List of Christmas cantatas

A Christmas cantata is a cantata for the Christmas season . The special importance of the festival prompted many composers to write cantatas for the occasion, some of which were designed for performance in church services and some for concerts. The angel concert of the Christmas story and elements of its decoration such as shepherd music and lullaby gave cause for the musical design.

history

Performance of a Christmas cantata under the Christmas tree with a poinsettia . The heavenly song of the angels is like the romance of the likewise visible concert harp accompanied

The Christmas cantata experienced a heyday in the Baroque period, when Italian composers such as Arcangelo Corelli and Alessandro Scarlatti composed for Catholic services, and Johann Sebastian Bach and Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel for Lutheran services. Christmas cantatas were also composed by Antonio Caldara , Marc-Antoine Charpentier , David Pohle , Christian Friedrich Ruppe and Johann Christoph Schmügel in this epoch .

Examples of romanticism are Mendelssohn's Vom Himmel hoch , a choral cantata based exclusively on Luther's Christmas carol, and Josef Rheinberger's Der Stern von Bethlehem based on a text by his wife Franziska von Hoffnaaß . Christmas cantatas were also composed by John Victor Bergquist , Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich , Rudolf Herold , Philipp Christoph Kayser , Mathilde Kralik , Justus Wilhelm Lyra , Adalbert Wirkhaus and Josef Venantius von Wöss .

In the 20th century, Benjamin Britten composed a series of Christmas carols, A Ceremony of Carols, in 1942 . After the Second World War , Rudolf Mauersberger wrote a small Christmas cantata for the Dresden Kreuzchor , which he directed . Ralph Vaughan Williams composed Hodie , and Arthur Honegger wrote his last work for the Basler Kammerchor and its founder Paul Sacher, the cantata Une cantate de Noël ., Which begins with the 130th psalm and uses Christmas carols. Christmas cantatas were also composed by Steve Dobrogosz , Klaus Hashagen , Hans Uwe Hielscher , Johannes Hiob , Ivana Loudová , Günther Marks , Rudolf Mors , Peter Seeger , Heinrich Simbriger , Ernst Ludwig Uray , Klaus Wüsthoff (Christmas cantata for young people, Christmas carol cantata).

In the 21st century, Christmas cantatas were written by Toshio Hosokawa and Graham Waterhouse, among others . The Japanese and English composers set German texts to music, the cantata text The Beginning of a New Era by Hans Krieger goes back to ideas of Angelus Silesius .

theme

Bach's Christmas Oratorio consists of six self-contained cantatas , each intended for a service. Bach structured the evangelist's narrative, which establishes the connection between the parts, into six themes. In parts I to IV he followed the Gospel of Luke ( Lk 2,1  LUT + 2,3-21 LUT ), in parts V and VI the Gospel of Matthew ( Mt 2,1-12  EU ). In doing so, in some cases he deviated from the reading order of worship in Leipzig and followed the tradition of older Christmas histories , such as the Historia of the Birth of Christ by Heinrich Schütz and others.

• Part I for Christmas Day (December 25th): Birth
• Part II for Boxing Day (December 26th): Annunciation to the shepherds, Glory to God, peace on earth
• Part III for Christmas Day (December 27th): Adoration of the Shepherds
• Part IV for the New Year (January 1st; Feast of the Circumcision of Christ ): naming
• Part V for the first Sunday after New Year: Journey of the Wise Men from the Orient
• Part VI for Epiphany (January 6th): Adoration of the Magi

These themes appear, weighted differently, in many of the later cantatas by other composers. Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel composed a similar work of six cantatas for the Christmas season 1736/37.

Selected cantatas

Abbreviations are used in the table for the scoring: S = soprano , MS = mezzo-soprano , A = alto , T = tenor , bar = baritone , B = bass , KiCh = children's choir , Str = strings, instr = instruments. The table of Bach cantatas applies to the abbreviations of individual instruments .

