Having given us the Christmas market and the Christmas tree, the Advent wreath and the Advent calendar, Germany has an outsized influence on the way millions of people celebrate the holidays. It has also produced some of the world’s most beautiful and ennobling music for the season, from Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Handel’s Messiah to hundreds of carols.

True, its traditions may not be as pure as they once were: the tentacles of capitalism have wrapped themselves just as firmly around celebrations in Germany as they have everywhere else. Artificial trees and LED displays are rising in popularity. Supermarkets offer Advent calendars featuring a different craft beer for each day.

Fortunately, little has touched what may be the country’s most prized cultural possession when it comes to Christmas: its wealth of music. Nurtured mostly by amateur choral groups and brass ensembles, it resounds from village churches, parks, markets, cathedrals, high-school auditoriums, and big-city venues at this time of year and draws thousands of singers and concertgoers of all ages.

My wife and I lived in Germany for many years and attended dozens of holiday performances there. But living elsewhere doesn’t mean you can’t take part. Thanks to streaming services and the abundance of recordings in every genre, geography is no longer a real barrier. Which allows me to share a seasonal favorite: a piece by Max Bruch called “In der Christnacht” (On Christmas Night), as performed by RIAS-Kammerchor.

A vocal ensemble founded in Berlin after the Second World War, RIAS (“Radio in the American Sector”) has since gained a reputation as one of Europe’s best chamber choirs. I have yet to hear a RIAS program I didn’t like, but Bruch’s short piece (it’s less than five minutes) is a stand-out. Its text grasps the heart of the festivities, rather than their trappings or souped-up nostalgia for the perfect childhood that wasn’t.

Not that I have a problem with colored lights or mistletoe  – there’s nothing that’ll brighten up a gray December day like Patti LaBelle (or Chris Brown, for that matter) belting out “This Christmas.” But when you start thinking about why the holiday exists in the first place, it’s likely you’ll end up reaching for something deeper to tune in to – something that holds true even after you’ve tossed the wreath in the dumpster and returned your tree stand to the attic.

It’s worth reading the original lyrics of Bruch’s piece (or my English translation) before you listen to the song.

In der Christnacht

Dies ist die Nacht, da mir erschienen
des großen Gottes Freundlichkeit!
Das Kind, dem alle Engel dienen
bringt Licht in meine Dunkelheit,
und dieses Welt- und Himmelslicht
weicht hundert-tausend Sonnen nicht!

Lass dich erleuchten, meine Seele,
versäume nicht den Gnadenschein!
Der Glanz in dieser kleinen Höhle
dringt bald in alle Welt hinein,
er treibet weg der Hölle Macht,
der Sünden und des Todes Nacht!

On Christmas Night

This is the night on which I saw
the kindness of the Almighty power:
the Child whom all the angels serve
brought light into my darkest hour –
the light of heaven that yields to none:
not even a hundred thousand suns.

Let it illumine thee, my soul,
and shy not from its grace; so bright
the radiance from this cave, it soon
will fill the very earth with light,
will chase the powers of hell away,
and sin, and turn death’s night to day.

Interestingly, the poem was penned by Kaspar Friedrich Nachtenhöfer, a churchman from Halle who died in 1685, the same year Handel was born there. One reason his text resonates with me is its tone of reverent awe. Another is its oblique modesty, which refrains from actually naming any of the characters in the Christmas story (there’s no mention of Mary and Joseph or the kings and shepherds that populate other carols) but perfectly reflects its deepest meaning. To me, its message is a corollary to the well-known adage of the sixteenth-century mystic Angelus Silesius, who said, “Were Christ born a thousand times in Bethlehem, and not in thee, thou wouldst still be eternally forlorn.”

As for the music, I can’t think of another Christmas piece that captures, to such dramatic chiaroscuro effect, the radiance of the Child against the gloomy black of nighttime and despair. Pulled forward by gently undulating harmonies beneath it, the soprano line starts out as a deceivingly simple downward melody, but then rises, gaining in intensity, and soars to a climactic high A-flat before coming back down to rest on the final chord. There’s tension throughout the song – brooding suspensions that resolve only on the last beat of a cadence, like shadows that yield only when the sun is actually up over the horizon. But ultimately, it’s a statement of a serene faith: despite all that is wrong in the world, there is still beauty and goodness – and light.

Listen to RIAS-Kammerchor singing Max Bruch’s “In der Christnacht” here:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/sZr8bUQQvyM?si=4UKLL2rwNZvQJV9z

You can also download the vocal score.