Reinhard Keiser was a German opera composer based in Hamburg. He wrote over a hundred operas. Johann Adolf Scheibe considered him an equal to Johann Kuhnau, George Frideric Handel and Georg Philipp Telemann, but his work was largely forgotten for many decades.
The Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248, is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach intended for performance in church during the Christmas season. It is in six parts, each part a cantata intended for performance in a church service on a feast day of the Christmas period. It was written for the Christmas season of 1734 and incorporates music from earlier compositions, including three secular cantatas written during 1733 and 1734 and a largely lost church cantata, BWV 248a. The date is confirmed in Bach's autograph manuscript. The next complete public performance was not until 17 December 1857 by the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin under Eduard Grell. The Christmas Oratorio is a particularly sophisticated example of parody music. The author of the text is unknown, although a likely collaborator was Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander).
Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen, BWV 11, known as the Ascension Oratorio, is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach, marked by him as Oratorium In Festo Ascensionis Xsti, composed for the service for Ascension and probably first performed on 15 May 1738.
Manfred Siebald is a German singer-songwriter and lecturer in American studies in Mainz.
Kurt Georg Hugo Thomas was a German composer, conductor and music educator.
Werner Güra is a German classical tenor in opera, concert and Lied, also an academic teacher in Zurich.
Manfred Cordes is a German conductor of early music, musicologist and teacher. He is professor at the Hochschule für Künste Bremen and was its rector from 2007 to 2012.
"Nun bitten wir den Heiligen Geist" is the title of several hymns in German. The first is one of the oldest hymns in the German language: a 13th-century leise. Subsequent versions expanded upon the leise; the original hymn became the new version's first stanza, and it now used melodies derived from its medieval tune. The Protestant reformer Martin Luther expanded the leise in 1524, and different Catholic versions were published between 1537 and 1975.
Die sieben Worte Jesu Christi am Kreuz, SWV 478, is a German-language musical setting of the seven sayings of Jesus on the cross by Heinrich Schütz. It was written in Weissenfels around 1645 and revised in 1657. Schütz set the text of the biblical words in their context, framed by two stanzas from Johann Böschenstein's hymn "Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund", as an oratorio or Passion cantata. He scored it for five voices (SATTB), five instrumental parts and continuo. The original title reads: Die Sieben Worte unsers lieben Erlösers u. Seeligmachers Jesu Christi, so er am Stamm des Hl. Kreuzes gesprochen.
Peter Reulein is a German composer, organ improviser, academic teacher and church musician, from 2000 at the church Liebfrauen in Frankfurt am Main. In 2016 he composed for the Catholic Diocese of Limburg the Franciscan oratorio Laudato si'.
Helmut Alfons Schlegel is a German Franciscan Catholic priest, meditation instructor, author, librettist and songwriter. He is known for writing new spiritual songs, set to music by various composers.
Eugen Eckert is a German social worker, minister, singer-songwriter and academic teacher. He is known for his lyrics for new spiritual songs, and his oratorios and musical plays.
"O Heiland, reiß die Himmel auf" is a Christian Advent song. The text was first printed in 1622, attributed to Friedrich Spee; the melody was first printed in 1666.
Munzinger-Archiv is a German publisher and online encyclopedia based in the Baden-Württemberg city of Ravensburg. The content of the archive includes entries about people in politics, business, culture, sport, music and society, about all countries in the world and about current events. The online service with several million entries is supplemented by other databases, works and portals from partners and is mainly used by publishing houses, the press, radio, political institutions and libraries.
Eckhard J. Schnabel is a German evangelical theologian and professor of the New Testament. He is the author of numerous scholarly books, Bible commentaries, specialist articles and lexical contributions.
Und es waren Hirten in derselben Gegend, BWV 248II, is a 1734 Christmas cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach as the second part of his Christmas Oratorio. Bach was then Thomaskantor, responsible for music at four churches in Leipzig, a position he had assumed in 1723.
"Seht, er lebt" is a Christian poem written by the Catholic priest Lothar Zenetti in 1973. With an Israeli melody, it became an Easter hymn in the Neues Geistliches Lied (NGL) genre, first published in 1975. In the 2013 Catholic hymnal Gotteslob, it appears as GL 781 in the regional section for the Diocese of Limburg.
Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz was a Protestant theologian and writer.
Walter Schultheiss is a German actor, author and painter.
Arne Kopfermann is a German Christian songwriter, musician, music producer and non-fiction author.
