Christmas, one of the most important celebrations in the Christian calendar, gave rise to an incredible number of liturgical works during the Baroque era. In addition to Bach's obvious Oratorio and Schütz's Weihnachtshistorie, Bach and Telemann, as well as Buxtehude two generations earlier, possessed incredibly infectious joy and gaiety. This is a panoramic vision of the Nativity in northern Germany, between one of Bach's most beautiful cantatas, Ich freue mich in Dir, and one of Telemann’s cantatas (among the approximately one thousand five hundred cantatas that he wrote...) whose rather rigorous contrapuntal style contradicts the totally Italianised theme. Among the pieces, we hear a singular aria Wenn mich Welt und Satan schrecken ("When the world and Satan frightened me") with a delirious accompaniment of satanic "ugliness" that adds a straightforward theatrical effect. The very lyrical motet Das neugeborne Kindelein by Buxtehude is worth a listen, written at a time when Bach and Telemann were still little children themselves, before the end of the 17th century. On the Latin side - because Protestants sometimes used this style for extremely rigorous works, with "cantus firmus" and all the "tralalus" - we find some Telemann again with Ein Kindelein so löbelich - a Kyrie followed by a Gloria. We are also treated to the famous In dulci jubilo, known throughout the Germanic world as one of the great Christmas works. Sigiswald Kuijken's La Petite Bande passionately takes us into the world of the Nativity. © SM/Qobuz