Weihnachts-Oratorium Programme Notes 7

3. Recitative - Alto

In this recitative the alto outlines the hopes of the world. Accompanied by two oboes d’amore, Bach saves the highest pitches for the final phrase painting the words using both the alto’s notes and the oboes’.

Nun wird mein liebster Bräutigam,
nun wird der Held aus Davids Stamm
zum Trost, zum Heil der Erden
einmal geboren werden.
Nun wird der Stern aus Jakob scheinen,
sein Strahl bricht schon hervor.
Auf, Zion, und verlasse nun das Weinen,
dein Wohl steigt hoch empor!

Now my dearest bridegroom,
now the hero from David’s line,
for the comfort and salvation of the earth,
will be born.
Now the star from Jacob will shine,
his rays are already beaming upon us.
Arise, Zion, leave your weeping,
Your prosperity is ascending on high!

4. Aria - Alto

This aria, in quick triple time, which is based on the age old wedding metaphor of the church as bride and Christ as bridegroom, is taken directly from Cantata BWV 213, where it appears with different words under the title 'Ich will dich nicht hören' ('I do not want to hear you'). Interestingly the arias in Cantata 213 were alternately written in sharp and flat keys – the constantly alternating tonality being Bach’s clever way of illustrating the opposing options of Hercules at the crossroads. For their inclusion into the Christmas Oratorio, they are all transposed into new keys, which are all tonally related to each other, rather than being disparately at odds.

Bereite dich, Zion, mit zärtlichen Trieben,
den Schönsten, den Liebsten bald bei dir zu sehn!
Deine Wangen müssen heut viel schöner prangen,
eile, den Bräutigam sehnlichst zu lieben! (D.C.)

Prepare yourself, Zion, with tender desires,
soon to see the most beautiful, the dearest with you!
Today your cheeks must glow with greater beauty,
Hasten to your bridegroom with ardent passion! (D.C.)

5. Chorale

The text of this chorale is by the prolific Lutheran hymn writer and poet, Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676). The melody, by Hans Leo Hassler, is perhaps better known as the very popular Passion Chorale, 'O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden' – 'O head, all bloodied and wounded'. Bach uses this chorale melody five times in the St Matthew Passion, harmonising it in four different ways. Here is it harmonised in yet a fifth way ending with an imperfect cadence, which leaves a sense of incompleteness. It is an interesting choice given its Passiontide associations, made more so when you learn that the final movement in Part VI is the same chorale. In doing this, Bach frames the entire Christmas Oratorio, front and back, with the one tune which all Lutherans associate with the crucifixion, placing this one strategically, and poignantly, between the optimism of the alto recitative and aria, and the Evangelist’s announcement of Jesus’ birth. It stands out here like a prophetic musical warning of the events to come in Jesus’ life. The music is questioning and hesitant to begin with, but grows in confidence towards the end.

Wie soll ich dich empfangen
und wie begegn’ich dir?
O aller Welt Verlangen, o meiner Seelen Zier!
O Jesu, Jesu, setze, mir selbst die Fackel bei,
damit, was dich ergötze, mir kund und wissend sei!

How shall I receive you
and how shall I welcome you?
O desire of all the world, O joy of my soul!
O Jesu, Jesu, place your flame by me,
that I may know what delights you!

6. Evangelist Text: St Luke 2: v 7

Und sie gebar ihren ersten Sohn und wickelte ihn in Windeln und legte ihn in eine Krippen, denn sie hatten sonst keinen Raum in der Herberge.

And she brought forth her first born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.