hymn tunes in the large majority of his sacred compositions, but rarely one of his own invention): apart from what can be found in the Christmas Oratorio, there appears to be one, partly inspired by a pre-existing melody, in the motet Komm, Jesu, komm, BWV 229 (composed before 1731–32), and at least one entirely by Bach, "Vergiss mein nicht, vergiss mein nicht", BWV 505, in (published in 1736). Gospel narrative Like for his other oratorios, and his Passion settings, Bach employed a narrative based on the Gospel in his Christmas Oratorio. The Gospel narrative of this oratorio followed, to a certain extent, the respective Gospel readings of the church services where the six cantatas of the Christmas Oratorio were to be performed for the first time. The six services of the Christmas season 1734–35 where the oratorio's cantatas were to be performed had these Gospel readings: Christmas Day: (theme: Nativity, Annunciation to the shepherds and the angels' song). Second Day of Christmas: (theme: Adoration of the Shepherds). Third Day of Christmas: – prologue of the Gospel of John, also known as Hymn to the Word. New Year's Day: (theme: Circumcision of Jesus) Sunday after New Year: (theme: the Flight into Egypt) Epiphany: (theme: Wise Men From the East) As usual in most of his oratorios, and all of his Passions, the Evangelist character enunciated the Gospel text in sung recitatives, except the passages in direct speech, which were sung by soloists or choral groups representing the characters who spoke these texts according to the Gospel narrative. The Gospel text included by Bach in his six Christmas Oratorio cantatas consists of: , i.e. part of the Christmas Day reading. , i.e. second half of the Christmas Day reading. , i.e. text of the Second Day of Christmas Gospel reading. , i.e. the New Year's Day Gospel reading , i.e. part of the Gospel reading for the Epiphany feast , i.e. second half of the Gospel reading for Epiphany The Gospel readings for the Third Day of Christmas (Prologue of the Gospel of John), and for the Sunday after New Year (the Flight to Egypt) are not directly used in the Christmas Oratorio. In detail: First performance The oratorio was written for performance on six feast days of Christmas during the winter of 1734 and 1735. The original score also contains details of when each part was performed. It was incorporated within