Bach in Leipzig, Bernstein in Berlin

Synopsis

Today is a holiday for most people, but certainly not for church musicians. On this day in 1734 in Leipzig, Johann Sebastian Bach supervised not one but two performances of the first part of his new "Christmas Oratorio." Bach was music director of two Leipzig churches, responsible for morning and afternoon performances scheduled on the same day.

The "Christmas Oratorio" was conceived as six separate cantatas on the Christmas theme, spread out over Christmas, New Year's Day, and Epiphany—so Bach and his Leipzig musicians kept busy well into the following year. "Jauchzet, frohlocket" sings the chorus in German at the opening of the first of the six cantatas—"Rejoice and be happy!"

Closer to our own day, musicians from several countries gathered in Berlin at Christmastime in 1989 to participate in especially joyous performances of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony led by Leonard Bernstein, which celebrated the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the eventual reunification of the two halves of Germany separated since the end of World War II.

A multi-national orchestra included members of the Bavarian Radio Symphony with additional players drawn from the major orchestras of New York, London, Paris, Dresden and Leningrad. They performed first on the west side of the wall on December 23rd, and then on the east side on the 24th. On Christmas Day, a video performance was telecast from Berlin to the world.

Music Played in Today's Program

J.S. Bach (1685-1750) Jauchzet frohlocket, from Christmas Oratorio Munich Bach Soloists and Chorus; Karl Richter, cond. Archiv 413 625

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) Symphony No. 9 (Choral) Members of Bavarian Radio Symphony, Dresden State Orchestra, Kirov Theatre Orchestra, London Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and Orchestre de Paris; Leonard Bernstein, cond. DG 429 861

On This Day

Births

• 1583 - Baptism of English composer and organist Orlando Gibbons, in Oxford;

Deaths

• 1845 - German composer Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach, age 86, in Berlin; His father was the "Buckeburg" Bach, Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (The last of J.S. Bach's composer-children);

• 1871 - Russian composer Alexander Scriabin (Gregorian date: Jan. 6, 1872);

Premieres

• 1723 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 63 ("Christen, ätzet diesen Tag") and "Magnificat" in E-flat, (S. 243a) performed on the 1st Day of Christmas as part of Bach's first annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1723/24);

• 1724 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 91 ("Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ") performed Christmas Day as part of Bach's second annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1724/25);

• 1725 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 110 ("Unser Mund sei voll Lachens") performed on Christmas Day as part of Bach's third annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1725/27);

• 1728 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 197a ("Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe") probably performed in Leipzig on Christmas Day as part of Bach's fourth annual Sacred Cantata cycle (to texts by Christian Friedrich Henrici, a.k.a. "Picander") during 1728/29;

• 1734 - Bach: Part 1 ("Jauchzet, frohlocket") of the 6-part "Christmas Oratorio," S. 248, in Leipzig;

• 1815 - Beethoven: cantata "Meeresstille und Glückliche Fahrt" (Sea Calm and Prosperous Voyage) and the "Namensfeier" (Name Day Fest) Overture, Op. 115, at the Redoutensaal in Vienna, conducted by Beethoven, at a benefit for the Citizens' Hospital Fund;

• 1818 - Franz Gruber: "Silent Night," in St. Nicholas Church, Obendorf, Germany, composed the night before (Christmas eve);

• 1870 - Wagner: "Siegfried Idyll," at his villa in Switzerland as a combined birthday and Christmas gift to his 33-year old wife, Cosima (she was born on Dec. 24, 1837), Hans Richter playing trumpet and Wagner conducting an ensemble from the top of the staircase; The work is named for their son Siegfried who was six months old on that Christmas morning, and who later also became a composer;

• 1902 - Rimsky-Korsakov: opera "Kashchey the Immortal," in Moscow, Ippolitov-Ivanov conducting (Julian date: Dec. 12);

• 1934 - Shostakovich: Cello Sonata, in Leningrad, by cellist Viktor Kubatsky, with the composer at the piano;

Others

• 1821 - Beethoven finishes his "Hammerklavier" Piano Sonata (No. 29;

• 1931 - First national radio broadcast of a complete opera, Humperdinck's "Hänsel und Gretel," from the stage of the Metropolitan Opera, New York City;

• 1937 - Arturo Toscanini conducts his first radio concert by the NBC Symphony Orchestra, consisting of a Vivaldi concerto in D minor; Mozart Symphony No. 40; and Brahms Symphony No. 1;