The splendor of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Magnificat

The Akademie für alte Musik Berlin (Akamus) and the RIAS Kammerchor bring together Bach and Handel here in a festive program that celebrates the Nativity and Peace in Europe.

In Leipzig at the beginning of the 18th century^e century, it was customary to play a solemn Magnificat at Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. On his arrival in 1723, the new cantor followed tradition and composed a large Magnificat. Between the verses of the Marian canticle, he inserts chorales and Christmas tunes. It is this complete original version that we hear here, in the large ensemble of the two Berlin ensembles conducted by Justin Doyle. The program is completed by the God bless you written by Handel on the occasion of the peace treaty of Utrecht, signed in 1713 to mark the end of the long War of the Spanish Succession which had engulfed all of Europe. This God bless youcommissioned from Saxon Handel shortly after his installation in London, celebrates the return of peace and the reestablishment of political balance between nations.

In January 2024, these same ensembles opened the year of the Berlin Philharmonic with a similar program. The workforce here is exceptionally large. Trumpets and percussion give the opening chorus of Magnificat a solemnity which gives it the appearance of God bless you. Three of the verses specific to the Christmas season are written for choir, the fourth (Jesse’s rod blossomed) is a duet for bass and soprano where the voice of Núria Rial deploys flexible vocalizations. The choirs release beautiful energy without ever losing remarkable precision. It is not for nothing that this Magnificat and its later revised versions constitute a flagship of the Cantor’s repertoire. The dialogue between the oboe and the soprano voice in the Because he lookedas if interrupted by the vehemence of the choir All generations is a peak of expressiveness.

Written ten years earlier, the God bless you by Handel also gives pride of place to the choir, in contrast with the solo interventions. The overall impression is more collected than explosive, more peaceful than victorious. This is particularly the case in the air We believe that thou shalt come borrowing a beautiful fervor, accompanied by an elegiac transverse flute. This work full of contrasts surprises with its contemplation, before a short glorious finale with trumpets and drums. The solemnity is ultimately more on the side of Christmas than of the Peace of Nations.

(Visited 4 times, 1 visits today)