composer	born	Cantata title	No.	text	comp.	occupation	premiere	annotation
Francesco Provenzale	1624	Sui palchi delle stelle			1689	S 2Vl Bc
Cristofaro Caresana	1640?	L'Adoratione de 'Maggi			1676	6 votes		The text refers to the adoration of the wise (Epiphany, not Christmas), but the autograph (digitized at IMSLP ) actually says “per la nascita di NS” (for the birth of our Lord).
Johann Kuhnau	1660	A child is born to us	BWV 142			ATB SATB 2Fl 2Ob 2Vl Va Bc		first attributed to Bach
Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow	1663	A child is born to us				SATB SATB Ob Fg 2Vl 2Va Bc		and other
Johann Samuel Beyer	1669	Do not be afraid				S SATB Bc
Arnold Matthias Brunckhorst	1670?	In festo nativitate Christi				SATB SATB 6 Instr Bc
Georg Philipp Telemann	1681	Glory to God on high In festo nativitatis				SATB SATB 3Tr Ti Str Bc		1st Christmas Day
Johann Sebastian Bach	1685	Christians, etch this day	BWV 63	Johann Michael Heineccius ?	1713?	SATB SATB 4Tr Ti 3Ob Fg 2Vl Va Bc		1st Christmas Day
Johann Sebastian Bach	1685	That is why the Son of God appeared	BWV 40				26th Dec 1723 Leipzig	2nd Christmas Day
Johann Sebastian Bach	1685	See what love the Father has shown us	BWV 64		1723	SAB SATB Cn 3Tb Oa 2Vl Va BC	December 27, 1723 Leipzig	3rd Christmas Day
Johann Sebastian Bach	1685	Blessed be you, Jesus Christ	BWV 91	Blessed be you, Jesus Christ	1724	SATB SATB 2Co Ti 3Ob 2Vl Va BC	25 Dec 1724 Leipzig	Christmas Day, choral cantata
Johann Sebastian Bach	1685	Christ we should already praise	BWV 121	Christ we should already praise	1724	SATB SATB Cn 3Tr Oa 2Vl Va Bc	26th Dec 1724 Leipzig	Christmas Day, choral cantata
Johann Sebastian Bach	1685	I am happy in you	BWV 133	I am happy in you	1724	SATB SATB Cn 2Oa 2Vl Va Bc	27 Dec 1724	3rd Christmas Day, choral cantata
Johann Sebastian Bach	1685	Let our mouth be full of laughter	BWV 110	Georg Christian Lehms	1725	SB SATB 3Tr Ti 2Ft 3Ob Oa Oc Fg 2Vl Va Bc	25 Dec 1725 Leipzig	1st Christmas Day
Johann Sebastian Bach	1685	Blessed is the man	BWV 57	Georg Christian Lehms	1725	SB SATB 2Ob 2Vl Va Bc	26th Dec 1725 Leipzig	2nd Christmas Day
Johann Sebastian Bach	1685	Sweet consolation, my Jesus is coming	BWV 151	Georg Christian Lehms	1725	SATB SATB Ft Oa 2Vl Va Bc	December 27, 1725 Leipzig	3rd Christmas Day
Johann Sebastian Bach	1685	Glory to God in the highest	BWV 197a				25 Dec 1728 Leipzig	partially lost, Christmas Day
Johann Sebastian Bach	1685	Gloria in excelsis deodorant	BWV 191		1745	ST SSATB 3Tr Ti 2Ft 2Ob 2Vl Va Bc	25 Dec 1745 Leipzig	1st Christmas Day
Christian August Jacobi	1685	Heaven is open to us again			1718		25 Dec 1718	1st Christmas Day
Christian Heinrich Rinck	1770	Christmas cantata	op. 73
Thank God August Krille	1779	Jesus Christ was born
Felix Mendelssohn	1809	From the sky above	MWV A 10	From the sky above	1831	S Bar SSATB Orchestra		Choral cantata
Josef Rheinberger	1839	The star of Bethlehem		Franziska von Hoffnaaß	1891	Solos choir orchestra
William Reed	1859	The Message of the Angels			1910
Felix Woyrsch	1860	The birth of Jesus	op. 18	Holy Scripture	1910	Solos choir orchestra
Ralph Vaughan Williams	1872	Hodie			1953-54	ST Bar Choir Orchestra
Ottorino Respighi	1879	Lauda per la Natività del Signore		Jacopone da Todi ?	1930	S MS T SSAATTBB woodwinds, piano for 4 hands
Walter Braunfels	1882	The glass mountain, Christmas fairy tale	op. 39		1928
Walter Braunfels	1882	Christmas cantata	op. 52		1934-37	S bar choir orchestra
Rudolf Mauersberger	1889	Christmas cycle of the crucians			1944-46	Solo choir eight-part a cappella (piano)
Rudolf Mauersberger	1889	A little Christmas cantata			1948
Frank Martin	1890	Cantata pour le temps de Noël			1929-30
Gerald Finzi	1893	Dies natalis		Thomas Traherne	1939	S (T) Str
Arthur Honegger	1893	Une cantate de Noël		Ps. 130 , songs	1952-53	Bar Choir KiCh Org Orchestra	December 18, 1953 Basel
Max Lienert	1903	Christmas cantata			1934	Student Choir Str
Willi Leininger	1907	Small Christmas cantata			1932	S flute Va Org
Kurt Hessenberg	1908	Christmas cantata	op. 27	Matthias Claudius	1950-51	SA SSATBB orchestra		Released at Schott
Wilhelm Keilmann	1908	The way to Bethlehem			1962	Solo choir kl. Orchestra, piano
Benjamin Britten	1913	A Ceremony of Carols	op. 28		1942	Boys' choir harp
Hans Martin	1916	Atkarsk Christmas Cantata			1944		1944
Siegfried Koehler	1921	A thousand stars are a cathedral	op.8		1952
Ariel Ramirez	1927	Navidad Nuestra		Felix Luna	1963	ST Choir South American Instruments
Karl House	1928	Now is the right time of joy			1952	three-part KiCh
Walter Michael Klepper	1929	Noi umblăm şi colindăm	op.17	Romanian songs	1981	Choir
Nils Lindberg	1933	A Christmas Cantata			2002	S Bar Chamber Choir Big Band		Gospel of Matthew and Christmas carols, recorded
Gerhard Track	1934	Festive cantata for Christmas		Herbert Vogg	1995	SATB choir wind orchestra organ	April 29, 1996 Vienna	Arrangement of Bruckner's fixed cantata
Hans Georg Bertram	1936	Christmas cantata			2001
Urs Joseph Flury	1941	Shepherds are close and angels are close		Olga Brand	2001			on poems
Malcolm Dedman	1948	The Word was Made Flesh			1975	Speaker choir flute org percussion
Toshio Hosokawa	1955	Christmas cantata		anon.	2002	SA choir orchestra	December 20, 2002 Munich	Released at Schott
Graham Waterhouse	1962	The beginning of a new time		Hans Krieger	2011	S Bar Chor KiCh Str (Org)	3rd / 4th Dec 2011 food
Wolfram Graf	1965	Il est né			1992	Children's choir

