Heinrich Böckeler

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Heinrich Böckeler (born July 11, 1836 in Cologne , † February 20, 1899 in Aachen ) was a Catholic priest and church musician as well as the founder and first director of the St. Gregorius House Church Music School , the forerunner of the Catholic University of Church Music St. Gregorius in Aachen.

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After graduating from high school, the son of a calico dyer first studied theology at the University of Bonn and then attended the seminary in Cologne. In 1860 he was ordained a priest and began studying music as a chaplain at the Cologne Conservatory, now the Cologne University of Music . In 1862 he was appointed vicar at Aachen Cathedral and a few years later he was promoted to collegiate music director. Here he was particularly committed to the implementation of the church music repertoire according to the Regensburg tradition co-founded by Joseph Schrems , the center of the restoration of authentic church music at the time, and thus to the reintroduction of Gregorian chant in its liturgical processes. For this purpose he entered the 1872 by the Trier Dommusikdirektor Michael Hermes Dorff founded behufs restoration of Cantus S. Gregorii Association for the study of ancient chant manuscripts one. In this context, Heinrich Böckeler in Aachen tried above all to reinterpret the extensive repertory from 1568 by the former collegiate conductor Johannes Mangon (1525–1578). He also carried out a fundamental reorganization of the “Choralenhaus” attached to Aachen Cathedral, a boys' singing school with boarding school, today's Aachen Cathedral Singing School .

Finally, in 1881 he founded the so-called Gregoriushaus, the first West German organist school with an attached boarding school. One of the most important lecturers of the Gregoriushaus in the founding years and responsible for harmony and counterpoint was the Catholic clergyman and church musician Franz Nekes from October 9, 1887 , who also succeeded Heinrich Böckeler as collegiate bandmaster in 1891. Böckeler's successor as director of the Gregoriushaus was taken in 1899 by the Cologne Cathedral Vicar and later Bishop of Trier Franz Rudolf Bornewasser .

In addition to his church music activity, Böckeler worked as a bell expert for the Archdiocese of Cologne. He also founded the Gregoriusblatt , a magazine for Catholic church music, and the Gregoriusbote in 1876 .

Heinrich Böckeler was made an honorary canon for his services to church music at Aachen Cathedral after his handover. His niece, the Benedictine Maura Böckeler of the St. Hildegard Abbey , was a well-known Hildegardis researcher . His great-nephew Hans Sabel also joined the family's church music tradition and became a respected church music composer , musicologist and music teacher .

Heinrich Böckeler found his final resting place in Aachen's Ostfriedhof .

Works (selection)

  • Gregoriusblatt magazine , founded in 1876.
  • Description of the new organ in the Kurhaussaale in Aachen. Aachen 1878.
  • About Johannes Mangon. In: Echo of the Present. No. 320 (1878).
  • The songs of St. Hildegard. In: Gregoriusblatt 5, Aachen 1880.
  • Contributions to bells. Verlag Albert Jacobi & Co., Aachen 1882.
  • Nature and properties of Catholic church music. Sänd, Walluf / Nendeln 1974.
  • The melody of the Aachen Christmas carol. In: Journal of the Aachen History Association No. 11 (1889). Pp. 176-184.
  • Brief history of the singing schools. Presentation to celebrate the inauguration of the Gregoriushaus in Aachen. Cooling, Mönchengladbach 1890.

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Böckeler, Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German Roman Catholic priest and church music director
DATE OF BIRTH July 11, 1836
PLACE OF BIRTH Cologne
DATE OF DEATH February 20, 1899
Place of death Aachen