BACH'S CHRISTMAS ORATOTIO

Friday, November 22, 2024 at 7:30 pm

Saturday, November 23, 2024 at 7:30 pm

Sunday, November 24, 2024 at 2:30 pm

ALLEN-BRADLEY HALL

Ken-David Masur, conductor

Marisa Karchin, soprano

Georgia Burashko, mezzo-soprano

Eric Stoklossa, tenor

Daniel Ochoa, baritone

Milwaukee Symphony Chorus

Cheryl Frazes Hill, director

PROGRAM

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

Weihnachtsoratorium [Christmas Oratorio], BWV 248 Cantata I

1. Chorus: Jauchzet, frohlocket, auf, preiset die Tage

2. Recitative (tenor): Es begab sich aber zu der Zeit

3. Recitative (alto): Nun wird mein liebster Bräutigam

4. Aria (alto): Bereite dich, Zion

5. Chorale: Wie soll ich dich empfangen

6. Recitative (tenor): Und sie gebar ihren ersten Sohn

7. Chorale (chorus—soprano only) with recitative (bass): Er ist auf Erden kommen arm

8. Aria (bass): Großer Herr, o starker König

9. Chorale: Ach mein herzliebes Jesulein

Cantata II

10. Sinfonia (orchestra)

11. Recitative (tenor): Und es waren Hirten in derselben Gegend

12. Chorale: Brich an, o schönes Morgenlicht

13. Recitative (tenor, soprano): Und der Engel sprach zu ihnen

14. Recitative (bass): Was Gott dem Abraham verheißen

15. Aria (tenor): Frohe Hirten, eilt, ach eilet

17. Chorale: Schaut hin, dort liegt in finstern Stall

18. Recitative (bass): So geht denn hin, ihr Hirten geht

19. Aria (alto): Schlafe, mein Liebster, genieße der Ruh

20. Recitative (tenor): Und alsobald war da bei dem Engel

21. Chorus: Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe

22. Recitative (bass): So recht, Ihr Engel, jauchzt und singet

23. Chorale: Wir singen dir in deinem Heer

INTERMISSION

Cantata III

24. Chorus: Herrscher des Himmels, erhöre das Lallen

25. Recitative (tenor): Und da die Engel von ihnen gen Himmel fuhren

26. Chorus: Lasset uns nun gehen gen Bethlehem

27. Recitative (bass): Er hat sein Volk getröst

28. Chorale: Dies hat er alles uns getan

29. Duet (soprano, bass): Herr, dein Mitleid, dein Erbarmen

30. Recitative (tenor): Und sie kamen eilend

31. Aria (alto): Schließe, mein Herze, dies selige Wunder

32. Recitative (alto): Ja, ja, mein Herz, soll es bewahren

33. Chorale: Ich will dich mit Fleiß bewahren

34. Recitative (tenor): Und die Hirten kehrten wieder um

35. Chorale: Seid froh dieweil

24. Chorus: Herrscher des Himmels, erhöre das Lallen (repeated)

To read the original German text of the first three cantatas of the Christmas Oratorio alongside their full English translation, scan the QR code below to access The Language of Song, our guide to the intersection of language and music for the MSO’s 2024.25 Classics season.

The 2024.25 Classics Series is presented by the UNITED PERFORMING ARTS FUND and ROCKWELL AUTOMATION

The length of this concert is approximately 2 hours. All programs are subject to change.

Guest Artist Biographies

MARISA KARCHIN

New York-based soprano Marisa Karchin is a compelling performer of art song, opera, and contemporary music. Karchin is pursuing a doctorate in voice at The Juilliard School, where she is a recipient of the 2023-24 Presser Award.

At Juilliard, Karchin has performed diverse chamber repertoire, including Unsuk Chin’s Akrostichon-Wortspiel at Alice Tully Hall, Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, and John Musto’s The Book of Uncommon Prayer. As an avid proponent of new music and interdisciplinary collaborations, Karchin has also recently performed with the Da Capo Chamber Players, Brooklyn New Music Collective, and in an immersive theater piece with Jody Oberfelder Projects. With the Glass Clouds Ensemble, a chamber collective that partners with local environmental organizations, she has held artist residencies at Yellow Barn and Avaloch Farm Music Institute and is a current Chamber Music America Ensemble Forward and Artistic Projects grant recipient.

