uns ist ein kind geborenmusic•5w ago

Uns ist ein Kind geboren (“Unto us a child is born”), TWV 1:1452, is a Christmas cantata composed by Georg Philipp Telemann to a German libretto by Gottfried Simonis. It was written for Christmas Day and first published in 1711. Telemann composed the work in Frankfurt in 1720. The cantata consists of eight movements and is scored for five vocal soloists, four part choir, transverse flute or horn, oboe, strings, and continuo. For the 1720 version, Telemann used a libretto by Gottfried Simonis that includes biblical text, chorale, and free poetry, beginning with Isaiah 9:6. The cantata concludes with the final stanza of Kaspar Füger’s hymn Wir Christenleut. In the opening duet, Telemann incorporates elements of Hanakian and Polish folk music, which he may have encountered during his time as Kapellmeister to Count Erdmann II of Promnitz in Pszczyna (Pleß) and Kraków. While Telemann frequently drew on folk music in his compositions, its use in sacred works was less common. He may have intended to evoke the pastoral music of the shepherds.