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Webster 1913 Edition
Oratorio
1.
(Mus.)
A more or less dramatic text or poem, founded on some Scripture nerrative, or great divine event, elaborately set to music, in recitative, arias, grand choruses, etc., to be sung with an orchestral accompaniment, but without action, scenery, or costume, although the oratorio grew out of the Mysteries and the Miracle and Passion plays, which were acted.
☞ There are instances of secular and mythological subjects treated in the form of the oratorios, and called oratorios by their composers; as Haydn’s “Seasons,” Handel's “Semele,” etc.
2.
Performance or rendering of such a composition.
Webster 1828 Edition
Oratorio
ORATO'RIO
,Noun.
1.
In Italian music, a sacred drama of dialogues, containing recitatives, duets, trios, ritornellos, choruses, &c. The subjects are mostly taken from the Scriptures.2.
A place of worship; a chapel.Definition 2025
oratório
oratório
See also: oratorio
Portuguese
Adjective
oratório m (feminine singular oratória, masculine plural oratórios, feminine plural oratórias, comparable)
Noun
oratório m (plural oratórios)
Etymology 2
From Ecclesiastical Latin ōrātōrium (“place of prayer, oratory”), substantive of ōrātōrius (“oratorical”).
oratórios
Noun
oratório m (plural oratórios)