Berlin Oratorio Choir
| Berlin Oratorio Choir | |
|---|---|
| Seat: | Berlin , Germany |
| Founding: | 1904 |
| Genus: | mixed choir |
| Head : | Thomas Hennig |
| Voices : | 4 (SATB) |
| Website : | http://www.berliner-oratorienchor.de |
The Berlin Oratorio Choir is one of the oldest amateur choirs in Berlin . It was founded in 1904 as the "Berlin People's Choir" and renamed the Berlin Oratorio Choir (BOC) in 1974. The BOC appears as the organizer several times a year in the Konzerthaus Berlin on Gendarmenmarkt and in the Berlin Philharmonie with a sophisticated classical music program in which choral symphonies from various epochs are presented. The choir currently consists of around 80 active amateur singers.
history
Foundation and development of the Berlin People's Choir
It was the time of the young Volksbühne movement, which was supported by dynamic forces, when members of the Berliner Volksbühne came up with the idea of founding a Berlin Volksbühne in 1904. However, he should not sing folk songs, but rather perform works that are effective for the stage on the stage itself: symphonic choral works and oratorios.
On February 8, 1904, on the proposal of Ernst Zander , a dentist, the workers' choir named "Berliner Volks-Chor" was founded. At the beginning of the 20th century, music could be an important and peaceful impetus for an emancipating workforce. The main goal of the BVC was evident from the choir's 1st annual report, “[...] to organize good performances of larger choral works and oratorios by the most famous composers for less well-off people, especially the Berlin workers. In addition, the other areas of music, both vocal and instrumental, should come to the fore through soloist concerts. ”Thus, Berlin had its first choir consisting of members of the working people, which was responsible for the great masterpieces of mixed choral literature with orchestra and soloists Wanted to be heard.
On February 17, 1904, the first rehearsal took place in the Sophien-Realgymnasium . In preparation, courses in sheet music, language and voice training as well as an introduction to the world of music were offered obligatory for the singers. In autumn 1904 the BVC gave the first concert with Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri with the “Berliner Tonkünstler-Orchester” in the “ Neue Welt ” (Hasenheide). The BVC appeared free of charge at May celebrations, trade union events and party conferences of the SPD . Whereby the balance should be kept between all parties and parliamentary groups.
The number of members in the first few years was between 120 and 200 and rose to 350 by the outbreak of World War I. After 1918 the number of singers rose to 451. In 1927, the BVC founded its own children's and youth choir in order to raise its own musical offspring.
In the early 1920s, the BVC joined the German Workers' Singers Association , through which a first concert tour to Vienna was organized.
The Berliner Volks-Chor in the time of National Socialism - 1933–1945
With the law of September 22, 1933 establishing the Reich Chamber of Culture , all cultural organizations were brought into line. Only those who were members of the newly created Reich Chamber of Culture for professional musicians and laypeople were allowed to perform concerts and operas in public. At the same time, an Aryan descent and loyalty to the National Socialist state had to be proven. The BVC's membership in the German Workers' Singing Association was canceled in 1933. After the National Socialists came to power, the workers' music movement was increasingly subjected to harassment and persecution. The activity of the choir director was prohibited under threat of a general professional ban, the withdrawal of the rehearsal rooms prevented continuous work and the association's assets were confiscated. The directors of the German Workers' Singing Association drew the conclusion from this to liquidate their organization and to let the member choirs themselves decide on their further work. In the absence of alternatives, the BVC joined the “Reich Association of Mixed Choirs of Germany” in order to be able to continue the work.
Choir directors had to be in the NSDAP to continue their work. That was obviously not Ernst Zander. Also because he was not a professional musician, he had to give up his position as head of the BVC in 1937. The state offered ideologically flanked advanced training seminars in "training camps" for choir directors in order to bring the "German art of singing" in line with the leadership of the Reich. Georg Oskar Schumann came as the new head of the BVC.
The National Socialists had set clear guidelines for the musical repertoire. Works by "Jews, three-quarter Jews, half-Jews and quarter Jews" were prohibited. If the composer's name was omitted, it was possible that these choral works could still be heard until 1938. The BVC dedicated his main works by Haydn , Bach , Brahms and Beethoven . From 1937 she performed together with the “Erkschen Mixed Choir”. When the male singers were called up after the beginning of the war, the performance of the choirs weakened and concerts became less frequent.
Georg Oskar Schumann, hailed as the future star conductor, was appointed head of the entire music industry in Rathenow in 1942 and was appointed city music director, so Fritz Pokorny followed as head of the BVC in 1943 until the end of the war.
