Sinfonia from Christmas Oratorio BWV 248 for flute septet

This Oratorio that Johann Sebastian Bach wrote for the 1734 Christmas season incorporates music from earlier compositions, including three secular cantatas and a church cantata written the previous year. It is in six parts; each being intended for performance on one of the major feast days of Christmas. The total, which is nearly three hours long, is often presented in two equal parts. This arrangement for flute ensemble is of the sublime pastoral Sinfonia which opens Part II of the larger work.

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