A musical composition for solo voices, chorus, orchestra, and organ set to a religious text generally taken from Holy Scripture. Said to have originated in Saint Philip Neri's oratory, the first of these sacred dramas, the "Anima e Corpo" by Emiglio del Cavaglieri, was performed in the oratory of the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, 1600, and the name "Oratorio" applied to the new form about 60 years later.