Franz Nekes

Franz Nekes

Franz Nekes (born February 13, 1844 in Essen , † May 6, 1914 in Aachen ) was a Roman Catholic priest , composer and conductor . He is considered a reformer of church music .

Life

Franz Nekes was the fourth of nine children of the master potter Leonhard Franz Nekes and his wife Wilhelmina, born. Kip, born in Huttrop near Essen . On February 16, 1844 he was baptized in Essen Minster . He grew up in his birthplace and attended elementary school there. From 1858 he was a student at the Royal High School on Burgplatz in Essen , where he passed his Abitur on August 16, 1864.

It is reported that Nekes was active musically from an early age. The master potter's son found out when striking the finished pots that all pots sounded different. So he put many such clay pots together to a scale and made music with a stick that was wrapped with wool at one end. In this way, the little boy formed melodies and chords , played one to two-part tone sequences . Even when his father bought him a cheap piano, the boy continued to play with joy on his pots: for him it was the mild, warm natural tones . Nekes grew up without any actual music lessons, even during his high school days in Essen.

From 1864 to 1865 Nekes studied Catholic theology at the University of Münster ; then he continued this course at the University of Bonn until 1867 . From 1867 to 1868 he was an alumnus of the seminary in Cologne . On August 24, 1868 , he received the sacrament of ordination through his diocesan bishop, the archbishop and later Cardinal Paulus Melchers, in Cologne Cathedral .

On September 7, 1868, he took up his first pastor as vicar at Cologne Cathedral. In 1870 he became a religion teacher at the Catholic community school in Mönchengladbach . On May 10, 1871, he came as vicar to the St. Christophorus Church in Gerderath near Erkelenz , which at that time, like all parishes in the Erkelenz deanery, belonged to the Archdiocese of Cologne (from 1930 to the re-established Diocese of Aachen ). As early as June 1871, Vicar Nekes founded the first church choir in Gerderath, which he himself directed and trained. He also founded a boys' choir there , which he conscientiously trained vocally and musically. He also gave individual children separate music lessons. After the death of the Gerderath pastor Karl Josef Pauen, Nekes was appointed parish administrator to St. Christophorus on October 1st, 1875 .

On October 9, 1887, Nekes was appointed inspector and lecturer for harmony and counterpoint at the Gregoriushaus church music school in Aachen, founded in 1881 by the collegiate bandmaster Heinrich Böckeler , the first West German organist school with boarding school . On January 21, 1891 Nekes was appointed vicar of the monastery and at the same time succeeded Heinrich Böckeler as the monastery bandmaster at the Aachen Cathedral . He was responsible for the direction of the Cappella Carolina , the Aachen Cathedral and Cathedral Choir . In 1900 he was appointed Vice President of the Cologne Diocesan Cäcilienverein . On June 30, 1911 he was appointed and on September 9, 1911 he was appointed canon at the Liebfrauenmünster in Aachen. His successor as collegiate vicar in 1912 was pastor Johannes Mölders , who also acted as his deputy from January 1, 1913.

After Nekes had celebrated his 70th birthday on February 13, 1914, he suffered a stroke in April 1914 , of which he died on May 6, 1914.

Services

Franz Nekes made significant contributions in the field of composition. His tone poem was based heavily on the formal language of Giovanni Pietro Aloisio Sante da Palestrina . His pieces are still part of the repertoire of many church choirs today. As an employee of the founder of the Gregorian chant Heinrich Böckeler, Franz Nekes had a special share in the training of organists, some of whom were sent to Ireland and America, and in his efforts to restore Gregorian chant to its liturgical rights . As a result of the strong intensification of choir work and the Cecilian movement in the Catholic Church since 1880, his compositional work had a beneficial effect on the development of church music.

Appreciations and honors

Among his contemporaries, Nekes was considered pious, helpful, humble and never striving for outward honors in his priestly work and artistic work. Nevertheless, he was in January 1905 by Pope Pius X in recognition of his services to the Pontifical honor eunuchs ' with the title Monsignor appointed. On the day of Aachen's Karlsfest in 1914, January 28, he was awarded the title of Royal Professor of Music - shortly before he was 70 years old and only a few weeks before his sudden death .

At the Requiem on May 9, 1914 in the high choir of the Aachen Minster, he was characterized by the provost at the time, Dr. Kaufmann as a man for whom " singing and praying were one ". At his burial in Aachen's Ostfriedhof on Adalbertsteinweg, the church composer's coffin was led by the music band of the 25th regiment, the flags of all Aachen church choirs, the teachers and students of the Gregoriushaus, the parish and collegiate clergy and numerous citizens. Thousands of people stood on the way of the funeral procession.

