Adhering to the Italian tradition of the instrumental Christmas Pastorale, Johann Sebastian Bach commences the second part of his Christmas Oratorio BWV 248 with the famous, purely instrumental Sinfonia. Sensitively taking into consideration Bach’s sophisticated texture Michael Aschauer inserts a Christmas poem by the Baroque poet Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg into excerpts of this Sinfonia. Thus, also mixed choirs can delight their audience with this exceptional Baroque work at their Christmas concerts.