St John’s Smith Square, London, SW1P 3HA

A concert in celebration of Advent and Christmas, starting with music from the Austro-Italian seventeenth-century Catholic tradition; from the Annunciation to the birth of Jesus, with the focus on Mary and the baby Jesus. After the interval: the eighteenth-century Lutheran tradition in Germany with two cantatas by J. S. Bach: ‘Schwingt freudig euch empor’, composed for the first Sunday in Advent, and ‘Selig ist der Mann’, composed for second Christmas day.

The music

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644–1704): The Annunciation, from the Rosary Sonatas

Tarquinio Merula (1595–1665): Canzonetta Spirituale sopra alla nanna

Claudio Merulo (1605–74): Toccata ottava

Giacomo Carissimi (1605–74) ‘Salve salve puellule’

Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713): Concerto Grosso in G minor, op. 6, no. 8 [‘Christmas concerto’]

J.S. Bach (1685–1750): Cantata for the first Sunday in Advent, ‘Schwingt freudig euch empor’, BWV 36; second part

J.S. Bach: Cantata for the second day of Christmas ‘Selig ist der Mann’, BWV 57

The musicians

Rachel Elliott soprano, Matthew Brook bass, Nicolette Moonen violin and director, Anna Curzon violin, Anne Schumann viola, Olaf Reimers cello, Silas Wollston organ