Aachen Cathedral Choir

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Aachen Cathedral Choir
Seat: Aachen
Carrier: Cathedral chapter
Founding: around 800
Genus: Boys' choir
Founder: Charlemagne / Alcuin
Head : Berthold Botzet
Voices : 90 (50 boys and 40 men)
Website : Official website

The Aachen Cathedral Choir , latin of tradition , correspondingly Cappella Carolina called, is with its more than 1,200-year history of the oldest boys' choir in Germany and one of the oldest in the world. He stands in the tradition of the choir school ( Schola Cantorum ) at the court of Charlemagne , which he shared with Alcuin founded York as boys choir Schola Palatina . The choir gained an internationally renowned reputation among the various collegiate and cathedral orchestral masters and benefited both musically and personally from the cooperation with the former medieval monastery school , today's Aachen Cathedral Singing School , and with the St. Gregorius-Haus church music school founded in 1881 , the first in West Germany Organist school with an attached boarding school , later the Catholic University for Church Music St. Gregorius. Since 2000, the cathedral choir has been directed by cathedral music director Berthold Botzet . Marco Fühner has been the cathedral choirmaster and director of the girls' choir at Aachen Cathedral since July 2013.

history

In its early days, the Schola consisted mainly of clerics from the Aachen Marienstift , who were prescribed the singing of the daily office by the synods of Aachen (816–819) in the decree institutio canonicorum and who in 826 were given an organ for musical purposes by a Byzantine embassy Support had been given. In the 12./13. In the 19th century, the cathedral choir was primarily used to spread the Charlemagne Office regali natus , a poetic and musical liturgical rhyme in honor of Charlemagne. The clerical male choir and the boys' choir from the collegiate school have now accompanied the musical ceremonies at the coronation celebrations in Aachen for over six centuries. With the beginning of the Aachen sanctuary tour from the 14th century, the choir was responsible for the special sacred songs for this event. Between 1567 and 1577 Johannes Mangon directed the Aachen Cathedral Choir as a succentor and bequeathed 19 masses , 45 motets , 42 antiphons and other works to it.

At the beginning of the 17th century, the monastery choir had around 12 members, some of whom were familiar with instruments, who had grown to just 24 musicians by 1826, the majority also belonged to the city orchestra and had to accompany the liturgy every Sunday . In the meantime, a choir house was donated to the cathedral chapter by Johann Leonhard Blanche in 1707, which started its educational work for liturgical singing with seven chorals (choir singers). From 1835 to 1840 Anton Felix Schindler was in charge of the cathedral choir, who was also the city's music director and was considered a proven Beethoven biographer. The choir finally received massive support in 1844 through the establishment of the Society for Church Music and above all through the establishment of the Church Music School Gregoriushaus with an attached boarding school by its collegiate bandmaster Heinrich Böckeler in 1881. Until 2007, when the later University for Church Music closed for financial reasons had to be, the cathedral choir, which was now called Capella Carolina , recruited singers, organists and band masters from this institution for its own needs, for example at the beginning Franz Nekes or the later directors Rudolf Pohl , Hans-Josef Roth and Berthold Botzet .

The year 1963 can be seen as a turning point in the history of the choir, when 57 men and women left the Aachen Cathedral Choir at the same time and founded the Cappella Aquensis . They did not agree with the appointment of Pohl, because the reputation preceded him that he wanted to devote himself to the boys' choir and that the previous female choir members had to fear for their commitment. Even an intervention with the incumbent Bishop Johannes Pohlschneider could not change the situation. Since Botzet's appointment, friendly contacts have been made with the former “renegade” choir members and the Cappella Aquensis has since then been given regular opportunities to represent the cathedral choir on certain occasions.

Concert tours and appearances

The first foreign tour to neighboring Belgium took place in 1930 and, after the Second World War in 1946, the first joint participation with the city orchestra at the First Music Festival in Steinfeld Abbey . Self of the Cathedral Choir followed in France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Berlin, Paris and 1963 in Rome before the Pope and the Second Vatikanischem Council and here again in 2004 at the extraordinary Charlemagne Prize to Pope John Paul II. Later, the reputation was promoted by this institution through high-quality recordings, television and radio recordings. The cathedral choir was able to benefit significantly from the reorganization and institutional security of the connected cathedral singing school in 1960 and, in cooperation with the Aachen Symphony Orchestra and other guest orchestras, was able to take on the great masterpieces of sacred music by Palestrina , Lassus , Bach , Handel , Haydn , Mozart , Ludwig van Beethoven, Brahms , Bruckner , Verdi , Kodály and Britten dare. The annually changing performances of the St. Matthew and St. John Passions by Johann Sebastian Bach during Lent as well as the traditional Christmas concert in the Aachen City Hall on the 3rd Sunday of Advent are among the fixed dates of the Aachen Cathedral Choir. Another highlight is the so-called October Music, which commemorates the liberation of Aachen in October 1944 and which also takes place annually in Aachen Cathedral in cooperation with the City of Aachen Symphony Orchestra.

Under the direction of Berthold Botzet, concert tours to Switzerland, South Korea, Italy, Spain, the Balkans, South Africa, the Czech Republic, Malta and most recently to Brazil have been carried out. The annual singing leisure time on the North Sea island of Wangerooge during the summer holidays has also been an integral part of the annual planning of the Aachen Cathedral Choir for more than 25 years. During the two-week stay, the choir prepares intensively for the second half of the year and the October music.

On May 6, 2016, the Aachen Cathedral Choir performed on the occasion of the award of the Charlemagne Prize to Pope Francis in the Apostolic Palace in Rome.

Others

The cathedral chapter operates its own catholic elementary school, the Aachen Cathedral Singing School, to promote young choirs . In 4th grade, students are accepted into the Aachen Cathedral Choir at the age of 10 and begin their musical careers in the boys' choir . After the vocal break and a few months of rehearsals in the so-called mutant group , the young singers are accepted into the men's choir of the cathedral choir if necessary and suitable.

The girls' choir, founded in 2011 and made up of around 50 girls between the ages of ten and twelve and supervised by cathedral cantor Marco Fühner, forms an independent ensemble that is affiliated with the Aachen cathedral choir and firmly integrated into the cathedral music.

Abbey and Cathedral Kapellmeister

Literature and Sources

  • Rudolf Pohl: Music in the Aachen Cathedral. 1200 years of choir school at the court of Charlemagne , Aachen 1981, pp. 3-18 ( online ).
  • August Brecher: Music in Aachen Cathedral in Twelve Centuries , Einhard, Aachen 1998, ISBN 3-930701-57-X (260 pages, numerous illustrations).
  • Lutz Felbick : dates of Aachen music history . Ed .: City of Aachen, City Director, Public Library. Aachen 1993 ( online [accessed February 21, 2015]).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Aachen Cathedral Choir - History . Retrieved November 30, 2015.
  2. ↑ Martina Feldhaus: It all started with a small singer rebellion . In: Aachener Nachrichten of May 16, 2013 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Cappella Aquensis.
  3. ^ Lothar Schröder: Award. Charlemagne honor also for Pope Francis. In: RP Online. May 6, 2016. Retrieved November 26, 2017 .
  4. ↑ David Grzeschik: Stage fright is higher than any note , in: Aachener Zeitung , edition of June 17, 2014.