Works

During his time in Gerderath with Erkelenz, Nekes created his motet "O Deus, ego amo te" . The first mass that he composed and performed in Gerderath was the "Missa in honorem sancti Christophori" opus 6 for soprano, alto, tenor and bass , which he created in honor of the parish patron there. In his first creative period Nekes set almost only texts to the adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar and to the veneration of the Blessed Mother. As collegiate conductor at the Liebfrauenmünster in Aachen, he wrote his most important work in 1896, the mass "O crux ave" , which quickly and widely spread within a few weeks. For 23 years, Nekes was closely related to the Aachen Cathedral and its cathedral choir, for which some of his compositions are even specially tailored.

Opus

• Missa festiva
• Missa in honorem Sanctae Agnetis
• Missa in honorem Sancti Adalberti
• Mass in honorem Sancti Christophori
• Missa in honorem Sancti Foillani
• Missa Jubilaei Immaculatae Conceptionis BMV
• Missa "O Crux ave"
• Alma Redemptoris Mater
• Ave Regina coelorum
• Laudate Dominum
• Crux ave
• Regina Coeli
• Salve Regina
• Veritas mea
• O mother with the heavenly child
• Alleluia. Posuisti Domine
• Ascendit Deus
• Coeli enarrant
• Magnificat octavi toni
• Salutis humanae
• Alleluja (for three choirs)
• Mass in honorem Stae. Caeciliae
• Missa solemnis
• Deus, ego amo te
• Let us rejoice heartily
• Nisi Dominus
• Pascha nostrum
• Salve Regina
• Sanctus (for twelve-part choir)
• Sing, you Christians, sing jubilant songs (hymn for the 50th jubilee of the priestly holiness of Pope Leo XIII, composed by Theophil Ernst)
• The Church of Christ - Feast built on the rock
• Ecce Deus
• Jubilemus Deo - 35 original compositions for male choir by composers of the Archdiocese of Cologne
• Virgin, Mother of God my, unison melody (choral setting by Theodor Bernhard Rehmann)
• Missa in honorem sti. Adalberti (Et incarnatus est and Agnus Dei III)
• Quem vidistis
• requiem
• Requiem aeternam / Pie Jesu
• Veritas mea
• Antonius-Lied (If you are looking for miraculous signs)

• Opus 1 Mass
• Opus 2 Te Deum
• Opus 3 Te Deum
• Opus 4 Regina Coeli
• Opus 5 Ascendit Deus
• Opus 6 Missa in honorem sti. Christophori
• Opus 7 Missa "Magnificat anima mea Dominum" (without creed)
• Opus 8 Thirteen Church Chants (7 motets for church festivals and festive times, Adoramus te, 2 Ave Maria, Bone Jesu, Stabat Mater)
• Opus 9 Six liturgical chants (1. O bone Jesu , 2. Panis angelicus , 3. Vere languores, 4. Tantum ergo , 5. Ave Maria , 6. Ave Regina coelorum )

Commemoration

The city of Erkelenz dedicated the "Franz-Nekes-Straße" to the memory of the priest and church musician.

In Aachen, "Nekesstrasse" is named after the collegiate bandmaster and lecturer at the church music school.

Literature and Sources

• Hans Hilberath: Franz Nekes in: Heimatkalender der Erkelenzer Lande , 1964
• Michael Tunger: Stiftskapellmeister Franz Nekes (1844-1914), "The Aachen Master of Sacred Music" - Life and Work - , Aachen 2007
• Udo Wagner: Franz Nekes and Cäcilianism in the Rhineland , Verlag Arno Volk, Cologne 1969 (Issue 81)
• Udo Wagner: Franz Nekes and his work in the Erkelenzer area , in: Gottfried Göller (Ed.), Contributions to the music history of the city and the district of Erkelenz II , Cologne 1973, (Issue 95)
• On the 25th anniversary of Franz Nekes' death in the “Catholic Church Newspaper for the Diocese of Aachen”, May 7, 1939, pp. 9-10.

Web links

• Biography of the cathedral music director Franz Nekes on the website of the Aachen cathedral choir
• Sheet music and audio files by Franz Nekes in the International Music Score Library Project

Remarks

1. ↑ According to the pages of the Aachen Cathedral Choir "Capella Carolina"