Bach's Christmas Oratorio
In September 2018 I found a flyer in my pigeon-hole at work that was advertising for upcoming performances of J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio and called for new singers for the choir. Well, not only had I been wanting to join a choir, but I also knew the choir director and saw that the church was not too far from my house! Like many musical families, we listen to the Oratorio at Christmas every year - usually on CD but also sometimes live.
In preparation for the first rehearsal, I downloaded the music and played it on the piano. Wow! I was supposed to be able to sing those fast coloratura passages and trills and octave jumps? I considered backing out, but thought that my years of choir experience and voice lessons would just be put to a test now. How glad I am that I went! Singing with 15 other basses, my voice seemed to be carried along from one measure to the next. The choir director, Irene Ziegler, stood behind the piano, looked at the score, played the piano blind and conducted us with her head and eyes. I'd experienced magical musical moments before, but this woman was something else! The rest of the choir seemed to be as ambitious as I was to make this an enjoyable experience for us and our audiences, so we took the rehearsals seriously but still had fun. That's the perfect mix.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to join most of the members for the rehearsal weekend in Ochsenhausen, but I practiced at home and one of the members sent me a link to learn my part better. We rehearsed with the orchestra the evening before the first performance and things seemed to sound pretty good.
1985
Back in 1985 when I was living in Vienna, Austria, I went to a lot of concerts. In the Großem Saal of the Musikverein I would often stand in the back with the other students for a couple of dollars per concert. What a great deal! On the other hand, the whole Christmas Oratorio runs around three-and-a-half hours! Well, music lover and masochist that I am, I went to see it twice that year! The first evening I stood for the whole concert. My sister, her husband and my girlfriend joined me for the second performance and we had bought three tickets, so we switched at the break. Back then I always went backstage and talked with the performers and got their autographs. Horst Stein was conducting and Helen Donath sang the soprano parts. I spoke with her and told her about standing for the performances. The Texan exclaimed, "You stood?! I can barely stand to SIT through the whole thing!"
A few months later - after moving back to the US - I received a reminder of that second wonderful evening. A policeman from the precinct in Vienna called me at my mother's house and asked if I had been driving a car in Vienna in December 1985 and had parked illegally on the sidewalk one evening. Well, I remembered that Susan had gotten a ticket that evening, but I didn't think twice about it. She would pay for it. I had given her the concert tickets for Christmas. But she thought that if she said her brother in America had been driving that they wouldn't follow up. Oh, but they did! She had to go to traffic court there. She played the naive American at first, saying she was new there and didn't understand the signs. But when the judge asked her what she was doing in Vienna, she quietly admitted, "I'm a German teacher at the American International School. I'm sorry. How much is the ticket?" They threw on an extra fee for the additional trouble which really taught her a lesson.
Back to 2018
No parking problems at the Gartenstadtkirche in Luginsland! On December 15 we performed Michael Gusenbauer's version of the Oratorio for children. It involved a speaker who explained how Bach arranged the Christmas story for orchestra and choir. The oboes and flutes, for example, sounded like instruments the shepherds might have played out in their fields. The violins sound somewhat scratchy when they are playing the part about Baby Jesus lying in hay in the manger. And the old and young shepherds (bass/tenor and alto/soprano) ran to see the baby and sang "Lasset uns nun gehen!" The performance lasted 45 minutes, and the choir sang only five chorales and practiced waiting between pieces.
The following afternoon we performed the first three cantatas with all the soloists, repeats and pauses (between the cantatas). It was very emotional for me - one of the most intense musical experiences of my life. I had lost a very dear old friend just days before the performances and hadn't really had time to process her loss. Concerts, however, have always served as an opportunity for me to calm down, meditate and cogitate on what is going on around me. I would be going to the funeral near Freiburg in three days and thought I would let it all out there.
In preparation for the first rehearsal, I downloaded the music and played it on the piano. Wow! I was supposed to be able to sing those fast coloratura passages and trills and octave jumps? I considered backing out, but thought that my years of choir experience and voice lessons would just be put to a test now. How glad I am that I went! Singing with 15 other basses, my voice seemed to be carried along from one measure to the next. The choir director, Irene Ziegler, stood behind the piano, looked at the score, played the piano blind and conducted us with her head and eyes. I'd experienced magical musical moments before, but this woman was something else! The rest of the choir seemed to be as ambitious as I was to make this an enjoyable experience for us and our audiences, so we took the rehearsals seriously but still had fun. That's the perfect mix.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to join most of the members for the rehearsal weekend in Ochsenhausen, but I practiced at home and one of the members sent me a link to learn my part better. We rehearsed with the orchestra the evening before the first performance and things seemed to sound pretty good.
1985
Back in 1985 when I was living in Vienna, Austria, I went to a lot of concerts. In the Großem Saal of the Musikverein I would often stand in the back with the other students for a couple of dollars per concert. What a great deal! On the other hand, the whole Christmas Oratorio runs around three-and-a-half hours! Well, music lover and masochist that I am, I went to see it twice that year! The first evening I stood for the whole concert. My sister, her husband and my girlfriend joined me for the second performance and we had bought three tickets, so we switched at the break. Back then I always went backstage and talked with the performers and got their autographs. Horst Stein was conducting and Helen Donath sang the soprano parts. I spoke with her and told her about standing for the performances. The Texan exclaimed, "You stood?! I can barely stand to SIT through the whole thing!"
A few months later - after moving back to the US - I received a reminder of that second wonderful evening. A policeman from the precinct in Vienna called me at my mother's house and asked if I had been driving a car in Vienna in December 1985 and had parked illegally on the sidewalk one evening. Well, I remembered that Susan had gotten a ticket that evening, but I didn't think twice about it. She would pay for it. I had given her the concert tickets for Christmas. But she thought that if she said her brother in America had been driving that they wouldn't follow up. Oh, but they did! She had to go to traffic court there. She played the naive American at first, saying she was new there and didn't understand the signs. But when the judge asked her what she was doing in Vienna, she quietly admitted, "I'm a German teacher at the American International School. I'm sorry. How much is the ticket?" They threw on an extra fee for the additional trouble which really taught her a lesson.
Back to 2018
The following afternoon we performed the first three cantatas with all the soloists, repeats and pauses (between the cantatas). It was very emotional for me - one of the most intense musical experiences of my life. I had lost a very dear old friend just days before the performances and hadn't really had time to process her loss. Concerts, however, have always served as an opportunity for me to calm down, meditate and cogitate on what is going on around me. I would be going to the funeral near Freiburg in three days and thought I would let it all out there.
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| "Frohlocket" |
But when the lovely Irene Ziegler threw out her arms on "Frohlocket" and smiled at us, it was as if my friend was smiling at me. Tears shot into my eyes and I did all I could to control myself and continue singing. Then came the repeat! Same thing. I realized this was one of the most intense moments of my life and simply decided to enjoy it. I was singing Bach's Oratorio and my family was even there to enjoy it.
Driving home, we all sang "Jauchzet, frohlocket!"
Merry Christmas to all! If you can find a good choir to sing in, do it!
Driving home, we all sang "Jauchzet, frohlocket!"
Merry Christmas to all! If you can find a good choir to sing in, do it!
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