literature

• Alfred Dürr : Johann Sebastian Bach: The Cantatas. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1999, ISBN 3-7618-1476-3 .
• Werner Neumann : Handbook of JS Bach's Cantatas , 1947, 5th edition 1984, ISBN 3-7651-0054-4 .
• Hans-Joachim Schulze : The Bach Cantatas: Introductions to all of Johann Sebastian Bach's cantatas . Leipzig: Evangelical publishing company; Stuttgart: Carus-Verlag 2006 (Edition Bach-Archiv Leipzig) ISBN 3-374-02390-8 (Evang. Verl.-Anst.), ISBN 3-89948-073-2 (Carus-Verl.)
• Christoph Wolff / Ton Koopman : The world of Bach cantatas Verlag JB Metzler, Stuttgart, Weimar 2006 ISBN 978-3-476-02127-4 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Benjamin G. Cohrs: Christmas Cantatas - once different . Klassik-heute.com. December 2, 2002. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
2. ↑ Une Cantate de Noël . Hyperion Records. 2011. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Christmas Cantata Composer: Toshio Hosokawa . Bulkhead. Retrieved December 8, 2011.
4. ↑ The beginning of a new time . Graham Waterhouse. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
5. ^ Blankenburg: The Christmas Oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach . 2003, pp. 34-35.
6. ↑ Part V is scheduled for the first Sunday of the new year before Epiphany on January 6th. see. Blankenburg: The Christmas Oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach . 2003, p. 34.
7. ^ Dinko Fabris: Music in seventeenth-century Naples: Francesco Provenzale (1624-1704) ( English ) Ashgate Publishing. 2007. Retrieved December 14, 2011.
8. ^ Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow: A child is born to us . Carus publishing house . 2011. Retrieved December 16, 2011.
9. ^ Christian Heinrich Rinck (1770–1846) ( English ) musicweb-international.com. 2008. Retrieved December 14, 2011.
10. ↑ Christmas Cantata Composer: Kurt Hessenberg . Bulkhead. Archived from the original on February 25, 2016. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved December 8, 2011. 
11. ^ John France: Nils LINDBERG (b. 1933) / A Christmas Cantata (2002) ( English ) musicweb-international.com. 2004. Retrieved December 13, 2011.