Christmas oratorio
{{Short description|Oratorio written for Christmas or the Christmas season}}
{{Other uses}}
A Christmas oratorio (German: {{lang|de|Weihnachtsoratorium}}; French: {{lang|fr|Oratorio de Noël}}) is an oratorio written for Christmas or the Christmas season.
Christmas oratorios as a set of Christmas cantatas
Some Christmas oratorios consist of a collection of Christmas cantatas, to be performed during several days of the Christmas season. Examples include:{{in lang|de}} Irmgard Scheitler. [https://books.google.com/books?id=NxxgXwt8UE4C Deutschsprachige Oratorienlibretti: von den Anfängen bis 1730.] Schöningh, 2005. {{ISBN|3506729551}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NxxgXwt8UE4C&pg=PA338 pp. 338–345]
- Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248, Johann Sebastian Bach's {{lang|de|Weihnachtsoratorium}}, premiered from 25 December 1734 to 6 January 1735 in Leipzig.Bach Digital Work {{BDW|0314}}
- Liebes-Andachten, nach dem Jahrgang aus denen Evangeliis eingerichtet, cycle of Christmas cantatas by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, first performed 25–27 December 1719 in Gotha (music lost).Samantha Owens, Barbara M. Reul, Janice B. Stockigt [https://books.google.com/books?id=NeTwCgAAQBAJ Music at German Courts, 1715–1760: Changing Artistic Priorities.] Boydell & Brewer, 2011 (reprint 2015). {{ISBN|9781783270583}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NeTwCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA204 p. 204]
- Das Volck so im Finstern wandelt, Christmas oratorio by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, first performed 25–27 December 1728 in Gotha.[http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/mielorth/stoelzel/werk/oratorium.htm Texte zu einem Weihnachts-Oratorium 1728] – {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917083447/http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/mielorth/stoelzel/werk/oratorium.htm |date=17 September 2016 |title=Texte zu einem Weihnachts-Oratorium 1728 }} at {{url|www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/mielorth/stoelzel}}
Ach, dass die Hülfe aus Zion über Israel käme, is a Christmas oratorio retroactively compiled from 10 cantatas by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, which were performed from 25 December 1736 to 6 January 1737 in Sondershausen (recorded 1999–2000).[http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/mielorth/stoelzel/aufarbeitung/abstracts.htm Abstracts von Aufsätzen zu Stoelzel] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917092413/http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/mielorth/stoelzel/aufarbeitung/abstracts.htm |date=17 September 2016 |title=Abstracts von Aufsätzen zu Stoelzel }} at {{url|www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/mielorth/stoelzel}}[http://operadata.stanford.edu/catalog/10204905 Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel: Weihnachtsoratorium] at {{url|operadata.stanford.edu}}[http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/pid/1489468/a/gottfried+heinrich+stolzel%3A+christmas+oratorio%3B+cantatas+1-5.htm Kobow / Mertens / Remy / Schwarz / Stolzel / Voss – Gottfried Heinrich Stolzel: Christmas Oratorio; Cantatas 1–5 CD] at {{url|www.cduniverse.com}}David Vernier. [https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-6801/ Stölzel Christmas Oratorio] at {{url|https://www.classicstoday.com}}
Other examples
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2020}}
- Christmas Story, SWV 435, by Heinrich Schütz, likely first performed in 1660, partially published in 1664.
- Vom Himmel Hock, MWV A 22, by Felix Mendelssohn, written in 1831.
- Oratorio de Noël, Op. 12, by Camille Saint-Saëns, written in 1858.
- A Swedish Christmas Oratorio, for 2 choirs, soprano solo and chamber orchestra, by Fredrik Sixten in 2009.
- Christmas Oratorio, for soprano, baritone, chorus, and orchestra by James MacMillan, written in 2019.