Christmas 2017

Christmas 2017

December 25, 2017.  Merry Christmas!  As we’ve done in the past several years, we celebrate this wonderful holiday by playing sections from Johann Sebastian Bach’s masterpiece, the Christmas Oratorio.  Last year we played the complete Part II, so now we’ll Guido Reni, Adoration of the Shepherdsturn to Part III.  The Oratorio was written in 1734; in it Bach reused some of the music from Cantatas BWV 213, 214 and 215, which he wrote during the previous year.  Thus, the Christmas Oratorio opens with the chorus Herrscher des Himmels, erhöre das Lallen (Ruler of Heaven, hear the sound of laughter), which is taken directly from the chorus Blühet, ihr Linden in Sachsen, wie Zedern! (Bloom, you linden trees in Saxony, like cedars!) in the Cantata BWV 214.  Nonetheless, there’s so much new music that the Oratorio clearly could be considered an independent piece of music.  The theme of the third part of the Oratorio is Adoration of the Shepherds.  As usual, it’s the Evangelist who tells the story: the angels visit the shepherds to reveal to them that a heavenly event has taken place in Bethlehem; the shepherds then embark on a journey; in Bethlehem, they find Mary, Joseph and the Child lying in the manger; they recognize the Child as the one they were told about; they spread the word about the Child: people wonder, only Mary understands the real meaning of it all; the shepherds depart, glorifying and praising the Lord.  The Third part of the Oratorio was premiered on December 27th of 1734 at the Leipzig’s St. Nicholas church.  We’ll hear it in the performance by the English Baroque Soloists under the direction of John Eliot Gardiner.