Part 2                The Annunciation to the Shepherds

10. Sinfonia

This gentle opening to Part 2, with its pastoral nature, is in twelve-eight time. The pastoral style is a reference to the location of the shepherds at this point in the story. Music from this period which was of a pastoral nature, or depicting the countryside, was usually written in compound duple or quadruple time. Handel wrote a Sinfonia in twelve-eight in his Messiah at exactly the same point in the story i.e. the point at which the shepherds are introduced, although Bach’s here is much longer and much more detailed. The music moves to G major at this point - a key whose tonality is often associated with the colour green. Handel also used this key for his Sinfonia. Bach uses this key for almost the entire content of Part 2. The trumpets and drums are rested for this part, being replaced with a more pastoral sounding pair of flutes, along with 2 oboes d’amore and 2 oboes da caccia. The oboes da caccia make a hollow and haunting sound and this is a clear reference from Bach to the ancient Shawms, an early double-reed instrument traditionally played by shepherds on the hillsides. Bach actively pursued the inclusion of unusual sounds and “modern” instruments in his works. The oboe d’amore was virtually unheard of before 1720, yet Bach includes it in many of the early Leipzig cantatas. The oboe de caccia was a hybrid tenor-range oboe with a long wooden shaft and a brass bell. Other than the recitatives, this instrumental sinfonia is one of the few movements composed especially for the work. Much of the melodic material moves in patterns of consecutive thirds and sixths – another compositional device associated with the depiction of nature and one used extensively by English and Italian composers in madrigal settings of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, many of which also have pastoral subject in their texts. The similarities with Handel’s Messiah at this point are uncanny but totally coincidental. Given that the Christmas Oratorio was performed only once during Bach’s lifetime, liturgically, and in bits over the Christmas of 1734, and then put away in a drawer until 1857, it is inconceivable that Handel, when writing his Messiah in 1741, could possibly have known this work.

11. Evangelist     Text: St Luke 2: v 8 - 9

The Evangelist now paints the picture of the shepherds in the fields when the Angel of the Lord appears. Note the faster descending scalic nature of the cello part in the final line. Its downward movement and the inclusion of a number of minor third intervals, which create the outline of a broken diminished chord, introduce a note of unease to the music reflecting the text.

Und es waren Hirten in derselben Gegend auf dem Felde bei den Hürden, die hüteten des Nachts ihre Herde. Und siehe, des Herren Engel trat zu ihnen, und die Klarheit des Herren leuchtet um sie, und sie furchten sich sehr. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 

12. Chorale     Text: Johann von Rist, 1641

This uncomplicated yet beautiful chorale contemplates the coming of the morning light and the dawning on the shepherds, representing humankind, of the purposes of God. The melody is originally from the Lutheran hymn Ermuntre dich, mein schwacher Geist – Rouse thyself, my weak spirit.

Brich an, o schönes Morgenlicht, 
und laß den Himmel tagen!
Du Hirtenvolk, erschrecke nicht, 
weil dir die Engel sagen,
daß dieses schwache Knäbelein
soll unser Trost und Freude sein,
dazu den Satan zwingen
und letztlich Friede bringen!
Break, O beautiful morning light
And let the heaven dawn!
You shepherd folk, do not be afraid,
because the angels tell you
that this delicate infant
shall be our comfort and joy,
then vanquish Satan,
and finally bring peace!