O is for Oratorio
This is an extract from an interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, which will be broadcast on Radio 3 during 'A Bach Christmas'.
'Bach's Christmas Oratorio is not just one composition, it's a series of reflections that takes us from Christmas through to Epiphany. Like so much of his great music, it takes us on a journey.
Quite early on, there are hints as to where it is all going to end up. Bach achieves continuity by playing around with a beautiful little chorale, repeating and reworking it, using it very slowly, solemnly, and joyfully. But perhaps the most extraordinary thing is what Bach does at the very end, taking the Passion Chorale which was so important in the St Matthew Passion and making it a Christmas Hymn as the final chorus in the Oratorio. The struggle, suffering and triumph that's embodied in the Passion is already present in the events of the Oratorio, as if what Christmas is really all about is the triumphant reinvention of the human race, which is the result of the life of Jesus. If you listen to the Christmas Oratorio as a whole, you hear an early reminder that this is the great Lord, the mighty King who is coming to struggle and battle. The incarnation is not just a sentimental story about a baby in a cradle, it's about a struggle. The person who is doing the struggle is celebrated in the bass aria early on, so when you get to the very end, you have already been given, in a sense, the whole story of which Christmas is the beginning. It's a story in which the greatest of lords, the most powerful of monarchs undertakes a struggle, through weakness and humility and becoming vulnerable. At the very end what's celebrated is the passion and the resurrection, all contained in these first events of Christmas, in the event of the incarnation - God becoming human flesh and blood in Jesus Christ. '
Rowan Williams
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This is an extract from an interview with Terry Waite, which will be broadcast on Radio 3 during 'A Bach Christmas'.
'I never forget the first time I heard the Christmas Oratorio. In that particular work he somehow captured the joy and the wonderful exuberance of Christmas. I remember one Christmas Eve being alone in the cell and going through as much of that oratorio as I could in my mind - the trumpets, the choir, the whole great performance and for a moment I was lifted out of my isolation and my mood, which sometimes tended to be a little despairing, and taken into another realm. I look back on those days and thank God for Bach.'
Terry Waite
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Read what others have said..
Maglinders
This is one of my desert island discs. The opening movement is the most joyous, uplifting piece I have ever heard. It always lifts me out of my seat and makes me smile. Mr Bach is almost rumbustious, here, with his trumpets and drums. When I am at my happiest, I play it on repeat for hours. And I know I am not alone in this! I play it to people who think of Bach as gloomy. It's an instant cure for that error. The serene movements are simply sublime. The whole work is a very great treasure.
Corinna, Germany
The first time I sang the Christmas Oratorio with the choir I belonged to at the time I thought it was incredibly difficult to sing. And years later, and a couple of performances later, too, I still think it is not something you can "just sing". But being in a church, performing it together with a good orchestra and soloists is always great fun and brings the real Christmas feeling, something that I would otherwise not get as profoundly in our hectic times as I do by performing Bach actively myself. We are only hobby singers. So the high A's and G's are a bit tough for us. But then Bach himself worked with only male singers, the sopranos being boys, whose voices are naturally better equipped for high notes - plus music in generally was half a note lower at Bach's times. That may have helped. I think... ;)
Wolfhard Herzog, D-69207 Sandhausen, Gr. Lachstras
The eschatological hints in the Christmas oratorio which archbishop Dr. Rowan Williams emphasises are based on the fact that the first chorale "Wie soll ich Dich empfangen" and the final chorus "Nun seid ihr wohl gerochen" are entangled by the same melody. Bach also uses this tune in St. Matthew Passion (Oh Haupt voll Blut und Wunden). However, Dr. Alfred Duerr (J.S.Bach-Institut Goettingen) does not see any evidence for this idea, as in Leipzig at the time of J.S.Bach the tune of "Herzlich tut mich verlangen", which is the original chorale the tune was composed for, was not necessarily related to "Oh Haupt voll Blut und Wunden". (See A. Duerr "Die Kantaten von J.S. Bach", p.134). From Germany, connected by the web, I would like to congratulate BBC 3 on the whole Bach project. I am listening with great pleasure!
Betty'mitt.fsnet.co.uk - Oxfordshire
I first met the Christmas Oratorio when I was in my mid-forties, singing in a large mixed choir - the magic of it has stayed with me - although I must admit it is the choruses and accompaniements that really thrill me most of all.
Roger Smith, Loughborough
The Christmas Oratorio is the best Christmas music ever composed. Why we in England stick to the Messiah I will never know. Last year I tried to find a live performance of the Oratorio. I failed but there were many Messiah's possible.