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
Elijah analogy for Perun, the supreme Slavic god of storms, thunder and lightning bolts. In many Slavic countries Elijah is known as Elijah the Thunderer ("Ilija Gromovnik"), who drives the heavens in a chariot and administers rain and snow, thus actually taking the place of Perun in popular beliefs. Perun is also sometimes conflated with the legendary hero Elijah of Murom. The feast of St. Elias is known as "Ilinden" in South Slavic, and was chosen as the day of the Ilinden-Preobrazhenie Uprising in 1903; it is now the holiday of Republic Day in the Republic of Macedonia. In Estonian folklore