Other recent highlights include performances with the Westchester Philharmonic String Quartet, Lehigh University’s Very Modern Ensemble, and the East Winds Quintet in a centennial performance of Earl Kim’s “Rattling On.” She has premiered many works with the Chelsea Music Festival and conductor Ken-David Masur by contemporary composers including Helen Grime, Santa Ratniece, and Aigerim Seilova.

Karchin was awarded first prize in the 2018 Joy in Singing International Art Song Competition, presenting a debut recital at Carnegie’s Weill Hall, and was a finalist in the 2020 Art Song Preservation Society’s Mary Trueman Art Song Vocal Competition. In opera, Karchin has performed in productions of Cendrillon, The Pirates of Penzance, Orlando, and Falstaff, with artist residencies at Dayton Opera and Opera Saratoga.

ERIC STOKLOSSA

Eric Stoklossa has established himself as a prominent figure in the international opera and concert scene, with a prolific career spanning leading opera houses, prestigious music festivals, and renowned concert halls.

Stoklossa made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2009, portraying Aljeja in Janáček’s From the House of the Dead, conducted by Pierre Boulez. He debuted at La Scala in January 2009 as Janek in Janáček’s The Makropulos Affair. A milestone in his career was his portrayal of Andres in Wozzeck at the Wiener Festwochen in Vienna in 2010. In October 2016, Stoklossa had the honor of presenting Bach’s St. John Passion in Shanghai, marking the first official performance of this masterpiece in China. Stoklossa remains a sought-after guest artist, collaborating with esteemed conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle and Esa-Pekka Salonen, and delivering solo concerts across Europe.

Recent highlights include performances of Korngold’s Die tote Stadt in Holland, a tour with Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, several concerts featuring Péter Eötvös’s Oratorium balbulum in Munich and Budapest, conducted by the composer himself, the world premiere of Richard Flury’s song cycle Rosen in Texas, and the world premiere of a new English version of Schumann’s Dichterliebe, now titled The Poet’s Love(r), featuring additional original poems by Rebecca Nelsen. Since 2019, Stoklossa has held a professorship at Texas Tech University, where he teaches applied voice lessons and courses in oratorio literature, opera literature, and German diction for singers. Alongside his teaching responsibilities, Stoklossa regularly performs in Texas, aiming to establish and promote German Lied and Bach’s music in the region, further demonstrating his dedication to sharing his expertise and passion with the next generation of musical talents.

DANIEL OCHOA

In demand on both the German and international scene, baritone Daniel Ochoa has made a name for himself as a highly versatile singer. His 202425 season includes concerts with the MDR Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, and the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as appearances at the Kölner Philharmonie, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Liederhalle Stuttgart, the Isarphilharmonie Munich, the Laeiszhalle Hamburg, and Oslo Cathedral. Following an invitation from Ken-David Masur, Ochoa will make his U.S. debut with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio.

Ochoa, who was born in East Germany to a German mother and an Equatorial Guinean father, discovered his love of singing at the age of five in the children’s radio choir in his hometown of Leipzig. His vocal studies took him to three universities and beyond, with inspiring teachers such as Anthony Baldwin, Hans-Joachim Beyer, Matthias Goerne, Thomas Quasthoff, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

Ochoa joined the Vienna Volksoper from 2012 to 2017. During this time, his collaboration with directors such as Brigitte Fassbaender, Achim Freyer, Marco Arturo Marelli, and Rolando Villazón provided particularly important inspiration. Among the special enrichments in Ochoa’s career are undoubtedly his encounters with conductors such as Herbert Blomstedt, Reinhard Goebel, Howard Griffiths, Helmuth Rilling, and Paul McCreesh.

The field of lieder has always been close to Ochoa’s heart. Repeated appearances as a lieder singer at the Schumann House in Leipzig were soon followed by recitals at the Mendelssohn and Max Reger Festivals, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, and the Hamburg State Opera. A highly acclaimed CD recording was made in 2018 of Gregor Meyer’s arrangement of Schubert’s Winterreise for baritone, piano, and mixed choir.

