Leipzig, December 1734: Christmas brings the Bach family together. The first snow has fallen and the children Gottfried and Elisabeth are delighted about the arrival of their older brothers Friedemann and Emanuel. The Thomaskantor has retired to his music room. Anna Magdalena supports her husband, as there are only a few days left and his latest work, the six-part "Christmas Oratorio", must be finished on time. It is awaited with suspicion by the city council and the gentlemen of the consistory, who have long found Bach's waywardness a thorn in their side and fear that, after the premiere of the St. Matthew Passion a few years earlier, the St. Thomas Church will once again be filled with "operatic" music. With the oratorio, Johann Sebastian Bach hopes that he will finally become court composer in Dresden. And, as always, he demands that all members of the family join forces to help him. But differences of opinion are increasingly delaying the completion of Bach's most famous work.
as Johann Sebastian Bach
as Anna Magdalena Bach
as Emanuel Bach
as Friedemann Bach
as Gottfried Bach
as Elisabeth Bach
as Adrian Stieglitz
as Maria Stieglitz
as Christian Henrici
as Superintendent
as Court Music Director Hasse
as Sybilla Bose
as Matthias Gesner
as Carl Gotthelf Gerlach
as Beadle
as Thomaner Singer
as Landlord
as Tree Seller
as Secretary
as Stagecoach Carter
as Maid
as Nephew 1 (uncredited)
as Advocate (uncredited)
