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 Smith (composer) series of the late 1940s and early 1950s. He won an Academy Award for Best Original Score with Leigh Harline and Ned Washington for "Pinocchio", which was his first and only Oscar win. Smith died on January 25, 1985 in Glendale, California, from Alzheimer's Disease at age 78. In 1994, he was posthumously honored as a Disney Legend. Paul Smith (composer) Paul J. Smith (October 30, 1906 – January 25, 1985) was an American music composer best known for his work at Disney. Smith was born in Calumet, Michigan on October 30, 1906. Upon graduating high school, he studied music