Oratorio credited with writing the first English language oratorio, "Esther". Handel's imitators included the Italian Lidarti who was employed by the Amsterdam Jewish community to compose a Hebrew version of "Esther". Britain continued to look to Germany for its composers of oratorio. The Birmingham Festival commissioned various oratorios including Felix Mendelssohn's "Elijah" in 1846, later performed in German as "Elias". German composer Georg Vierling is noted for modernizing the secular oratorio form. John Stainer's "The Crucifixion" (1887) became the stereotypical battlehorse of massed amateur choral societies. Edward Elgar tried to revive the genre around the turn of century with the composition
Paul Nelson (composer) Paul Nelson (composer) Paul Nelson "(né" Paul Eugene Nelson; 26 January 1929 Phoenix, Arizona – 11 April 2008 Providence, Rhode Island) was an American musician and composer. His compositions—in all genres except opera—have been performed on four continents. Paul Nelson was born in Phoenix, Arizona on January 26, 1929. He attended public elementary school there, and graduated in 1947 at salutatorian from Phoenix Union High School. After high school, Nelson studied music, first at Phoenix College, then at Arizona State University in Tempe in the late 1940s. By 1948, he had composed and arranged works for dance bands, including the