Cappella Aquensis

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cappella Aquensis
Seat: Aachen / Germany
Founding: 1963
Genus: mixed choir
Head : Ulrich Brassel
Voices : approx. 40 (SATB)
Website : http://www.cappella-aquensis.de/

The Cappella Aquensis is a mixed choir that was formed in November 1963 in Aachen by splitting up from the Aachen Cathedral Choir and held its official founding meeting in January 1964. The choir is primarily dedicated to sacred choral music from all eras as well as sacred a cappella music and from 2008 expanded its repertoire to include secular choral music. Ulrich Brassel has led the choir with around 40 voices in all registers since 2018 .

chronology

After the sudden death of Theodor Bernhard Rehmann in 1963, the director of the Aachen Cathedral Choir, Rudolf Pohl was appointed as his successor . However, this was preceded by the reputation that he wanted to devote himself to the boys' choir and that the previous female choir members had to fear for their commitment. Since Pohl's appointment could no longer be reversed, despite an objection by numerous choir members to the incumbent Bishop Johannes Pohlschneider , 57 men and women left the Aachen Cathedral Choir and founded the Cappella Aquensis. The chief conductor of the Limburg Symfonie Orkest (LSO), André Rieu (1917–1992), the father of the well-known Dutch violinist André Rieu , was able to be won over as artistic director and conductor at short notice . A year later, the Aachen cathedral builder and co-founder of the choir Leo Hugot took over the organizational chairmanship of the association.

The young choir quickly established itself in the Aachen music scene and received significant support from the Aachen parishes of St. Nikolaus and St. Foillan, among others . The first highlight was the participation in the Aachen Shrine Tour in 1965, which was followed by numerous other appearances in Maastricht, Heerlen, Cologne and Paris, mostly together with the Limburgs Symfonie Orkest. In the meantime, not only masses and motets by the old masters but also newer church music have been heard and the first four CDs have been recorded.

In 1973 André Rieu moved to Leipzig, and in the absence of a competent successor, the Cappella Aquensis was merged with the municipal choir at the Theater Aachen under the patronage of the incumbent Mayor Kurt Malangré . Under the direction of general music director Wolfgang Trommer , the choir developed further through the new environment and premiered Giacomo Puccini's Messa da Gloria and Georges Bizet's Te Deum at Trommer's farewell concert in 1974 before moving to Düsseldorf .

After Trommer's departure, the Cappella Aquensis wanted to become more independent in its planning and therefore terminated the cooperation with the city choir. For a short time the cathedral organist Norbert Richtsteig took over the musical direction until a few months later the conductor Willi Eschweiler could be engaged. After he resigned in 1977, the conductor of the Aachen Chamber Orchestra Thomas Beaujean initially took over temporarily and from 1978 officially the direction of the choir as part of a Christmas concert in the coronation hall of the Aachen town hall .

Beaujean, who himself grew up as a cathedral singing student in this artistic environment and, as part of his musical career, had also studied choir and orchestral conducting , among other things , led the Cappella Aquensis to new successes after uncertain years. More than 25 demanding choral works with orchestral accompaniment, including the B minor Mass by Bach , the Missa solemnis by Beethoven , the Messa da Requiem by Verdi , the Elias by Mendelssohn and the Stabat Mater by Dvořák , as well as numerous a cappella works were made since then performed under his direction. The choir has also performed its recordings across Europe, including in neighboring countries, in Paris and Reims, in Hungary and on Lake Constance, and most recently in May 2015 in the St. Marienthal Monastery in Ostritz . The Cappella Aquensis was also represented at the Festival de Musique Sacrée in Nice (1981) and at the Festival van Vlaanderen in Tongeren (1987) as well as at the local level at the International Chorbiennale in Aachen. Several CD recordings as well as radio and television recordings, including a concert on the WDR with works by Francis Poulenc and Frank Martin on the occasion of the Aachen Catholics Day 1986, represent the choir in the media.

The orchestral accompaniment of the Cappella Aquensis has been performed by the Aachen Chamber Orchestra, founded by Beaujean and directed from 1976 to 1984, since 1977, and later also by the Euro Chamber Orchestra, which is also under his direction, which consists of professional musicians from the Aachen Symphony Orchestra .

Since Berthold Botzet was appointed Domkapellmeister at Aachen Cathedral in 2000, the cathedral choir has again established friendly contacts with the formerly renegade choir members. The Cappella Aquensis subsequently regularly had the opportunity to represent the cathedral choir on certain occasions. In order to maintain the quality of the Cappella Aquensis, the ensemble decided to introduce an age limit of 70 years for female and 72 for male voices, so that the total number of voices remained constant at around 40 members.

Discography

  • Lorenzo Perosi : Missa Benedicamus Domino ; Cappella Aquensis, conductor: Andre Rieu, organ: Albert de Klerk , Heerlen before 1988
  • Lorenzo Perosi: Missa Pontificalis ; Cappella Aquensis, conductor: Andre Rieu, organ: Albert de Klerk, before 1988
  • Lorenzo Perosi: Missa Eucharistica , Cappella Aquensis, conductor: Andre Rieu, organ: Albert de Klerk, before 1988
  • Lorenzo Perosi: Te Deum , Cappella Aquensis, conductor: Andre Rieu, organ: Albert de Klerk, before 1988
  • Giuseppe Verdi: Messa da Requiem , Cappella Aquensis, conductors: Thomas Beaujean, Schola Cantorum St. Foillan, Limburgs Symphonie Orkest, Claudia Kunz (soprano), Yvonne Schiffelers (mezzo-soprano), Scott MacAllister (tenor), Stephan Bronk (bass), doubles -CD, Aachen 1993
  • Antonín Dvořák: Stabat Mater , Cappella Aquensis, conductor Thomas Beaujeau, Sinfonieorchester Aachen, Janice Dixon (soprano), Marina Prudenskaja (alto), Scott MacAlister (tenor), Harry Peeters (bass), double CD, Aachen 2004

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Choir concert Cappella Aquensis in the St. Marienthal Monastery, Ostritz, May 2015
  2. ↑ Participation in the Festival van Vlaanderen, St. Truiden 1972
  3. ↑ Homepage Aachen Chamber Orchestra
  4. ↑ Brief description of the Euro Chamber Orchestra on heimat.de
  5. ↑ CDs before 1988 under Andre Rieu
  6. ↑ CD Verdi Requiem with the Cappella Aquensis
  7. ↑ CD Stabat Mater with the Cappella Aquensis