Description

The Christmas Oratorio, with its six parts, has become dear to the hearts of countless music lovers all over the world. What sounds today as if it could never have been otherwise, in reality dates back in part to earlier Bach pieces that he retexted and adapted for the new purpose. The autograph ‘betrays’ Bach’s working methods in the very first chorus: first he underlaid the words of a version from the birthday cantata Tönet ihr Pauken only to cross them out and replace them with the famous Jauchzet, frohlocket.

Other passages in the autograph likewise reveal traces of self-borrowing. Some corrections allow the reader to look over the composer’s shoulder, as it were, and watch him transforming an aria step by step into its present form or struggling to find a definitive version for a short recitative. In contrast, other pages are written out in an immaculate fair hand.

This facsimile edition presents the autograph score of the Christmas Oratorio for the first time in a high quality four-colour reproduction.

Bach specialist Christoph Wolff has provided an Introduction on the work’s genesis and the features of the manuscript. The subsequent history of the autograph is described by Martina Rebmann of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.

Description

The “Christmas Oratorio” is one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s most important works. Contrary to what the term “oratorio” might suggest, it is actually a series of six Christmas cantatas based on biblical accounts of the birth of Jesus—the Annunciation by the angel, the Adoration of the Shepherds, the Naming of Jesus, and the visit of the Wise Men from the East. Although each part was written for a specific Sunday or feast day during the Christmas season, together they form a unified whole. The work is often performed in two parts: Cantatas I–III and IV–VI.

This vocal score includes all six cantatas in a single volume. It is based on the Urtext of the New Bach Edition, edited by Alfred Dürr. The editor’s piano part is arranged to be easily playable, and the new engraving of the edition is modern, clear, and comfortable to read.

Description

With the publication of this choral score the performance material for this central work by Johann Sebastian Bach is now complete.

Description

How practical: This choral masterpiece is now appearing in a handy and affordable soft-cover score to complement the substantial linen-bound complete edition volume.

The tried-and-tested musical text remains unchanged, whilst the Foreword has been revised and supplemented by an English translation.