Carolers

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Carolers at the Christmas market in front of the Dresden Frauenkirche

A Kurrende ( Latin : currere = 'to run', i.e. 'running choir') was originally a choir of needy students at Protestant schools, who went from house to house or at festivals (for example, under the direction of an older student (the prefect)) Weddings, funerals) and the like for money. The bond with the Protestant Church took place during the Reformation.

history

Eisenacher serial certificate with the inscription "Fall back and forth, just don't despair and get up again - Martin Luther sings as a student of Ms. Cotta's curriculum "

Martin Luther is portrayed as a model of a caroled singer, referring to his school days in Magdeburg and Eisenach, where he cultivated singing in order to “earn his bread by singing at the doors” and later, as a reformer, coined the “friendly word of warning” : “Do not be discouraged, you good fellows, since you are now going to the Kurrende; Some of you are lucky, you don't think about it now, just be pious and hardworking. ”In the endeavors to revive the carolers in a contemporary form, the actors were not unsuccessful as they were more concerned with the idea of ​​education and the care for cultural values ​​and Christian values Annunciation went out. They founded children's and youth choirs, which performed especially in the Advent and Christmas season both in churches and in unusual places with good music. From the 16th to the end of the 19th century, the idea of ​​charity for the benefit of the carolers was in the foreground.

In the 1930s, the Kurrende was described as a “church boys' choir” and it was noted that in the “late Middle Ages” it was a “choir made up of needy students” that “sang in front of the houses for donations.” This form of one on the streets for gifts singing choir was gradually lost in the 19th century, but attempts were made to revive it in various places, for example in Berlin: On Reformation Day, the carolers of the Berlin city mission were out on the streets and squares of the capital year after year, including in front of the former Luther memorial at St. Mary's Church in the center of Berlin, and sang evangelical chorals in front of a "huge audience", as it says in a report from the 1920s. The Berlin city mission gained the insight: The success of the “blessed service of the carolers”, known since Luther's day, depends on a choir director, “who has musical talent and pedagogical skills to practice three-part chorales and folk songs with the carolers can be sung by heart without text and notes. ”On Reformation Day in 1906, the carolers of the Berlin City Mission visited Lutherstadt with 100 young and 40 adult singers and 20 members of the trombone choir in a special train with other Berliners to attend the festive service in the Help to shape the castle church. The celebratory sermon was held by the Berlin pastor and city mission inspector Max Braun (* 1859, † 1925), who led the choir together with a cantor from the Berlin city mission. The Wittenbergers learned that one of the tasks of the carolers in the capital was singing in the courtyards of Berlin's residential districts and, if requested, also on special occasions such as birthdays, weddings and funerals.

The city ​​mission in Nuremberg also had a caror. This city mission competitor sang spiritual songs on the streets every week with the support of a trombone choir and served all branches of the Inner Mission and city welfare institutions with their music .

The Kurrendaner or Kurrendschüler often wore small black wheel coats and flat top hats . Luther as a student of the Kurrend school formed the motif for paintings by several history painters such as by Ferdinand Pauwels Luther sings as a student of the currend of Ms. Cotta in Eisenach in 1499 and von Weiß Luther as a student of the currend singing to Ms. Cotta . Kurrenden in Thuringia and Saxony as well as carolers of the State and Cathedral Choir of Berlin under the sponsorship of the University of the Arts to this day.

Today's forms

  • The main task of the carolers, who today consist of boys and girls aged 6 to 14, is to organize the liturgy of worship and the chants with the congregation. Many communities also have a preparatory course who prepares four to six year olds for the tasks in the course in a playful way.
  • Another task of carolers was the so-called quempas , a sequence of Christmas chants in church services.
  • The term has also survived over the centuries; today you can find carolers in Protestant churches in particular . The explanation can be found in dictionaries for carolers : Protestant children's choir and voluntary youth choir of the Protestant church .
  • In the Ore Mountains in particular , the carolers are part of the normal course of services . As part of the extensive Christmas customs , the carolers usually pull through the town with carolers or Metten lanterns (see also the carolers in Catholic parishes) and perform Christmas carols. In various Saxon cities, this is limited to the presentation of Christmas songs to pensioners who have difficulty or cannot participate in the church activities at Christmas .
  • The choir of the student community Halle (Saale) under the direction of Reinhard Ohse described itself in the 1950s and even later as the "Kurrende" of the ESG .
  • A carolor doesn't have to be limited to just choristers, however. Many trumpet choirs still roam their places today and play to the joy of the residents , especially on the Christian high feasts of Easter and Christmas.
  • The traditional costume group of the small Black Forest town of Kirnbach - with the famous Bollenhut - describes itself as "Kirnbacher Kurrende".

