Christmas is a special time for Christians, filled with joyful anticipation of the birth of Lord Jesus Christ. This subject has been an important inspiration for composers over the centuries. Also in the oeuvre of Johann Sebastian Bach, we can find works written to commemorate the birth of Jesus, including the Christmas Oratorio, one of the most beautiful works of this type. 

The Christmas Oratorio was written in 1734 when the composer was a cantor at the Church of St. Thomas. Its premiere at the turn of 1734 and 1735 was the only performance of the oratorio during the artist’s lifetime. The composition consists of six elaborate cantatas, and its duration is over two hours. The uniqueness of the oratorio lies in its form. It was written as a cycle of six cantatas for six public holidays in the period from Christmas to the feast of the Epiphany.

The movements of the work that we will hear during the concert: Jauchzet, frohlocket, auf, preiset die Tage, Ehre sei dir, Gott, gesungen and Herr, wenn die stolzen Feinde schnauben, are respectively the first, fifth and sixth movements of the oratorio on the birth and life of Jesus. The opening movement was performed on Christmas Day, the fifth movement – on the second Sunday after Christmas, while the last movement enriched the celebration of Epiphany, commonly known as the feast of the Three Magi. There are doubts as to who was the author of the texts used by the composer. It was most probably the German poet and librettist Christian Friedrich Henrici, known as Picander. The oratorio is undoubtedly one of the finest masterpieces of the Baroque era, touching generations of musicians and audiences alike.