Christian Singers Association

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The Christian Singers Association (CS) is an association of choirs from free churches , churches and communities . It has the legal form of a registered association. Its headquarters have been in Wuppertal since 1965 .

history

The Christian Singers Association was founded in Elberfeld (today: Wuppertal) in 1879 with 30 choirs from the Evangelical Alliance . The initiator of the Singing Association, Wilhelm Elsner (* 1833), was elected the first president. As early as 1881, on the initiative of the Methodist preacher Hans Jakob Breiter, a Swiss branch of the Singers Association was formed. 23 choirs belonged to it. The first president of this section was Pastor Rudolf Wyss.

Ernst Gebhardt

After Wilhelm Elsner's death in 1892, the so-called Heilsliedersänger and hymn poet Ernst Gebhardt took over the office of federal chairman. Due to his worldwide contacts, numerous German-speaking choirs from North America also joined the Wuppertal Singers Association. In 1898 a number of choirs of the regional church communities separated from the singing society and joined the now newly founded Evangelical singing society . Nevertheless, the number of members grew steadily. It reached its peak in 1935/36 with around 40,000 members.

From 1949 Herbert Beuerle was Singwart.

In 1978 the Christian Choir Association in the Federal Republic of Germany and West Berlin had 718 choirs with a total of 18,811 singers. 310 choirs with 4500 members formed the Christian Singers Association of the German Democratic Republic .

In the course of reunification in 1990, the unions that had been separated since 1964 also merged. Today the German Christian Singers Association represents around 650 choirs with around 12,000 singers. In addition to Ernst Gebhardt, the important personalities of the singer association include the late composer , cantor and choir director Paul Ernst Ruppel as well as the hymnologist and church historian Günter Balders .

aims

In addition to the promotion and expansion of sacred choral singing, further training for choir directors and members plays a major role. The publication of new choral literature is also one of the important goals of the Christian Singers Association . The basis is - so it says on the website of the CS - "the Gospel of Jesus Christ".

Organization and structure

The lowest level of the organizational structure of the Christian Singers Association are regional associations, the so-called singers' groups , which in turn are grouped together in regional associations. The regional associations form the federal association, which is led by a board of directors. The board consists of: the federal chairman (Superintendent Gabriel Straka, Berlin), the deputy federal chairman (Pastor Manfred Frank, Templin) and the federal treasurer (Pastor Ruthardt Prager, Frankfurt am Main). Thomas Kraft (Bad Wildungen) was appointed as federal managing director. Christoph Zschunke (Leipzig) has held the office of federal cantor since September 2017.

job

The focus of CS work is on workshops and seminars on various areas of Christian choir and music work. Singing days organized by the Christian Singers Association in cooperation with the singing circles and regional associations bring choirs together and, among other things, serve to study new choral literature together. In this context, the federally owned publishing house Singende Gemeinde (VSG) must be mentioned. It has existed for a good 50 years and publishes sheet music, specialist literature and recordings.

Another focus of work is the singing free time, which is offered by the singer association for different age and interest groups. You want to combine musical work and relaxation.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Anniversary publication of the Christian Singers Association of Switzerland ( Memento from September 28, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ a b Gerhard Paul Michael: Article Christian Singers Association , in: Evangelisches Gemeindelexikon (Ed. Ernst Heinrich Gebhardt et al.), Wuppertal 1986, p. 451, Sp II
  3. ↑ Gerhard Paul Michael: Article Christian Singer Association , in: Evangelisches Gemeindelexikon (Ed. Ernst Heinrich Gebhardt et al.), Wuppertal 1986, p. 452, Sp I
  4. ↑ Website of the Christian Singers Association (accessed June 28, 2008)

Selected literature

  • Gerhard Paul Michael: Article Christian Singers Association, in: Evangelisches Gemeindelexikon (Ed. Erich Geldbach et al.), Wuppertal 1986, p. 451, Sp II - p. 452, Sp II
  • J. Giffey: 50 years of the Christian Singers Association. 1879–1929 , no location given in 1929
  • Christian Association of Singers in Switzerland: 100 Years of CSS , 1981
  • Uwe Swarat (Ed.): The praise of God brings heaven to earth. Festschrift for Günter Balders on his 65th birthday , Wuppertal 2003
  • Klaus Hagner: Concordance for mixed choirs , CD-Rom, Wuppertal oJ

Web links