Johann Sebastian Bach Christmas Oratorio

This book is intended to provide the inquisitive listener with a guide to exploring the many layers of meaning found in Bach's Christmas Oratorio. The first section offers a general sketch of the specific context in which this composition was created at the end of 1734, shedding light on the work's liturgical function and taking a closer look at the biblical and broader religious themes. This first section will also focus on the contemporary textual and musical components of the oratorio genre, of which Bach's composition is a prime example. The second section is a detailed discussion of the 64 movements making up the work, with a focus on three aspects: the text, the music and the relation between the two. The nature of the musical setting and its structure depends on the nature of the text, be it prose (the Bible story) or poetry (the chorales and the inserted commentary), narrative or dramatic (indirect or direct speech). Moreover, the music was governed by the particular musical canons of the day, which largely determined and regulated the structure of each section and the coherence between successive sections or those at a greater remove from one another. In order to get to the essence of Bach's oeuvre, the reader-listener must be prepared to become immersed in the literary and musical idiom, the specific terminology and 'grammar' of the day.

Author's note for the English translation

Foreword (by Philippe Herreweghe)

To the reader

Introduction

GENERAL CONTEXT

The setting: Leipzig, 1734/1735

The Christmas Oratorio: an oratorio?

The liturgical function of the Christmas Oratorio

The themes and the 'libretto': Lutheran orthodoxy and Pietism

The overall structure

The parody 'problem'

THE TEXTUAL AND MUSICAL COMPONENTS

The Gospel text: the story

The Gospel text: direct speech

The chorale

The poetic interpolations

            Chorus

            Recitativo accompagnato

            Aria

The instrumentation

THE SIX CANTATAS IN DETAIL

I.                     Jauchzet, frohlocket, auf, preiset die Tage

II.                   Sinfonia - Und es waren Hirten in derselben Gegend

III.                  Herrscher des Himmels

IV.               Fallt mit Danken, fallt mit Loben

V.                 Ehre sei dir, Gott, gesungen

VI.               Herr, wenn die stolzen Feinde schnauben

 

Bibliography

Indices

            Index of names

            Index of works

SUPPLEMENT

Musical examples

Format: Monograph - paperback

Size: 235 × 170 × 20 mm

185 pages

ISBN: 9789058674210

Publication: November 05, 2004

Series: Ancorae - Steunpunten voor Studie en Onderwijs 19

Languages: English

Stock item number: 45639

Ignace Bossuyt is emeritus gewoon hoogleraar van de Onderzoeksgroep Musicologie van de KU Leuven.