Show Synopsis:
This is part of the oratorio "Elijah" based on the Biblical narrative of Elijah, a prophet who fled Israel and encouraged many in their faith of God. He is the messenger from God for the people of Baal in a drought and later flees from Jezebel. Elijah begins to believe he is the only person faithful to God. He continues to prophesy and is lifted up to the heavens in a chariot of fire.  	

Character:
Elijah, a devout prophet.

Song Context:
Elijah flees to the wilderness from the people of Jezebel who are trying to kill him, though he knows that God goes with him and will protect him.	

Fun Facts:
1) Mendelssohn composed this piece in the same vein as Bach and Handel's oratorios. 
2) This oratorio was an instant success in 1846, and this is its most famous aria. 
3) Mendelssohn wrote that he imagined Elijah as "a grand, mighty prophet, of the kind we might require in our own day...Energetic and zealous, but also stern, angry, brooding, in striking contrast to the rabble you find both in court and in the populace ? indeed, up against the whole world ? yet borne aloft on angels? wings."