Welcome to a unique & very special musical celebration of Christmas!

We can think of at least 4 reasons why today's performance could be described as unique: 

1. This work, consisting of six parts will be performed for only the third time in the history of this country in its entirety with all required orchestra parts played. (The previous occasion was in 2013 also by the Pretoria Bach Choir).

2. The three glorious trumpet parts will be performed for the very first time ever in South Africa on Baroque trumpets that are very similar to the original natural trumpets used in Bach's time. Today you are not hearing modern trumpets! 

3. In addition, the first “horn" part in Part 4 of the Oratorio will be performed on a "Corno da Caccia", a "hunting horn"& not a modern horn - also more similar to Bach's intended sound. (Due to only one instrument being available, the second part is played on a modern Flugelhorn.) 

4. The alto soloist performing will, as in the time of Bach, not be a female alto, but a counter tenor.

UNIQUE TRUMPET SOUND & ULTIMATE TECHNICAL CHALLENGE: 

Bach composed the work in 1734 for the liturgy of the six prescribed Christmas & New Year services. He gave the trumpets a very special if not unconventional role to play in this work. In those days trumpets were still mainly used to musically indicate the status & position of senior nobility such as kings and princes. In Europe, this was the time in which the pomp and splendour of the nobility were in stark contrast to the poverty of ordinary people, about half a century before the French revolution.

Bach brilliantly uses trumpets in the work to make the Kingship of the humble baby Jesus culturally and musically audible to the listener of the time. He places the royal trumpet sound in stark contrast to the humbleness of the baby of poor parents by using trumpets highly unconventionally, for example in a lullaby. The use of Baroque trumpets in this performance is therefore most appropriate. The natural trumpet that hails from that time is understandably not technically very advanced: it has no valves for example! Importantly however, it has a long conical bore unlike modern trumpets which have obtained a cylindrical bore over time. Thus a Baroque trumpet has a much rounder, less "brassy" and a more delicate sound than what we are used to today. It brilliantly fulfils Bach's musical demands in this work without detracting from the sound effect that Bach originally had in mind.

BUT! It is a massive challenge for the modern trumpet player to master the "Baroque" trumpet which is very similar to the natural trumpets of that time! It is much more difficult to play than the modern instrument, inter alia because it has no valves. Consequently it is mostly played in the very high register where it can play a melodic scale which makes it possible to play melodies & not only arpeggios like for example a modern bugle. With the Baroque trumpet, the different melodic notes are formed by the player's lips without any modern mechanical supports. In Bach's time only the very best players could master the full range & flexibility that his compositions require. How much more of a challenge for the modern player who, by the nature of things, cannot specialise exclusively in Baroque trumpet in South Africa, because opportunities to earn an income such as the present are few and far between.

In the past orchestras performing with the Pretoria Bach Choir used piccolo trumpets to reach the very high range thus required in Baroque compositions. Although the modern piccolo trumpet can reach the original high pitch, the tone is not what Bach had in mind. In particular in the Christmas Oratorio where the trumpets have to express the Kingship of the baby Jesus in sound, the modern instrument is not sufficiently subtle.

It is a privilege to have an orchestra of this quality for this performance!
We thank the Rupert Music Foundation for its generous financial contribution to make this orchestra possible.

The Pretoria Bach Choir invites you to enjoy this special musical Christmas narrative from beginning to end with us today!

Conductor

Gerben Grooten

Olga Korvink

Hendi Krog

Clorinda Warrens

Andrew Moorosiq

John Reid-Coulter

Leanse Pottas

Gerhard Benade