Christmas Oratorio Fri 20 December 2024 • 20.15 Sun 22 December 2024 • 14.15
PROGRAMME
conductor Reinhard Goebel
soprano Elisabeth Breuer
alto Anna Lucia Richter
tenor/evangelist Laurence Kilsby
bass Felix Mischitz choir Laurens Collegium
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Weihnachtsoratorium BWV 248
After the Gospels of Luke and Mathew, with verses by Christian Friedrich Henrici, named Picander
• Part I. For the First Day of Christmas
• Part IV. For New Year’s Day
intermission
• Sinfonia from Part II. For the Second Day of Christmas
• Part V. For the First Sunday in the New Year
Concert ends at around 22.45/16.45
Most recent performances by our orchestra: Dec 2019, conductor Jos van Veldhoven (Parts I and II; Dec 2011, conductor Richard Egarr (Part IV)
One hour before the start of the concert, Michel Khalifa will give an introduction (in Dutch) to the programme, admission €7,50. Tickets are available at the hall, payment by debit card. The introduction is free for Vrienden.
Cover: Photo Jaka Skrlep (Unsplash)
Blaník. Omslagillustratie door Antonín König voor de eerste uitgave van Smetana’s partituur (1894) Richard-Strauss-Institut Christmas fair in Leipzig: painting by Günter Hildebrandt for postcard publisher Brück & Sohn, Meißen
From one celebration to the next
The origins of our Christmas celebration are a combination of old pagan customs overlaid with Christian beliefs. Similarly Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is a mix of previous compositions and newly written work.
In the traditions of early Christians, Christ’s birth did not take such a central position. Things changed in the fourth century, when this event was ascribed a fixed date in the calendar. 25 December had previously marked the pagan festival of Sol Invictus, in honour of the unconquerable sun. The day was turned into a holy day within Christian tradition, and the four preceding Sundays were designated as moments of reflection for the faithful, in preparation for Christmas itself.
Since then, the Christmas celebration underwent great transformation and adopted a more rigid form in Lutheran Germany at the start of the seventeenth century. The Saxon court’s chapel master Heinrich Schütz made a musical contribution with his Weihnachtshistorie for the Christmas liturgy, whilst the imperial city of Nuremberg celebrated around the same time with a fourweek Christmas market. Christmas delicacies such as speculaas, Lebkuchen and marzipan combined ingredients from all corners of Europe and beyond into Asia – especially spices with a lightly hallucinogenic effect to bring a touch of cheer to the inner man during the darkest days of winter. And thus Christmas itself increasingly took on a mix of traditions imported from many different places.
In praise of a King
A century later the winds of change did not leave Johann Sebastian Bach unaffected. A good example of this is his Christmas Oratorio, first performed in 1734 and now one of his most beloved works. The popularity of this oratorio lies in the way that Bach imbued the Christmas story with modern, catchy music whilst dispensing with his normal intellectual tendencies and church-music templates. The oratorio’s style was actually the result of ‘needs must’: through lack of time Bach revisited previous compositions written in praise of Frederick Augustus II, the new Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, and his wife, the Habsburg Archduchess Maria Josepha. How did this come about?
The death of Augustus II (‘the Strong’) in February 1733 heralded a period of national mourning: an entire year in which all music would be forbidden. Bach, who at the time was working in Leipzig, took advantage of this quiet interlude to compose a very elaborate work that he hoped would aid his ambition to become the court chapel master in the capital city Dresden, a position that had long been vacant.
The ban on music was lifted as early as June: the following month, Bach submitted to the new Elector the Kyrie and Gloria of what would later be his Hohe Messe, accompanied by his job application. A week later, Bach’s secular inauguration cantata for his intended new employer, Frohes Volk, vergnügte Sachsen, received its first performance. The composition was built on a bed of dance rhythms –
especially minuets, with the occasional polonaise – topped with a feather-light elegance.
In the following months Bach composed more jubilant cantatas for Frederick Augustus II and Maria Josepha. However, all of this effort would not be enough to secure him the coveted position in Dresden. The young monarchs had long since made their choice of Johann Adolf Hasse, a successful and fashionable composer throughout Europe.