Erzgebirge folk art

Representation of a caror in front of the Seiffen church as part of the Erzgebirge folk art

The portrayal of carolers with carved or turned figures, as traditionally made by wood carvers in the Ore Mountains , especially in Seiffen , has become known.

literature

  • Max Braun : The Berlin Kurrendeknaben (= pictures from the city mission, issue 11). Berlin 1911.
  • Max Braun, Hans Hoppe, Friedrich Succo: Create carolers! A handout on folk music missionary service ; Vaterländische Verlags- und Kunstanstalt , Berlin 1917; Set up carolers! - Image material for Creates carolers! as well as some short excerpts from this book. Printed by: Vaterländische Verlags- und Kunstanstalt, Berlin 1917.

Web links

Commons : Carolers  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quotation: “Running choir, poor singing students (Kurrendaner) going from house to house, who sing spiritual songs for alms”, in: Joh. Christ. Aug. Heyses Foreign Dictionary , Hannover a. Leipzig, 1903, keyword “Kurrende”, p. 480.
  2. ↑ Das Neue Taschenlexikon , 8th volume, Gütersloh, 1992, keyword “Kurrende”, ISBN 3-570-04208-1 , p. 372.
  3. ^ Ernst Evers : The Berlin city mission. Verlag der Buchhandlung der Berliner Stadtmission, Berlin 1902, Chapter X: Die Kurende (123-131), p. 123.
  4. ^ Richard Gölz :  Kurrende . In: Religion Past and Present (RGG). 2nd Edition. Volume 3, Mohr-Siebeck, Tübingen, Sp. 1439.
  5. ↑ Das Kluge Alphabet , Konversationslexikon in ten volumes, 6th volume, Berlin (1935), keyword “Kurrende”, p. 101
  6. ↑ Der Sprach-Brockhaus , Leipzig, 1938, keyword “Kurrende”, p. 350 ff.
  7. ^ Meyers Lexikon , 7th volume, Leipzig, 1939, keyword "Kurrende", column 86
  8. ^ "Anniversary publication of the Berlin city mission ". 1877 - 1927. 50 years of work in the service of faith and love. (Fig.); Vaterländische Verlags- und Kunstanstalt, Berlin, 1927, p. 59
  9. ^ Friedrich Schlegelmilch: Pictures from the city mission , 1st volume; Vaterländische Verlags- und Kunstanstalt, Berlin (no year) p. 14 f.
  10. ^ Ernst Evers : The Berlin city mission. Verlag der Buchhandlung der Berliner Stadtmission, Berlin 1902, Chapter X: Die Kurende (122-131), p. 130.
  11. ↑ Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of January 3, 2008, Wittenberg edition “City mission during the Reformation Day. Connection with Berlin has tradition ”with a picture of the Luther Hotel of the Hospize-Betriebgesellschaft mbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Berlin City Mission.
  12. ^ Description on the back of a picture postcard from the then Verlag für Innere Mission Nürnberg; Clichés and printing Ernst Nister (* 1842), based in Nuremberg since 1877
  13. ^ Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon , 11th vol., Leipzig a. Vienna, 1909, keyword “Kurrende”, p. 55
  14. ↑ Kurrende UdK: Kurrende I (7–9 years), Kurrende II (8–10) years. Status: December 2016
  15. ^ New German Dictionary , Lingen Verlag, Cologne, 1984/1985, p. 311
  16. ↑ Large Foreign Dictionary , Leipzig, 1977, p. 426
  17. ↑ Illustration in: Andreas Thulin: By arrest ... stop the trade. The Evangelical Student Community Halle (Saale) 1953… ESG, Halle ad S. 2004, ISBN 3-00-013470-0 , p. 124, explanation of images p. 122.
  18. ↑ Kirnbacher Kurrende on bollenhut.de