The Mass setting at Christ Church Cathedral for the First Sunday after Christmas is Tomás Luis de Victoria, Missa "O Magnum Mysterium." Works by Victoria, William Byrd and Malcolm Archer all based on the text, O Magnum Mysterium, from the responsory of Christmas Matins, will be sung as the introit and during Communion. Click to read the text and for access to a number of renditions of O Magnum Mysterium.
Click to see and hear a slideshow version of Tomás Luis de Victoria, O Magnum Mysterium. with words, in Latin and Spanish, accompanied by paintings of the Italian Renaissance.
The Gospel reading for the First Sunday after Christmas tells of the Flight of the Holy Family into Egypt. Click here to read about and listen to Hector Berlioz, L'Enfance du Christ, which recounts the event.
Heinrich Maria Hess, The Flight into Egypt, 1844
Weihnachts-Oratorium / Christmas Oratorio
Performed by the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, Helmuth Rilling , conducting
Click to read about Johann Sebastian Bach with links to some of his other music.
Read a Review of the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart's performance of the Christmas Oratorio by Jonathan Yungkans.
The Performers: Helmuth Rilling (conductor), Sibylla Rubens (soprano), Ingeborg Danz (alto), James Taylor and Marcus Ullmann (tenors), Hanno Müller-Brachmann (bass).
The First Cantata of the Christmas Oratorio: December 25.
The Second Cantata: December 26.
The Third Cantata: December 27.
The Fourth Cantata: New Year's Day.
The Fifth Cantata: Sunday after New Year's Day.
The Sixth Cantata: January 6, Epiphany.
Click to see and hear a number of excerpts on YouTube of the Christmas Oratorio performed by the Concentus Musicus Wien and the Tölzer Knabenchor.
Click for a few excerpts by the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists.
The 1915 Casavant organ of l’Église de St-Jean-Baptiste, rue Rachel, Montreal, was featured on the December 23, 2007, program of Pipedreams with a recording of Ben van Osten playing Marcel Dupré, Six Antiennes pour le temps de Noël. Click then Click on Listen to Program: Part Two. Michael Baronne reads programme notes after the first antiphon. The entire recording (click for availability at [BNQ])consists of Christmas music by Dupré who himself had played the Casavant at St-Jean-Baptiste while on tour. One can listen as well to van Osten, from the same recording, performing Dupré, Offertory: Il est né, le divin enfant. Click then click on Listen to Program. Click, hold and slide button to 27:02 (27 minutes and 2 seconds). Dabringhaus & Grimm CD-3161288 (Organ Historical Society).