Leading up to Christmas
Although his application was turned down, Bach’s efforts were not entirely in vain. He had at his disposal a stockpile of the most modern music. This became useful when he was asked to deliver six church cantatas for the Christmas and New Year period of 1734–35, with just ten days’ notice. Bach would repurpose his celebratory music for Frederick Augustus II and Maria Josepha for other celebrations.
This might seem like child’s play: you pull an existing piece of music from the pile, change the words, and it’s done. In reality, it was a little more difficult than that. For every church feast day there was a prescribed text from the Gospels. For each Gospel text there had to be a cantata with a text of matching content. Bach had to identify suitable pieces from his stock of music that a lyricist could work on tailoring the rhyme of the text to the music.
Music and new text do not always work together in a revamped construction as well as they do in the original setting. For example, the words ‘Tönet ihr Paucken, erschallet Trompeten, klingende Saiten erfüllet die Luft’ that Bach set in his birthday cantata for Maria Josepha, were introduced first by timpani, then by trumpets, and then the string section. However, this dramaturgical effect was lost
when the same music was used to accompany the opening text to the first cantata of the Christmas Oratorio: ‘Jauchzet, frohlocket, auf preiset die Tage’.
For some parts of his Christmas Oratorio Bach simply lacked any off-the-shelf music. And for these parts he composed new work. Not only for all recitatives and accompagnatos, but also for four larger sections. The first of these four sections is the Sinfonia that introduces the second cantata. Bach also composed new music for the aria with solo violin in the third cantata, as well as for the opening chorus and trio ‘Ach, wann wird die Zeit erscheinen’ in the third cantata – a high point of his entire output.
Bach was asked to deliver six church cantatas for the Christmas and New Year period, with just ten days’ notice.
Bach’s Christmas Oratorio radiates with worldly passion. The glowing adoration for the baby Jesus which, according to orthodox Lutheran tradition, was only modestly professed, also shines through. Seven years after Bach’s death, the Berlin poet Karl Wilhelm Ramler would write Die Hirten bei der Krippe zu Bethlehem, a ‘spiritual cantata’ that has often since been set to music. It begins with the lines: ‘Here he lies – oh how gentle – smiling in his sleep, the wondrous child’. The silent, holy night feels close at hand.
Reinhard Goebel
Elisabeth Breuer • soprano
Born: Haus im Ennstal, Austria
Education: music education at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, voice with Elisabeth Batrice
Breathrough: 2019: Mozart’s Il re pastore in the Teatro La Fenice, Venice
Subsequently: solo appearances in Vienna (Musikverein), Hamburg (Elbphilharmonie), Leipzig (Gewandhaus), Helsinki, Madrid, Milano, Munich, Stockholm
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2024
Reinhard Goebel • conductor
Born: Siegen, Germany
Current position: artistic director Neues
Bachisches Collegium Musicum Leipzig, professor for historical performance at the Mozarteum University Salzburg
Education: violin with Franzjosef Maier, Saschko Gawriloff, baroque violin with Marie Leonhardt and Eduard Melkus, musicology at Cologne University
Breakthrough: 1973 as founder and leader of Musica Antiqua Köln
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2024
Anna Lucia Richter • alto
Born: Cologne, Germany
Education: voice with Kurt Widmer, Klesie KellyMoog, Christoph Prégardien and Margreet Honig Awards: o.a. Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award 2016
Subsequently: solo appearances with Wiener Philharmoniker, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Herbert Blomstedt, Iván Fischer, Bernard Haitink, Klaus Mäkelä
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2024
Photo: Wolf Silveri
Photo: Piaclodi
Photo: Flo Huber
Felix Mischitz • bass
Born: Villach, Austria
