Bach: Christmas Oratorio BWV 248, Cantata I-VI

The Christmas Oratorio is undoubtedly one of Johann Sebastian Bach's most popular works. It consists of six cantatas intended for Christmas Eve, the two Christmas holidays, New Year's Day, the Sunday after New Year's Day and the Feast of the Epiphany, and was first performed in this form under Bach's direction in Leipzig in 1734. It is known today that some of the music in the Christmas Oratorio was not original, composed especially for this work. According to the custom of parodying, i.e. the use of his own older compositions for new texts, which was common in Bach's time, Bach used arias and choruses from his earlier secular cantatas for the Christmas Oratorio. But this does not play a decisive role, because the basic character of the music adopted is joyful and festive, and thus quite suitable for depicting the joyful events of Christmas.

Characteristic of the oratorio form is the presence of a narrator, the Evangelist, whose biblical account of the birth of Jesus, the Annunciation by the angel, the adoration of the shepherds, the naming and the Wise Men from the East is framed with contemplative recitatives, arias, choruses, and chorales. The special charm of this production lies in the participation of the Windsbacher Knabenchor and very young vocal soloists. Accompanied by selected instrumentalists, namely the Munich Bach Soloists and the Läubin Trumpet Ensemble, a young, fresh interpretation of this ever-topical work was achieved under the overall direction of Karl-Friedrich Beringer, conductor of the Windsbacher Knabenchor. The Christmas Oratorio was recorded in the Münster Heilsbronn, one of the most beautiful Franconian monastery churches, whose origins date back to the 12th century.