ISM Home
 
   

 

The Christmas Oratorio in Context


See also: Symposium Christmas Oratorio performances December 6-7

 

 

Other Events

 

 

December 5, 2008

1:30 - 6 PM

Yale university - New haven, ct

Rosenfeld Hall, 109 Grove st.


Introduction
Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio is not only one of the greatest compositions celebrating the birth of Jesus, but it is also an integral part of Christmas as a cultural event. Preceding a performance of the Oratorio in its entirety on Dec. 6 and 7, the Institute of Sacred Music is hosting a symposium with the title The Christmas Oratorio in Context.

In five lectures, scholars from different disciplines will place Bach's masterwork in its wider cultural and religious context. The talks, which are geared towards a general audience, will explain the biblical and pagan origins of Christmas, and explore the reception of the feast in music and the visual arts. One of the leading questions is how not only Bach's but our own understanding of Christmas came into being.


1:30 pm

Martin Jean & Markus Rathey

Welcome & Introductions
 

Session 1

Markus Rathey, chair

 
1:45 Adela Yarbro Collins (Yale) The Interpretation of the Birth of Jesus in Matthew and Luke
2:30 Susan Roll (Saint Paul University) Christmas: Its Roots and Its Wings
3:15   Coffee Break
 

Session 2

Sally M. Promey, chair

 
3:45 Robin A. Leaver (Princeton, visiting at Yale) Christmas in Leipzig
4:30 Meredith J. Gill (University of Maryland) "Let Us See This Word That Has Come to Pass": The Nativity in the Visual Arts
5:15 Markus Rathey (Yale) How the Angels Learned to Sing “Jingle Bells”: Christmas and Music

 

Performances of Bach's Christmas Oratorio by Yale Camerata,
Marguerite L. Brooks, conductor

Saturday, December 6, 2008

7 pm  Preconcert talk by Markus Rathey, Dwight Chapel

8 pm  Christmas Oratorio (Cantatas I - III), Battell Chapel

Sunday, December 7, 2008

3 pm  Preconcert talk by Markus Rathey, Joseph Slifka Center

4 pm  Christmas Oratorio (Cantatas IV - VI), Battell Chapel

 

 

 

 
         
     

Academics | Admissions | Alumni | Works | Listen | Look | Contact | Index | Home | Yale University


Copyright © 2003-2005.  Yale Institute of Sacred Music
409 Prospect Street,   New Haven, Connecticut 06511
Telephone: 203 432 5180    Fax: 203 432 5296