Fate while the Hebrew conscience did not, therefore the Greeks were
the predestined creators of the art-form out of which grew the
opera and the Hebrews of the form which grew into the oratorio.
Neither is it true that because a people are not disposed toward
dramatic creation themselves they can not, or may not, be the cause
of dramatic creativeness in others. Dr. Chrysander's argument, made
in a lecture at the Johanneum in Hamburg in 1896, preceded an
analysis of Handel's Biblical oratorios in their relation to Hebrew
history, and his exposition of that history as he unfolded it
chronologically from the Exodus down to the Maccabaean period was
in itself sufficient to furnish many more fit operatic plots than
have yet been written. Nor are there lacking in these stories some
of the elements of Greek legend and mythology which were the
mainsprings of the tragedies of Athens. The parallels are striking:
Jephtha's daughter and Iphigenia; Samson and his slavery and the
servitude of Hercules and Perseus; the fate of Ajax and other
heroes made mad by pride, and the lycanthropy of Nebuchadnezzar, of
whose vanity Dr. Hanslick once reminded Wagner, warning him against
the fate of the Babylonian king who became like unto an ox, "ate
grass and was composed by Verdi"; think reverently of Alcestis and
the Christian doctrine of atonement!

The writers of the first Biblical operas sought their subjects as
far back in history, or legend, as the written page permitted.
Theile composed an "Adam and Eve" in 1678; but our first parents
never became popular on the serious stage. Perhaps the fearful soul
of the theatrical costumer was frightened and perplexed by the
problem which the subject put up to him. Haydn introduced them into
his oratorio "The Creation," but, as the custom goes now, the third
part of the work, in which they appear, is frequently, if not