Bach: Weihnachtsoratorium

»Rejoice, exult!« – with radiant trumpet brilliance, festive choirs, and heartfelt arias, Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio exudes jubilation and joy like few other pieces of music.

However, the Thomaskantor did not present the oratorio to the people of Leipzig in one go. They experienced it in the winter of 1734/35 as a mini-series in six parts – from the birth of Jesus in the stable to the story of the Magi. Moreover, the whole work was not even entirely new: Bach took many numbers from existing cantatas and set them to appropriate texts. But are such reuse practices a flaw? Rather a seal of quality: through them, Bach preserved compositions that he himself considered particularly successful from being forgotten.