Advent has so much music, it cries out for a return to a six week season. Meanwhile, the short season of Christmastide has an even shorter repertoire to draw on. Many of us are caroled out by now, and wondering if there is anything suitable for the season beyond "We Three Kings." In short, yes! This gorgeous Bach cantata was first performed for Dreikönigsfest — the feast of the Epiphany — in 1724. The unknown librettist has the tenor offer in his recitative, not the standard gifts but
The gold of faith, the frankincense of pray'r,
The myrrh of patience, these now are my off'rings
What gifts, musical or otherwise, were exchanged in your celebrations today, be they of Epiphany or of the Baptism of Our Lord? Share with us in the comments!
Arvo Pärt's haunting Anthem of John the Baptist would be an apt and gentle way to end the Christmas season (regardless of whether you celebrated Baptism of the Lord today or not). I couldn't find an online version, but it is on iTunes and well worth the listen.
this is gorgeous and all new to me -- THANK YOU!
ReplyDeleteThe gift of two thoughts given to me.
ReplyDeleteAs I walked to church, I passed a discarded Christmas tree. Isn't that so often what happens with Christmas -- thrown out with the decorations, over for another year? So sad . ..
And secondly, Comet Lovejoy has been over the southern hemisphere over Christmas, our own Christmas star, but no one except astronomers seem to have known about it here. So we missed it. How many people missed the star of Bethlehem because they simply weren't looking?
I'm off on leave for a week. Blessings on you all.