Program notes by Elaine Schmidt

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

Born 31 March 1685; Eisenach, Germany

Died 28 July 1750; Leipzig, Germany

Weihnachtsoratorium [Christmas Oratorio], BWV 248

Composed: 1734; recycles material from works as early as 1714

First performance: 25 December 1734-6 January 1735; Johann Sebastian Bach, conductor; St. Thomas and St. Nicholas churches in Leipzig

Last MSO performance: 22 December 1991; Lee Erickson, conductor; Milwaukee Symphony Chorus [excerpts]

Instrumentation: 2 flutes; 2 oboes (both doubling on oboe d’amore); English horn; bassoon; 3 trumpets; timpani; harpsichord; organ; strings

Approximate duration: 1 hour and 27 minutes (Cantatas I-III)

Bach’s beloved Christmas Oratorio is not technically an oratorio. Oratorios are large narrative works, usually based on a religious story. They are often described as operas presented without costumes or scenery. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is actually a set of six sacred cantatas that Bach either wrote or retooled from sacred and secular cantatas he had written previously. He created the cantatas in 1734 for the six feast days that made up the Christmas season in German Lutheran churches of his day. The cantatas may not form a traditional oratorio, but they are deftly woven into a unified musical fabric that both tells and celebrates the Christmas story. A devout Lutheran who signed much of his music with his name and the initials SDG for Soli Deo gloria (“Glory to God alone”), Bach published very little of his music. Once a piece had been performed, he set the music aside and moved on to his next project. He reused some of his music in later pieces, as did many composers of the era, including George Frideric Handel. Bach also “borrowed” melodies from other composers, creating a new setting of each borrowed melody to suit his purpose.

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio was first performed during the Christmas/Epiphany season of 1734–1735, at the Saint Thomas and Saint Nicholas Lutheran Churches in Leipzig. The cantatas were performed, one per feast day, in the morning at one church and in the afternoon at the other, as Bach was responsible for the music at both churches. The oratorio was not performed again in its entirety until 1857 — five generations after its first performance. Were it not for composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847) and his sister Fanny (1805–1847) reintroducing the works of the largely forgotten composer in now-famous performances of Bach’s St. Matthew in Berlin (1829) and Leipzig (1841), the oratorio, along with a great deal of Bach’s other music, could easily have been lost forever. It was Eduard Grell, director of the Berlin Sing-Akademie, who conducted the 1857 performance that reintroduced the Christmas Oratorio to the public. The MSO will perform the first three cantatas of the Christmas Oratorio in this program.

Cantata I

The first cantata of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, meant to be performed on Christmas Day, tells the story of Christ’s birth. This lined up with the celebration of Christmas in Germany at the time, which began on Christmas Day and ended on Epiphany (6 January). The six cantatas, often referred to as the six parts of the oratorio, are each written for singers and different instrumental ensembles, giving each cantata its own unique sound. The first cantata covers the birth of

Christ, closing with Martin Luther’s familiar hymn tune, “Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her” (“From Heaven Above to Earth I Come”), which was written in 1539 and is sung today in Christian churches of many different denominations. The orchestra for this cantata includes three trumpets and timpani, creating a grand orchestral sound in spots.

Cantata II

Bach intended the second cantata of his Christmas Oratorio for performance on the Second Day of Christmas, 26 December. It focuses on angels announcing the birth of Christ to shepherds in a field. Gone are the big sounds of trumpet and timpani in favor of strings, flutes, and oboes. With these instruments, Bach created a softer, warmer sound and a soulful, more introspective mood for this cantata than the first. The oboes are Bach’s way of replicating the shawm, an early relative of the oboe, which are known to have been carried and played by shepherds in biblical times.

Cantata III

The trumpets and timpani return in the third cantata, along with strings, flutes, and oboes. This cantata, intended for performance on the Third Day of Christmas, 27 December, depicts the shepherds’ adoration of Christ following the announcement of his birth in the second cantata. Bach had to be a bit creative in terms of the scripture readings prescribed for the various days of the Christmas season to make a flowing narrative from cantata to cantata. He combined the regal sounds of trumpets and timpani with the earthier sounds of flutes and oboes as the shepherds come to pay their respects to Christ.