Education: choir school Regensburger Domspatzen, voice at the Mozarteum University Salzburg and in Leipzig with Hans-Joachim Beyer
Subsequently: ensemble member at the Theater für Niedersachsen in Hildesheim (Die Fledermaus, Carmen, La bohème, Dornröschen, The Postman Always Rings Twice), solo appearances with ensembles such as Les essences en Lautten Compagney
Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2024
Laurence Kilsby • tenor
Born: Stow on the Wold, (Gloucestershire), England
Education: voice at the Royal College of Music, London and the Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia
Breakthrough: 2022: winner Wigmore Hall/ Bollinger International Song Competition and Cesti Competition Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik
Subsequently: Salzburger Festspiele, Berliner Festspiele, BBC Proms, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2024
Laurens Collegium • choir
Founded: 2002 door Barend Schuurman
Present conductor: Wiecher Mandemaker
Repertoire: music for chamber choir from all period styles
Co-operations: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, Residentie Orkest with conductors such as Frans Brüggen, Stéphane Denève, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Lahav Shani, and Jaap van Zweden, projects with Natuurmonumenten and Ntjam Rosie Debut Rotterdam Philharmonic: 2011
Photo: Benjamin Reason
Photo: Shirley Suarez
Photo: Patrycja
Musicians Agenda
Thu 9 January 2025 • 20.15
Fri 10 January 2025 • 20.15
Sun 12 Januari 2025 • 14.15
conductor Manfred Honeck
Overtures, waltzes and other dances by Strauss, Suppé, Brahms Lehár and Ziehrer
Fri 7 February 2025 • 20.15
singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright
conductor Lee Mills
Songs from the albums Want 1 and Want 2
Fri 14 February 2025 • 20.15
conuctor Tarmo Peltokoski
Isolde Miina-Liisa Värelä
Tristan Andreas Schager
Brangäne Martina Dike
König Marke Stephen Milling
lighting design Paul van Laak
Wagner Tristan und Isolde: second act (concert performance)
Music for Breakfast No. 3
Sun 2 March 2025 • 10.30
Trattoria Sophia
For musicians and programme see rpho.nl
Fri 7 March 2025 • 20.15
conductor Han-na Chang
bassoon Lola Descours
Ravel Pavane pour une infante défunte
Jolivet Bassoon concerto
Ravel Boléro
Prokofiev Symphony No. 5
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Chief Conductor
Lahav Shani
Honorary Conductor
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Principal Guest Conductor
Tarmo Peltokoski
First Violin
Marieke Blankestijn, concertmeester
Quirine Scheffers
Hed Yaron Meyerson
Saskia Otto
Arno Bons
Rachel Browne
Maria Dingjan
Marie-José Schrijner
Noëmi Bodden
Petra Visser
Sophia Torrenga
Hadewijch Hofland
Annerien Stuker
Alexandra van Beveren
Marie Duquesnoy
Giulio Greci
Second Violin
Charlotte Potgieter
Frank de Groot
Laurens van Vliet
Elina Staphorsius
Jun Yi Dou
Bob Bruyn
Eefje Habraken
Maija Reinikainen
Babette van den Berg
Melanie Broers
Tobias Staub
Sarah Decamps
Viola
Anne Huser
Roman Spitzer
Galahad Samson
José Moura Nunes
Kerstin Bonk
Janine Baller
Francis Saunders
Veronika Lénártová
Rosalinde Kluck
León van den Berg
Olfje van der Klein
Jan Navarro
Cello
Emanuele Silvestri
Joanna Pachucka
Daniel Petrovitsch
Mario Rio
Eelco Beinema
Carla Schrijner
Pepijn Meeuws
Yi-Ting Fang
Double Bass
Matthew Midgley
Ying Lai Green
Jonathan Focquaert
Robert Franenberg
Harke Wiersma
Arjen Leendertz
Ricardo Neto
Javier Clemen Martínez
Flute
Juliette Hurel
Joséphine Olech
Manon Gayet
Flute/Piccolo
Beatriz Da Baião
Oboe
Karel Schoofs
Anja van der Maten
Oboe/Cor Anglais
Ron Tijhuis
Clarinet
Julien Hervé
Bruno Bonansea
Alberto Sánchez García
Clarinet/ Bass Clarinet
Romke-Jan Wijmenga
Bassoon
Pieter Nuytten
Lola Descours
Marianne Prommel
Bassoon/ Contrabassoon
Hans Wisse
Horn
David Fernández Alonso
Felipe Freitas
Wendy Leliveld
Richard Speetjens
Laurens Otto
Pierre Buizer
Trumpet
Alex Elia
Adrián Martínez
Simon Wierenga
Jos Verspagen
Trombone
Pierre Volders
Alexander Verbeek
Remko de Jager
Bass Trombone
Rommert Groenhof
Tuba
Hendrik-Jan Renes
Percussion
Danny van de Wal
Ronald Ent
Martijn Boom
Adriaan Feyaerts
Harp
Albane Baron