Through the narrator (tenor), the celestial symbology is introduced as visionary material, while the solo voices, ensembles and choruses enact scenes and responses to events as they unfold.
[1] The principal soloist is Saint John (tenor) who, as narrator, opens with words of devotion to God the eternal, and to Christ the redeemer.
John then paints the vision of the throne in heaven, the rainbow,[2] the 24 elders, the seven spirits, the sea of glass and the four living creatures.
After a great organ passage the first seal is broken, and John describes the appearance of the white horse and its crowned rider.
The rider announces a small portion of wheat and barley for all, and the mother and daughter sing a piteous lament (Duoszene: Mutter und Tochter) to the father in heaven as they starve from famine.
Tenor and bass soloist, survivors on the corpse-field (Duoszene: Ueberlebenden auf dem Leichenfelde) sing of the death unleashed upon all mankind, but for a small remnant 'He that shall endure to the end shall be saved.'
The fifth seal is broken, and John reveals the choir of souls of the Christian martyrs beneath the altar, which cry out for vengeance upon the earth (Chorus: Der Aufruhr im Himmel).
John tells of the sixth seal's opening, and behold, a great earthquake, deluge, and world-burning: the first part of the oratorio ends in a violently-agitated chorus (Der Weltuntergang), cut through by angular trumpet-figures, as the Moon goes red with blood, everything crashes in storms, the stars fall to earth, the sea overflows, the sun goes black, and all mankind comes together before the face of the God of Gods in the Day of Anger.
The ensuing narrative is an allegory for the history of the true believers and their Church, from the birth of Jesus Christ, of their struggle against the followers of the Devil and his false teachers, and of the ultimate victory of the righteous.
An angel came down from heaven, and bound the dragon for a thousand years, and cast him into the eternal pit and closed it up so that he should never more trouble the people of the earth.
John's narration returns to the stillness of heaven, the end of all earthly time,[4] and tells that seven angels appear and are given trumpets.
The soloists announce the woes, building from alto through to quartet: a rain of blood and fire (punishment for the sins of mankind, responds the chorus); a glowing mountain appears in the sea, and all ships founder, and all lives are lost in the sea and the water is turned to blood (Response: Great God, your judgements are righteous); the star named Wormwood falls to earth, and poisons all waters, and whoever drinks it, dies (Response: Lord, your punishment is truly righteous); Woe to you, sun moon and stars are lost!, sings the quartet of solo voices.
The voice of God speaks, saying that He is the Alpha and the Omega and will give to them that thirst the water of life, and they will become His people, and He will wipe away their tears, and there shall be no more death nor sorrow.
Schmidt completed writing the full score of his oratorio at his home in Perchtoldsdorf on 23 February 1937, and wrote the date at the end.
Having settled on the Book of Revelation, he consulted various translations in addition to his own house Bible (the Martin Luther version) in order to arrive at a beautiful and clear text.
Rudolf Gerlach-Rusnak sang the Evangelist's recitative role, and the other vocal soloists were Erika Rokyta, Enid Szánthó, Anton Dermota and Josef von Manowarda.