Paul Archibald Sounding Out

 Johann Sebastian Bach was the Thomaskantor (director of music) at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig from 1723 to 1750 and he played a central role in leading musical celebrations during Christmas. Each year Bach composed cantatas for the church services which were part of the liturgical celebrations during the Christmas season, including Christmas Day, the two following days, and occasionally Epiphany. He also oversaw rehearsals with the St. Thomas Boys Choir and the instrumentalists, working within the city’s limited musical resources. At the same time, he created some of the most extraordinary church music in history. As an organist, Bach also improvised preludes and accompaniments for congregational singing during Christmas services. Leipzig had four main churches and Bach was responsible for providing music for multiple services during the Christmas season. Despite this frenetic musical activity, Bach saw Christmas at St. Thomas Church as a deeply spiritual celebration for which he created some of his greatest works.

Magnificat anima mea
Bach-Collegium Stuttgart
Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart

Cantata Unser Mund sei voll Lachens, BWV 110: I. Unser Mund sei voll Lachens
Netherlands Bach Society
Jos van Veldhoven (conductor)

Gloria in excelsis Deo, BWV 191: No. 3, Sicut erat in principio
Vienna Concentus Vocalis
Virtuoso Saxoniae
Ludwig Guttler (conductor)

Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248, Pt. 6: No. 64, Choral. ‘Nun seid ihr wohl gerochen’
Amsterdam Baroque Choir
Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra
Ton Koopman

Magnificat anima mea (1723)

In May 1723 Bach was appointed Kantor of St Thomas, Leipzig (Director of Music) where he remained until his death in 1750. It was a hugely demanding post, involving teaching at the church school, playing the organ, training the choir and composing the music for the city’s two principal Lutheran churches as well as supervising and training the musicians at three others. Bach made an impressive start to his new appointment, composing the Magnificat which was was composed for the 1723 Christmas Vespers. This original version was in E-flat and included several additional Christmas texts inserted at various points in the piece. Some years later he revised it, removing the Christmas interpolations to make the piece suitable for use throughout the year and transposing it into D Major, a much brighter key  The Magnificat is conceived on a grand scale, requiring five soloists, a five-part choir and, for its time, an unusually large orchestra consisting of three trumpets, two flutes, two oboes, strings and continuo. Its splendour and jubilation anticipates the great choruses of the later Mass in B minor. It begins with a brilliant orchestral introduction which leads directly into an equally impressive chorus, ‘Magnificat anima mea Dominum’ (My soul doth magnify the Lord). 

Unser Mund sei voll Lachens BWV 110 (1725) 

In his third year as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, Bach led the Thomanerchor in the first performance of Unser Mund sei voll Lachens BWV 110 on the morning of Christmas Day in the Nikolaikirche and repeated the work in the afternoon in the Thomaskirche. He led at least one more performance between 1728 and 1731. Bach based the music on the overture to his fourth Orchestral Suite in D major, BWV 1069, adding festive trumpets and timpani as well as flutes to the original music and embedding the voices.He followed the format of the French overture by instrumental slow sections framing the fast choral section. Bach structured the cantata in seven movements with an opening chorus and a closing chorale framing a sequence of arias, a recitative and a duet. Like many of Bach’s works, this cantata fell into obscurity after his death in 1750. It was revived during the 19th century’s Bach Renaissance, spearheaded by musicians like Felix Mendelssohn. The cantata was not published until 1876 when it appeared in the Bach Gesellschaft Ausgabe, the first complete edition of the composer’s works. 

Gloria in excelsis Deo, BWV 191 (1742)

Gloria in excelsis Deo BWV 191 is a short cantata composed by Bach in Leipzig, likely for Christmas Day. It is closely connected to the Mass in B Minor (BWV 232) with the text coming from the Gloria section of the Latin Mass, specifically the opening words: Gloria in excelsis Deo (Glory to God in the highest). Unlike most of Bach’s vocal works, which are in German, this piece uses the Latin liturgical text which may have been because Leipzig occasionally allowed Latin for special occasions such as major church festivals. Gloria in excelsis Deo consists of three movements, all based on earlier sections from the Mass in B Minor. The work begins with jubilant, celebratory opening for double choir and the music corresponds to the “Gloria” section of the Mass in B Minor with the closing fugue praising the Trinity, taken from the Cum Sancto Spiritu movement of the Mass in B Minor. Bach utilised the double choir writing to reflect the grandeur associated with festive occasions. He often reused material from earlier compositions and Gloria in excelsis Deo adapts portions of the Mass in B Minor, suggesting it may have served as a kind of ‘preview’ or independent piece for liturgical use. The work is scored for double choir, two flutes, two oboes, strings, and basso continuo. Festive trumpets and timpani are also included, heightening its celebratory tone. While not as well-known as the Mass in B Minor or the Christmas Oratorio BWV 191 the Gloria in excelsis De remains significant because it shows Bach’s ability to adapt his music to various liturgical contexts and it showcases his mastery of combining joyful exultation with complex counterpoint.

Bach, JS: Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248, Pt. 6: No. 64, 

The Christmas Oratorio BWV 248, is an oratorio was written for performance on six feast days of Christmas during the winter of 1734 and 1735.  It is in six parts, each part a cantata intended for performance in a church service on a feast day of the Christmas period. The work utilised music from earlier compositions, including three secular cantatas (BWV 213, 214 and 215) written during 1733 and 1734 and a largely lost church cantata, BWV 248a and was incorporated within services of the two most important churches in Leipzig, St. Thomas and St. Nicholas. The work was only performed in its entirety at the St. Nicholas Church. The Christmas Oratorio  belongs to a group of three oratorios written in 1734 and 1735 for major feasts, the other two works being the Ascension Oratorio BWV 11 and the Easter Oratorio BWV 249. The Christmas Oratorio is by far the longest and most complex work of the three and to some degree they all parody earlier compositions. The first part (for Christmas Day) describes the Birth of Jesus: the second (for 26 December) the annunciation to the shepherds: the third (for 27 December) the adoration of the shepherds: the fourth (for New Year’s Day) the circumcision and naming of Jesus: the fifth (for the first Sunday after New Year) the journey of the Magi and the sixth (for Epiphany) the adoration of the Magi. Initially, the Christmas Oratorio was not widely known after Bach’s death in 1750, as much of his music fell out of fashion during the Classical period. However, it was revived in the 19th century during the Bach revival, led by composers and scholars like Felix Mendelssohn and the organist and composer Eduard Grell.