Reconstruction of the Berlin People's Choir - 1945–1960
The incumbent chairman of the BVC Otto Berndt found 40 to 45 singers who remained on site after the Second World War in order to reactivate the folk choir life. The first rehearsals were with the university choir under Jakobi, until Herbert Schoenborn became independent. From 1948 the conducting was in the hands of the professional musician Hans Kohlmann. The samples were taken in the Soviet sector of the city, which was time-consuming because of the controls at the sector borders. Also because of harassment about club recognition and political orientation, the BVC moved its rehearsal facility in the western part of Berlin to a school in Emser Strasse at the end of 1950. A large part of the archive and the music cellar were lost, however.
Concert opportunities for amateur choirs developed and the BVC gave smaller concerts of cantatas, folk songs, works by Telemann , and first official occasions such as in the Lichtburg, on the Hasenheide open-air stage, at AWO concerts, at birthday singing for Ernst Reuter , at Volkstrauertag or SPD - Events and an increasing number of choir members increased awareness and acceptance
In 1957, the choir's work stagnated and the new first chairman of the BVC, Klaus Scheithe, won the young conductor Gert Sell. On April 1st, 1958, he began his choir leader activity at the BVC and determined the choir life for almost 50 years. He brought the seasons of Haydn ready for concert performances and Faust's damnation of Hector Berlioz he developed his own work. The new rehearsal room, which is still in use today, was found in the Technical University of Berlin . The Hohenfels Concert Agency arranged the concerts of the choir, which were given almost every two months with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra in a subscription series. External concerts in Peine led to a choir partnership. A highlight was the song festival of the General Singers' Association (DAS) in 1959 in Berlin. Michael Tippett's “ A Child of Our Time ” was performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Hochschule der Künste .
Strokes of fate and further progress in the choir scene - 1961–1970
The BVC had developed into a stately choir by the 1960s. When the Wall was built in 1961, 30 members fell out and contact with the members in the Eastern Sector was broken. The BVC continued to work and rehearse and in 1963 counted 170 active singers again, but only 30 male voices. To attract young talent, a children's choir was founded under Ursula Degebrodt, which broke up two years later. The subscription series continued until the mid-1960s, after which it was abandoned due to the lack of quality of the orchestral accompaniment.
In 1964 the choir celebrated its 60th anniversary. It was celebrated in style with the “Missa Solemnis” by Ludwig van Beethoven in the new Philharmonie with the Berliner Philharmoniker. In 1966, the choir's activities were crowned by participating in the performance of the “Ballet of the 20th Century” under the direction of Maurice Béjart. Under Gert Sell, the great oratorio works were again worked on in the 1960s. These include the coronation mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Samson von Handel, the Requiem by Verdi and Dvořák, cheerful operettas and folk opera concerts were now part of the choir's repertoire.
The BVC becomes the BOC
The 1970s began for BVC with Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's “Elias” in the Philharmonie and accompanied by the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. A cheerful "Johann Strauss Concert" followed at the end of the year. The following years were a reflection of the versatility of the choir. Cheery spring concerts at the Hochschule für Musik were followed by a choir tour to a cantata concert in Bremen, Haydn's “Creation”, Schubert's “Mass No. 6”, Handel's “Messiah” and, again and again, Beethoven's “9. Symphony".
The 70th anniversary of the choir was celebrated from May 31 to June 9, 1974 with a concert tour from Innsbruck via Munich to Peine and Braunschweig. The little word “people”, which was supposed to bring the working class into the Berlin choir scene from 1904, had been given a negative appearance during the dark years of German history. The board of directors around Eva Maria Eisermann wanted to rename it to the “Berliner Oratorien-Chor”, but a “Berliner Oratorien-Chor e. V. “since 1945 in the register of associations of the district court Tiergarten, whose activity has been suspended. This choir emerged from the "German Philharmonic Choir", which Georg Oskar Schumann directed and in 1957 Hans-Thomas Nowowiejski took over. In 1963 this choir stopped its activity. The BVC turned to the registered first chairman Walter Hübbe and was able to take over the registered name. On October 1, 1974, the Berliner Volks-Chor became the Berliner Oratorien-Chor. The BOC took part in the 17th Choir Festival of the German Singers Association in Berlin from June 9th to 13th, 1976 and sang three works by Bach for the 75th anniversary of the Berlin Singers Association in 1977. During this period, a long-playing record with the “Mass in D major ”recorded by Antonín Dvořák. In 1978 there was another tour tour through Austria from May 4th to 15th. In 1979 the choir's 75th anniversary was celebrated with two gala concerts and a choir trip to Tampere, Finland. There the BOC won a gold medal in a singing competition.
