Elder Howard W. Hunter and the Elijah Oratorio by Felix Mendelssohn

I passed a lot of talks with scriptures and internal references...letting those go.

Not that they're not wonderful. I don't want to give anyone that idea. There's nothing in the world that compares to the scriptures, and I love the works that we have written by apostles and prophets and such. Personally, I've gotten a lot of value out of the literature created by members of my own faith, and I do recommend most of them for reading, if you're interested in history and personal anecdotes. Some of those stories are part of me, deeply, from having heard them my whole life.

It's only been recently that I've taken to the idea of finding out wider cultural references that those who aren't members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints might be familiar with, and think about how those have been roped into my own peculiar culture because of some point or another.

And that brings me finally to Elder Howard W. Hunter, who was one of the Elders in the 1970s who went on to serve and prophet and president of the Church, if only for a short time.

He's an interesting one - he was a professional musician at one point in time, and the quote he brings in today is a musical one - one that I've not personally heard until now. In the midst of recounting stories from the life of Elijah, he gives us this reference from his talk, "Elijah the Prophet":

 

The Reference
 

"Jezebel became angry and threatened Elijah, 

and he fled south to Beersheba 

and into the wilderness of Sinai. 

His encounter with the Lord in the wilderness 

has become the theme 

that Mendelssohn put to music in the beautiful Elijah oratorio."

 

Felix Mendelssohn wrote many beautiful pieces, including the Elijah Oratorio Elder Hunter references. He was an admirer of Handel's Messiah, and wrote the Elijah Oratorio in that same style. 

And when it comes to music, it can't be quoted, but must be experienced...

 

If you don't happen to have two hours free to experience this in the original German (Das ist eine LOT of music!), here's a small snippet from Elijah's prayer to the Lord in the wilderness...in English...that's a little more approachable for newbies like myself. 

Enjoy. :-)