Dortmund Bach Choir
The Dortmunder Bachchor (Dortmunder Bachchor an St. Reinoldi eV) is the choir of the Protestant Church of St. Reinoldi in Dortmund .
Dortmund Bach Choir | |
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Founding: | 1892 |
Genus: | mixed choir |
Head : | Christian Drengk |
Voices : | approx. 100 (SSAATTBB) in the concert choir |
Website : | http://www.dortmunder-bachchor.de/ |
Choirs and performances
In the city church of St. Reinoldi, great oratorios are usually performed three times a year by the Dortmund Bach Choir. The various choirs of the Bach Choir also regularly helped organize the services in the city church . On church holidays and on special occasions, the Bach choir and the Bach ensemble at St. Reinoldi also play Bach cantatas in church services. In the annual summer concert, all of the Dortmund Bach Choir's choirs can be heard with an a cappella program.
The Dortmund Bach Choir comprises four different choirs: the Dortmund Bach Choir (the concert choir), the children's choir of the Dortmund Bach Choir, the youth choir of the Dortmund Bach Choir and the senior choir of the Dortmund Bach Choir.
The Bach Choir cooperates in its oratorical works with various philharmonics, ensembles and solo singers. Recently, music has been performed with the South Westphalia Philharmonic , the New Westphalia Philharmonic , the Rhine-Ruhr Philharmonic and the Consortium Musica Sacra Cöln . Since the beginning of the Klangvokal music festival in Dortmund, there have also been projects that the Bach Choir initiated together with Klangvokal.
In addition, there are always individual projects that underline the demands on the cultural diversity of the Bach Choir. In 2018, for example, the Bach Choir performed together with the Dortmund Philharmonic as part of a memoriam concert for Peter Wiegmann (Honorary Chairman of the Mozart Society Dortmund) in the Dortmund Konzerthaus or in 2017 performed the Matthäus Passion together with the NRW Junior Ballet under the direction of Xing Peng Wang with a special developed choreography in St. Reinoldi for the performance.
History and choir director
Today's Dortmund Bach Choir was founded in 1892 at St. Reinoldi . He initially took on liturgical tasks in the context of church services. The choir directors changed frequently in the beginning.
Carl Holtschneider (choir director 1909–1925)
Carl Holtschneider led the choir from 1909 to 1925. During this phase the musical performance practice in St. Reinoldi was significantly improved. As part of the new organ building, the organ loft was expanded so that the choir and orchestra had sufficient space for concerts. In this way "church music" could take place in which the Reinoldi church choir, instrumental and vocal soloists work together. In the years 1911–1914, the St. Matthew Passion by JSBach was regularly performed on Good Friday. After the end of the First World War , a fundamental decision was made about the design of church music at St. Reinoldi. In 1920, the Bachverein Dortmund e. V.
Gerard Bunk (choir director 1925–1958)
Gerard Bunk headed the Bach Society from 1925 to 1958. During this time, the choral music at St. Reinoldi developed in the form it still has today: three large oratorio concerts per year, as well as motet concerts and regular church services. During the Third Reich , the Bachverein was to be obliged to join the mixed choirs of Germany by order of the Reich Chamber of Music . Thereupon a name change was decided, since the affiliation to St. Reinoldi was not evident from the previous name. This is why the choir was called the Bachverein der Reinoldikirche e. V. From 1945 the choir had to move to other churches for performances because all Protestant churches in the center of Dortmund were destroyed in the war. From 1954, the first church music and rehearsals were possible again in the partially renovated Reinoldikirche. In 1956 the St. Reinoldikirche was rededicated. There was no longer an organ gallery available and the choir had to change its performance practice. Since then, the concert has been set up on and in front of the steps to the choir room.
Eduard Büchsel (choir director 1960–1980)
Eduard Büchsel led the choir from 1960 to 1980 . Under his direction, more and more great oratorical works were rehearsed and moth singing took a back seat. Radio and television recordings and a record of the St. Matthew Passion were also made. The Bach Choir made its first choir trips to England and the Netherlands. In 1972 there was another and last name change to the Dortmund Bach Choir at St. Reinoldi e. V.
Gerolf Jacobi (choir director 1980–2005)
Gerolf Jacobi took over the direction of the choir from 1980 to 2005. The great oratorios by Mendelsohn were rehearsed and the performance of contemporary works by Martin, Poulenc, Britten and Berstein were thanks to his initiative. Due to the great demand from the audience, the second performance of the Christmas Oratorio was established under his aegis, and this performance practice continues to this day.
Klaus Eldert Müller (choir director 2005-2018)
Under the direction of Klaus Eldert Müller, the choir performed great oratorios from all epochs. Gerard Bunk's only oratorio - composed for the Bach choir - was rehearsed by Klaus Eldert Müller and performed for the first time in the Reinoldikirche. On the initiative of Klaus Eldert Müller, lifelong singing in the Bach choir became possible - from children's to senior choirs. Klaus Eldert Müller founded the senior choir at St. Reinoldi in autumn 2005, and in 2010 he expanded his musical work to include a children's and youth choir. Since March 2018 Klaus Eldert Müller has been cantor and organist at Lübeck Cathedral and thus musical director of the cathedral choir and the Lübeck Singing and Playing Group .
Ansgar Kreutz (choir director - on an interim basis in 2018)
During the vacancy of the cantor at St. Reinoldi and until the vacancy was finally filled, the church musician Ansgar Kreutz took over the direction of the Dortmund Bach Choirs.
Christian Drengk (choir director since 2019)
Christian Drengk was born in Weimar, studied church music, orchestral conducting and piano in Freiburg and completed his soloist diploma in organ concert with distinction. From 2009 to 2015 he was cantor at the Church of the Resurrection in Freiburg and in 2015 was appointed as a church musician in the Freiburg Ludwigsgemeinde. As a conductor he led the university choir of the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg and the "bachensemble freiburg" for several years . Christian Drengk has been in office as the new Reinoldikantor since 2019 and has thus also taken over the choir direction of the Dortmund Bach Choir at St. Reinoldi.
Web links
- Website of the Dortmund Bach Choir
- Website of the St. Reinoldi Church (Dortmund)
- Website of the current choir director Christian Drengk
- Website of the music festival Klangvokal in Dortmund
Individual evidence
- ↑ Julia Gaß: Peter Wiegmann has completed his score. In: Mozart Society Dortmund. Retrieved April 16, 2019 .
- ↑ Thomas Molke: Danced Passion. Online Musik Magazin, April 2, 2017, accessed April 16, 2019 .