Repertoire recommendations for Advent and Christmas

For many people Bach’s Christmas Oratorio (Carus 31.248) belongs to Christmas just like the Christmas tree! With the edition within the framework of the Stuttgart Bach Editions, Carus presents a scholarly edition for practical performance.

For all those who don’t have the option of engaging an orchestra to Bach's Christmas Oratorio , Carsten Klomp’s organ version of Part I (Carus 31.352/10) is now followed by Parts II and III (Carus 31.352/70). In addition to orchestral performances in concerts, the score is also ideal for performing sections from the Christmas Oratorio in church services.

Camille Saint-Saint’s Oratorio de Noël (Carus 40.455) is almost like a counterpart to Bach’s grandiose trumpet sounds, with its largely reflective sounds heard in individual chamber music-like scorings with strings, harp, and organ. As an alternative to the original Latin text, a version with German singing text is also available. This composition is also available in an arrangement for soloists, choir, and organ (Carus 40.455/45).

350 years after Heinrich Schütz’s death, his Weihnachts-Historie is practically a must for Christmas! Both the recitatives – perhaps the most impressive ever composed to the text of the Christmas story – and the eight independent Intermedia, each with its own scoring and its own character, make Schütz’s Weihnachst-Historie into what is probably the peak of ‘Historia’ compositions from the 17th century.

It combines well with Christmas motets by Schütz or one of his Magnificat settings; the German Magnificat from Symphoniae sacrae II (Carus 20.344), or the Uppsala Magnificat (Carus 20.468) go well with the varied instrumental scoring of the Weihnachts-Historie, offering delightful opportunities for the instruments to play.

The pastoral masses, especially from southern Germany and Austria, originally composed for the shepherds’ masses early on Christmas morning, are characterised by the frequent use of 6/8-time, their rich wind scoring, and a generally folk-like sound. With Diabelli, who always had in mind what church parishes were capable of achieving, the wind scoring is modest and is partly optional. Despite the pastoral mood, Diabelli does not offer simple shepherds’ music, but a varied setting of the mass where the sound of the shepherds is just one color amongst many.

The Weihnachts-Historie by Heinrich Schütz (Carus 20.435) is widely known, but it is only one piece from a tradition which was well-established in Germany in the 17th century. Selle’s Historia is on a somewhat smaller scale and is technically less demanding, but is nevertheless a varied and colorful setting of the Christmas story. Do not be put off by the 10-part final chorus; this functions wonderfully if the first choir is sung, and the high 2nd choir is played by the instruments alone.

A Christmas piece of a very special kind is the Lauda per la Natività del Signore completed in 1930 by Ottorino Respighi, famous for his symphonic poems. Through the choice of instruments alone plus the echoes of folk music, the work immediately transports the listener into a very particular, colorful sound-world. This is not an easy sing, but an extremely rewarding one for chorus and soloists. Combining this with the Missa Sancti Hieronymi by Michael Haydn (Carus 54.254) works extremely well, not just because of the similar scoring.

The practice of performing folk-style extra Christmas movements between the other movements is well-known through the extra movements for Bach’s Magnificat BWV 243a (Carus 31.243/50). The four extra Magnificat movements, very probably composed by Bach’s predecessor-but-one Johann Schelle, exist independently of any specific Magnificat setting and can be combined with other compositions in C major, e.g. with the early Magnificat by Telemann (Carus 39.143), also composed for Leipzig.

Yes, Bruch composed more than just violin concertos. His rarely-heard setting of “O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf” (Rorate coeli) lasts 15 minutes and is therefore ideally suited for inclusion in concerts of shorter Romantic Christmas music as a rewarding surprise; other works could include Rheinberger’s Der Stern von Bethlehem (Carus 50.164), Mendelssohn’s Vom Himmel hoch (Carus 40.189), or even the Christmas section from Mendelssohn’s Christus (Carus 40.131). It also works well with more general works of praise, such as Bruckner’s Te Deum (Carus 27.190).

The 30-minute Christmas Dialogus by the Hamburg opera composer Reinhard Keiser does not use any biblical text, but does include well-known Christmas songs. Both the mature style of the recitatives and the colorful, constantly surprising instrumentation and unusual movement structures are characteristic of him as an experienced opera composer, making this short oratorio an extremely entertaining work. This combines well with Bach’s Christmas cantatas, to which Keiser’s music is in no way inferior!

This rather different Christmas cantata by Bach was not composed for liturgical use in the main Leipzig churches, but as festive Christmas music in Latin for the Leipzig University church. Bach took advantage of the fact that the Gloria of the Mass derives from the angels’ Christmas song, and for the cantata he reworked movements from the Mass in B minor (BWV 232) which he wrote in 1733 for the Dresden court, and which later became the first part of the Mass in B minor. All three movements are drawn from the Dresden Missa.

Charpentier’s Messe de Minuit is no longer an insider’s tip. Incorporating many Noëls, or French Christmas carols, Charpentier created a folk-like Christmassy atmosphere in the best sense, to which his happy, dance-like music, never banal, contributes. Why not program this in a concert together with Charpentier’s famous Te Deum (Carus 21.032) at the end, and the Christmas motets by his somewhat older compatriot Guillaume Bouzignac (Carus 21.024) in the middle? Charpentier’s Mass is also available in an organ version (Carus 21.029/45).

Homilius composed not only a short Christmas Oratorio (Carus 37.105), but also a whole series of cantatas for Christmas and Advent (a selection is published in 37.114). One particularly surprising work is the cantata Ergreifet die Psalter, ihr christlichen Chöre for the 1st Sunday of Advent. In the free paraphrase of Psalm 24, verses 7–10 (Machet die Tore weit …) two choirs (or choral groups) in fact sing in dialog. And to emphasize the importance of the choirs, the cantata begins a cappella! A magnificent effect!

A few years after the premiere of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte (The magic Flute) and before Haydn’s Die Schöpfung (Creation), Eybler’s Christmas Oratorio was composed for Christmas 1794 in Vienna. And Eybler’s music is clearly defined by its closeness to Die Zauberflöte and The Creation: we frequently hear echoes of late Mozart, indeed directly of Die Zauberflöte, and Eybler’s portrayals of nature give a foretaste of Haydn’s Creation. A really different Christmas Oratorio!

The Magnificat has its established place throughout the church year, but the text about the expectant Mary is particularly associated with Christmas time. Monteverdi’s “short” Magnificat from the printed edition of 1610 (Vespers of the Blessed Virgin) for 6 vocal parts (all with solo passages) and organ/continuo is fascinating for its contrasting “sequence of numbers”. Through its many echoes of the psalm tone and its relationship to the “great” Magnificat in the Vespers (Vespro della Beata Vergine, Carus 27.801), it is naturally immediately recognisable. As a stand-alone expressive piece the Magnificat can be combined with many other works.