Singing in Magdeburg Cathedral
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Singing in Magdeburg Cathedral |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1988 |
| length | 20 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Peter Rocha |
| script | Peter Rocha Irmgard Ritterbusch |
| production | DEFA studio for documentaries |
| music | Rudolf Mauersberger |
| camera |
Karl Farber Helmut Rinn |
| cut |
Lieselotte Schönfeldt Ilse Gebhardt |
The Singing in Magdeburg Cathedral is a documentary film by the DEFA Studio for Documentaries by Peter Rocha from 1988 .
action
A train crosses the Elbe in Magdeburg until the cathedral can be seen, which has been repeatedly destroyed over the past centuries. But the singing has never stopped here and that's what this film is about, because one of the oldest German church choirs is at home in the cathedral . As early as 1190, Walther von der Vogelweide was listening to the choir singers at Christmas . Since 1980, the cathedral choir works with the chief cantor of the Jewish community of Berlin-West , Estrongo Nachama , a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp . Together they sing Christian and Jewish music under the direction of church music director Günther Hoff . Without Estrongo Nachama, the choir meets four times a week and sings are not only used during the church services. Recordings from rehearsals and concerts make up a large part of this film.
Details of the past are given for pictures of the liberation of Magdeburg on April 11, 1945 by the American soldiers and photos of the flooded meadows on the Elbe. The commentary about the time of National Socialism says: “Of the 2,400 members of Magdeburg's Jewish community, 1,521 were murdered, including 187 children”. The destruction of the city by air raids on January 16, 1945 is also discussed. Even in the Thirty Years' War , the city was completely destroyed despite strong fortifications, at that time 20,000 people are said to have died. At the beginning of the film, the choir sings the funeral motets How is the city so desolate by the Dresden Kreuzkantor Rudolf Mauersberger .
Production and publication
Irmgard Ritterbusch was responsible for the dramaturgy.
The singing in the Cathedral of Magdeburg was organized by the artistic work Community contact with the working title Magdeburg Cathedral Choir on ORWO -Color with several black and white film - sequences shot from archive footage and had its festive premiere on 13 October 1988 as a supporting film for the premiere of the DEFA feature film actress in Berliner Kino International . The first broadcast on television took place on March 19, 1989 in the 2nd program of the television of the GDR .
criticism
The New Germany wrote:
“The film 'Singing in Magdeburg Cathedral' is carried by a solemn, hymn-like gesture. GDR director Peter Rocha tells about the history and making music of one of the oldest German church choirs with Estrongo Nachama, the chief cantor of the Jewish community in Berlin (West), in Magdeburg Cathedral. Parable landscapes and documents from the reconstruction of the cathedral accompany and comment on the report. A film about trust in human strength, a commitment to peace. "
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Berliner Zeitung of October 4, 1988, p. 10
- ↑ Berliner Zeitung of March 18, 1989, p. 6
- ↑ Neues Deutschland, November 29, 1988, p. 6