"Oratorios" by Amandus Ivanschiz in the context of musical sources and liturgical practice

Among the works by Amandus Ivanschiz OSPPE (1727–1758) there is a number of compositions entitled Oratorios that do not fit the accepted definitions of the genre. The pieces, as we know them today, are short religious cantatas with texts praising Jesuit saints. The purpose of this text is to give an overview of the critical analysis of the preserved musical sources and the assessment of their credibility, as well as putting Ivanschiz's Oratorios in the context of liturgical tradition of Jesuits from Graz, for whom the compositions were written. Such an approach enables us to clarify the adopted definition of the genre and the role the music initially played. As it follows from the preserved music sources and account books from the St. Ägidius Church in Graz, the five Latin Oratorios do not constitute a set of completely separate works, but de facto a one, five-part cyclic composition, musically complete parts of which were performed separately in consecutive odd days of novena. All mentioned works are contrafacta; originally they were composed to German lyrics, dedicated to St. Francis Xavier. Quite evidently Oratorios in this form were related to the nature of musical life and liturgical tradition of the Jesuit College in Graz.