The Christmas Oratorio,
     by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)

J. S. Bach assembled six cantatas on the theme of Christmas and Epiphany in 1734 and called the work his “Weihnachtsoratorium” or Christmas Oratorio. His success with the St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion was behind this idea, and it is evident that he was in a hurry to put it all together. Just as Handel had borrowed from himself (and others!) to construct the 3-hour-long Messiah in 21 days, so Bach borrowed extensively from his own secular cantatas (honoring his patrons) to put sacred words to his best choruses and arias to create this oratorio.

Bach’s Christmas Oratorio was never performed in its entirety during his lifetime. He did perform each of the separate cantatas on appropriate Sundays of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. The first performance of the entire work took place in 1857 - over 100 years after Bach’s death - in Berlin.