The BOC in the 1980s
The 1980s were opened by the Berlin Oratorio Choir with Bruckner's “Mass in F minor” and “Te Deum”. In October there was a cheerful opera concert with works by Cornelius, Lortzing and Nicolai. Beethoven's “Ninth” at the end of the year and Haydn's “Seasons” remained in the BOC's program. “Stabat Mater” by Dvořák and “The Creation” by Haydn were also performed. In the 80th anniversary year of the BOC, the "St. Matthew Passion" was developed and performed. In the anniversary year 1984, another choir friendship was made with the "Szolnoki Kodály Kórus" from Hungary.
. The BOC participated in the 750th anniversary of Berlin in the “Sternstunden singing” at the Victory Column and other concerts. After a Mozart-Beethoven concert and Bach's Christmas Oratorio in 1988, Stuttgart was visited in 1999 for concerts with the Stuttgarter Liederkranz. On November 11, 1989, the BOC performed a “cheerful concert” in the Reinickendorf Music School.
From 1990 to 2000 - the reunification increases the competitive pressure
In the 1990s, competition in the Berlin music and choir scene increased. In the divided city, two cultural centers, developing in parallel, had been built up over the last forty years and now faced each other. This led to a shortage of the financial resources required for the work of the individual choirs. The subsidies of the Berlin Senate were increasingly withdrawn and distributed among several “needy” people. The BOC had to carry out its three big concerts a year with less support. The work was continued with the Philharmonic Orchestras from Gdansk, Stettin, Bromberg, Köslin and Katowice. The Brandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra was also engaged for a concert. On December 22nd, 1991, the BOC performed for the first time in the eastern part of the city in the Konzerthaus on Gendarmenmarkt with the "High Mass in B minor" by Johann Sebastian Bach.
In 1994 the choir traveled through the Czech Republic to Budapest. Mozart's “Te Deum” and “Vesperae solennes” were sung several times, as well as Beethoven's “Mass in C major”. From May 1999, the BOC was able to perform regularly in the Great Hall of the Berlin City Hall for charitable purposes with the large choir but also with an a cappella formation and a small ensemble of instruments.
The first ten years in the new millennium
The new millennium began on January 4th with Beethoven's 9th Symphony with a friendship choir from Japan and the Singakademie Potsdam. The “Ninth” was sung twice in the Hans Otto Theater in Potsdam. During the carnival season in 2000, the BOC gave a “Happy Johann Strauss Concert” in the concert hall. Concerts by Bach and Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem "followed.
In 2001 the Berliner Sängerbund celebrated its 100th anniversary and invited the BOC and numerous other choirs to Orff's “Carmina Burana” and a world premiere of “Meditation and Psalm” by the Polish composer Pjotr Moss in the Philharmonie. To refresh the voices, the "Mass in A flat major" by Franz Schubert was given in 2003 together with a youth choir. The choir consolidated its position as part of Berlin concert life.
Further appearances in 2005 were a New Year's concert in the Heilig-Kreuz-Kirche, a spring concert, two Handel concerts, “The Alexander Festival” and in December “The Messiah”., As well as the Potsdam Palace Night. 2006 was marked by the 250th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The “Ninth” by Beethoven was given twice and the “St. Matthew Passion” by Bach. In December 2007 the BOC gave a Christmas concert with the Christmas Oratorio by Camille Saint-Saens and the Christmas part from Handel's “Messiah”.
In 2008 Gert Sell resigned from the artistic direction and handed it over to a young conductor, Thomas Hennig. Gert Sell was honored with the Federal Cross of Merit. In 2009 the BOC took part in the Brandenburg Festival and the 2010 spring concert with the “Mass in E flat major” by Franz Schubert took place in the Konzerthaus.
The conductors of the Berlin Oratorio Choir
- 1904–1937 Ernst Zander
- (1916 until the end of the war in 1918, represented by music director Eschke)
- 1937–1943 Georg Oskar Schumann
- 1943–1945 Fritz Pokorny
- 1945–1947 Professor Jakobi
- 1947–1948 Herbert Schoenborn
- 1948–1958 Hans Kohlmann
- 1958-2008 Gert Sell
- since 2008 Thomas Hennig
swell
- Festschrift for the 100th anniversary of the Berlin Oratorio Choir. Editor: Daniela Wenk, October 2003.