Aachen Bach Society
| Aachen Bach Society | |
|---|---|
| Seat: | Aachen |
| Founding: | 1913 / 1919 |
| Genus: | mixed choir |
| Founder: | Heinrich Boell |
| Head : | Georg Hage |
| Voices : | 120 |
| Website : | http://www.bachverein.de/ |
The Aachener Bachverein is the oratorio choir of the Evangelical Church Community of Aachen . It was in 1913 or in 1919 by Heinrich Boell founded (1890-1947) and is since 2008 under the direction of Georg Hage. The Aachen Bachverein is located at the Evangelical Anna Church in Aachen, built by Johann Josef Couven in 1748 .
Structure and structure
With around 120 members of all ages and denominations , the association is one of the most traditional art initiatives in the region. Continuity and quality characterize his contribution as a renowned orchestra of the imperial city of Aachen. The performance of Johann Sebastian Bach's vocal works is one of the focal points of the Aachen Bach Society; equally he feels obliged to the entire oratorio repertoire from the early baroque to the present day. His instrumental partners include the Prague Philharmonic , the German Radio Chamber Orchestra and the Aachen Symphony Orchestra as well as the Hamburg Baroque Orchestra and the Barocco Locco chamber orchestra . As a choir of the Evangelical Parish, he also organizes the church music at the Aachen Church of St. Anne.
The Aachener Bachverein Chamber Choir, founded in 1992 as a selected ensemble of the oratorio choir, is particularly dedicated to maintaining a cappella music and, after short and intensive rehearsal phases, also performs less well-known works from the 17th and 18th centuries as well as contemporary choral literature. He works with well-known instrumental ensembles such as Concerto Farinelli, Les Cornets Noirs or the Aachen Bach Orchestra.
With the nationally important cultural festival Aachener Bachtage , initiated in 1974 by Johannes Geffert , the Aachener Bachverein sets an artistic focus at the end of each year. The concert series puts the works of Johann Sebastian Bach in a music-historical and non-musical context. The Aachen Bach Society also repeatedly dares to approach rarely heard choral works. Since 2008 there has been an increasing stylistic expansion through the inclusion of jazz improvisation and the avant-garde .
Artistic Director
In the years of its existence, the association has been led by well-known personalities, including:
- Heinrich Boell , founder of the Aachener Bachverein, director until 1919
- Rudolf Mauersberger , director from 1919 to 1925
- Erhard Mauersberger , director from 1925 to 1929
- Hans Klotz , director between 1929 and 1939
- Hans Hulverscheidt , after interruptions due to the Second World War , re-established the association in 1956 and headed it until 1974
- Johannes Geffert , headed the Bach Association from 1974 to 1979 and founded the Aachen Bach Days
- Heribert Breuer , director from 1979 to 1983
- Wolfgang Karius , led the Bach Association 1983-2008, lobbied for the purchase of new Weimbs organ for Annakirche a
- Georg Hage , has headed the Bach Society since 2008
CD recordings (selection)
- Now everyone thanks God - chorale arrangements for organ and trumpet by Bach, Ebhardt, Homilius, Kaufmann, Krebs, Oley, Pachelbel, Tag and Walther - conductor: Wolfgang Karius, solo trumpet: Guy Touvron , Aachener Bachverein and Hamburger Barockorchester
- JS Bach: St. John Passion - Tenor [Evangelist, Arias]: Wilfried Jochens; Baritones [Christ]: Christoph Erpenbeck; Soprano: Sabine Schneider; Old: Cornelia Sander; Bass: Peter Schüler, Aachener Bachverein Chamber Choir and Hamburg Baroque Orchestra (with historical instruments), conducted by Wolfgang Karius, March 2002
- JS Bach: Christmas Oratorio BWV 248 - Soprano: Sabine Schneider; Old: Christine Wehler; Tenor: Max Ciolek; Bass: Raimund Fischer, Aachen Bachverein and Hamburg Baroque Orchestra (with historical instruments), conducted by Wolfgang Karius, December 2002
- JS Bach: Mass in B minor BWV 232 - Soprano: Monika Mauch; Counter tenor: Yosemeh Adjei; Tenor: Hans-Josef Ritzerfeld; Bass: Gotthold Schwarz, Kammerchor Aachener Bachverein / Hamburger Barockorchester (with historical instruments), conducted by Wolfgang Karius, November 2007
- JS Bach: St. Matthew Passion - Soprano: Konstanze Maxsein; Tenor: Andreas Post; Baritone: Georg Heckel ; Old: Kai Wessel; Bass: Hans-Georg Wimmer; Hamburg Baroque Orchestra, Concerto Farinelli, Hanover and the Aachen Bachverein, conducted by Romano Giefer
Web links
- Official website
- Portrait of the Aachen Bach Society at the Chorbiennale
- Bach Society: Bernhard Mathieu: An extraordinary choir , in: Aachener Zeitung of September 28, 2013 on the occasion of the 100th anniversary
- Brief portrait on kulturserver.nrw
- Pedro Obiera: Aachener Bachverein climbs the third 8000er , in: Aachener Nachrichten of December 9th, 2013
- Aachener Bachverein on MusicBrainz (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ In the association's internal oral tradition, the beginning of which cannot be exactly verified, there is a different representation of the year of foundation than in musicology. Their research results are based both on a call for the founding of the Bach Association in the Politisches Tageblatt on February 1, 1919 and on the fact that the choir performed several times under the name "Evangelischer Kirchenchor Aachen", directed by Heinrich Boell and Hermann Stange , respectively, until 1916 . This view of the founding year of the Aachen Bachverein in 1919 has prevailed in musicological specialist literature (see Music in Past and Present (MGG), keyword Aachen), cf. Siegfrid Vogelsänger: On the history of the Aachener Bachverein - the first forty years (1913–1956) , in: 75 years Aachener Bachverein, 1913–1988 . Aachen 1988, p. 17.
- ↑ Heike Nelsen-Minkenberg: Concert with an almost sacred character , in Aachener Nachrichten of April 13, 2009