Christmas Oratorio. The Christmas Oratorio (German: Weihnachts-Oratorium), BWV 248, is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach intended for performance in church during the Christmas season. It was written for the Christmas season of 1734 and incorporates music from earlier compositions, including three secular cantatas written during 1733 and 1734 and a now lost church cantata, BWV 248a. The date is confirmed in Bach's autograph manuscript. The next performance was not until 17 December 1857 by the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin under Eduard Grell. The Christmas Oratorio is a particularly sophisticated example of parody music. The work belongs to a group of three oratorios written towards the end of Bach's career in 1734 and 1735 for major feasts, the others being the Ascension Oratorio (BWV 11) and the Easter Oratorio (BWV 249). The oratorio is in six parts, each part being intended for performance on one of the major feast days of the Christmas period.
Narrative structure[edit] Performance[edit] Music[edit] Part I. Messiah (Handel) Messiah (HWV 56)[1] is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible, and from the version of the Psalms included with the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742 and received its London premiere nearly a year later. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music. [n 1] Handel wrote Messiah for modest vocal and instrumental forces, with optional settings for many of the individual numbers. In the years after his death, the work was adapted for performance on a much larger scale, with giant orchestras and choirs.
In other efforts to update it, its orchestration was revised and amplified by (among others) Mozart. The statue erected in Handel's honour, in Vauxhall Gardens, London A portrait of Charles Jennens from around 1740. St John Passion. First page of the autograph: Paßio secundum Joannem The St John Passion (German: Johannes-Passion), BWV 245, is a sacred oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach.[1] The original Latin title Passio secundum Johannem translates to "The Suffering According to John". During the first winter that Bach was responsible for church music at the St. Thomas Church and the St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig, he composed the St John Passion for the Good Friday Vespers service of 1724.[2] First performance[edit] Originally Bach intended that the St John Passion would be first performed in the St.
Thomas Church in Leipzig, but due to a last-minute change by the music council, it was first performed in 1724 in the St. But pointed out that the booklet was already printed, that there was no room available and that the harpsichord needed some repair, all of which, however, could be attended to at little cost; but he requested that a little additional room be provided in the choir loft of St. Part One 1. 2a. 2b. 2c. Hallelujah - G.F. Handel "Messiah" - Bethany College Choir. Oratorio. History[edit] 1600, origins of the oratorio[edit] Although medieval plays such as the Ludus Danielis, and Renaissance dialogue motets such as those of the Oltremontani had characteristics of an oratorio, the first oratorio is usually seen as Emilio de Cavalieri's Rappresentatione di Anima, et di Corpo. Monteverdi composed Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda which can be considered as the first secular oratorio. 1650–1700[edit] By the mid-17th century, two types had developed: Lasting about 30–60 minutes, oratorio volgares were performed in two sections, separated by a sermon; their music resembles that of contemporary operas and chamber cantatas. oratorio latino (in Latin) – first developed at the Oratorio del Santissimo Crocifisso, related to the church of San Marcello al Corso in Rome.
The late baroque oratorio[edit] In the late baroque oratorios increasingly became "sacred opera". The oratorio in Georgian Britain[edit] The Victorian oratorio[edit] 20th-century oratorios[edit]