Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248 (Highlights) The career of Johann Sebastian Bach, the most illustrious of a prolific musical...
Johann Sebastian Bach
(1685-1750)
Christmas Oratorio,
BWV 248 (Highlights)
The career of Johann Sebastian Bach, the most illustrious of a prolific
musical family, falls neatly into three unequal parts. Born in 1685 in
Eisenach, from the age of ten Bach lived and studied music with his elder
brother in Ohrdruf after the death of both his parents. After a series of
appointments as organist and briefly as a court musician, he became, in 1708,
court organist and chamber musician to Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Weimar, the elder
of the two brothers who jointly ruled the city. In 1714 he was promoted to the
position of Konzertmeister to the Duke, but in 1717, after a brief
period of imprisonment for his temerity in seeking to leave the Duke's service,
he abandoned Weimar to become Court Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold of
Anhalt-Cothen, a position he held until 1723. From then until his death in 1750
he lived in Leipzig, where he was Thomaskantor, with responsibility for
the music of the five principal city churches, in 1729 assuming direction of
the university collegium musicum, founded by Telemann in 1702. At Weimar Bach
had been principally employed as an organist, and his compositions of the
period include a considerable amount written for the instrument on which he was
recognised as a virtuoso performer. At Cothen, where Pietist traditions
dominated the court, he had no church duties, and was responsible rather for
court music. The period brought the composition of a number of instrumental
works. The final 27 years of Bach's life brought a variety of preoccupations,
and while his official employment necessitated the provision of church music he
was able, among other things, to provide music for the university collegium
musicum and to write or re-arrange a number of important works for the
keyboard.
Bach's Christmas Oratorio consists of six cantatas, the first of
which was first performed at Christmas in 1734 at the town church of Leipzig,
the Nikolaikirche, in the morning, with an afternoon performance at the
Tomaskirche. The second part was performed on 26th December, in the morning at
the Tomaskirche and in the afternoon at the Nikolaikirche, while the third was
performed only at the Nikolaikirche on 27th December. The fourth part was
performed first on 1st January 1735, the Feast of the Circumcision, at the
Tomaskirche and in the afternoon at the Nikolaikirche, while the fifth for the
first Sunday of the New Year, 2nd January, was only performed in the morning at
the Nikolaikirche. The sixth part was given two performances on 6th January,
the Feast of the Epiphany, first at the Tomaskirche and then at the larger
Nikolaikirche. Although the work makes considerable use of music originally
composed for other purposes, the cycle was clearly conceived as a unified work,
to which the elaboration of the first chorale at the end of the sixth part
bears witness. The impression is enforced by choice of keys and formal
structure, in spite of the original intention of performance of each part on a
different day during the twelve days of Christmas. The first three parts deal
with Christmas itself, the birth of Christ and the message to the shepherds at
Bethlehem. The Evangelist intervenes only once in the fourth part to mention
the circumcision and naming of Jesus. In the fifth are the reactions of the
Wise Men to Bethlehem, their departure ending the Evangelist's account. The
instruments used in the Christmas Oratorio include the ubiquitous four
part string orchestra, with a keyboard continuo part for organ, the bass line
doubled by cello and bassoon. Transverse flutes, rather than recorders, are
used in some movements while the oboes used include pairs of ordinary oboes as
well as pairs of the alto and tenor of the family, the oboe d'amore and
the oboe da caccia. Brass instruments include three natural trumpets,
their melodic parts restricted by their nature to the brilliant upper clarino
register. Timpani make their due appearance with the trumpets. Two natural
horns, corni da caccia, make a brief appearance in two numbers in the
fourth part. There are four vocal soloists, soprano, alto, tenor and bass.
The oratorio opens with a joyful chorus, Jauchzet, frohlocket ('Christians,
be joyful') from an earlier secular cantata. The alto aria Bereite dich, Zion ('Make
Ready, Zion') is accompanied by violin and oboe d'amore and is also
taken from an earlier secular work. It is followed by the chorale Wie soll
ich dich empfangen ('How should I receive you'), using a melody by Hassler.
The bass aria Großer Herr und starker Konig ('Great Lord, mighty King,
beloved Saviour') is accompanied by trumpet, flute and strings and also has a
secular origin. The first part ends with the chorale Ach mein herzliebes
Jesulein ('Ah, my heart's beloved, little Jesus'), to the well known
Christmas melody Vom Himmel hoch ('From Heaven above').
The pastoral Sinfonia that opens the second part depicts the
shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem. The chorale Brich an, o schones
Morgenlicht ('Break now, O beautiful light of morning') is here followed by
the alto aria Schlafe, mein Liebster ('Sleep, my beloved'),
contemplating the sleeping child and a final chorale, Wir singen dir in
deinem Heer ('We sing to you in your hast').
From the third part of the oratorio comes the rousing chorus Herrscher
des Himmels ('Ruler of Heaven') and the duet for soprano and bass Herr,
dein Mitleid, dein Erbarmen ('Lord, your compassion, your mercy') is a
meditation drawn from a secular cantata and accompanied by two oboi d'amore.
The fourth part, to be
performed on the Feast of the Circumcision, includes the soprano echo aria Floßt
mein Heiland, floßt dein Namen ('Does your name, my Saviour'), with solo
oboe and continuo. This follows convention in allowing a second soprano to
offer monosyllabic agreement with the propositions of the first. The last aria,
for tenor, is Ich will nur dir zu Ehren leben ('I will now live only for
your honour'). This too is from a secular cantata.
Intended for the first
Sunday of the New Year, the fifth part includes the chorale Dein Glanz all'
Finsternis verzehrt ('Your splendour banishes all darkness'), as the
wise men make their way to Bethlehem. Later follows the terzetto for
soprano, alto and tenor, Ach wann wird die Zeit erscheinen? ('Ah when
will the time come?'), with solo violin obbligato.
The chorales Ich
steh' an deiner Krippen hier ('I stand here by your crib') and the final Nun
seid ihr wohl gerochen an eurer Feinde Schar ('Now are you avenged on the
host of your enemies') are taken from the sixth part, for performance on the
Feast of the Epiphany.
Keith Anderson