passion" or even Mendelssohn's own "Elijah", it has failed to maintain its place in the choral
Paul Burkhard Paul Burkhard Paul Burkhard (21 December 1911 in Zürich – 6 September 1977 in Zell) was a Swiss composer. He primarily wrote oratorios, musicals and operettas. The contemporaneous and similarly named Swiss composer Willy Burkhard was no relation to him. Probably his most famous artistic creation was the song "" ("Oh! My Pa-Pa") about the death of a beloved clown-father, written for the musical ' (re-issued in 1950 as ') that premiered in April 1939. The song rose to #1 on the Sheet Music Chart and stayed in the chart for 26 weeks. The song has been performed and recorded