
Published online:
22 September 2016
Published in print:
27 October 2016
Online ISBN:
9780190275273
Print ISBN:
9780190275259
Contents
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The sources The sources
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First plans First plans
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The “parody problem” The “parody problem”
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Liturgy as a performative context Liturgy as a performative context
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Hymns Hymns
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Plans abandoned Plans abandoned
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Concepts for the recitatives Concepts for the recitatives
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The hymns as structural problem The hymns as structural problem
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Composition stage Composition stage
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Composing the recitatives Composing the recitatives
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Arranging the hymns Arranging the hymns
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Connections and coherence Connections and coherence
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Revision stage Revision stage
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Cite
Rathey, Markus, 'Planning the Oratorio', Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio: Music, Theology, Culture (New York , 2016; online edn, Oxford Academic, 22 Sept. 2016), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190275259.003.0005, accessed 16 May 2025.
Abstract
Chapter 5 traces the history of the Christmas Oratorio from the earlier plans to the final composition. It becomes apparent that some of Bach’s and his librettist’s earliest ideas were not completely realized. Along the way, the composer made numerous changes. The chapter also outlines how Bach parodied older movements, which had been composed for secular cantatas in the early 1730s, and how he employed hymns as structural elements. An analysis of the composition score shows in what order Bach wrote the individual movements and how he revised both the parodies and the newly composed movements before he handed over the score to his copyists.
Keywords:
plans for oratorio, parodies/parody, hymns, composition score, compositional revisions, libretto
Subject
Musicology and Music History
Collection:
Oxford Scholarship Online
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