Lesbian and gay choirs
Lesbian and gay choirs are choirs whose members have come together through their homosexual orientation. Since the late 1970s, a large number of lesbian and gay choirs have formed internationally and in Germany and have developed their own genre of choral music over the years.
A wide range of organizations has emerged in terms of size, composition and musical direction of the groups. There are quartets or double quartets, up to choirs with 40 to 50 members. There are purely lesbian, gay or mixed (gay / lesbian or homosexual / heterosexual) groups. In general, the members are gay. Heterosexual members are by no means excluded, but are rarely found. The musical direction of the groups is also often held by a lesbian woman or a gay man.
history
In 1971 the composer Roberta Kossa founded the choir Women Like Me in New York , which mainly performed works by Kossa and existed until 1980. In 1975 Catherine Roma (born 1948) formed the feminist- oriented Anna Crusis Women's Choir with several lesbian activists in Philadelphia . In Los Angeles , Sue Fink founded the Los Angeles Community Women's Chorus in early 1976 . The first openly gay choir was the Gotham Male Chorus , which formed in 1977 in New York. The choir has been accepting women since 1979 and has been called Stonewall Chorale ever since . It was also the first mixed gay and lesbian choir in the USA.
Historically, the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus ( SFGMC ) had a particular influence. He met on October 30, 1978 for his first rehearsal. The first concert took place on November 27 of this year, as part of a memorial service for the politician Harvey Milk , who was murdered that day. In 1981 the SFGMC toured large parts of the United States, and new gay choirs formed in many cities as a result of the trip. In 2019 the documentary Gay Chorus Deep South was released on the history of the SFGMC . The Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses ( Gala Choruses ), also established in the USA in 1982, is an international umbrella organization .
The first groups were founded in Europe in the 1980s. As early as 1980, the Hamburg Tuntenchor was formed in Hamburg under the direction of Corny Littmann and the then church organist Gunter Schmidt . LEGATO , the umbrella organization for lesbian and gay choirs and singing ensembles in Europe was founded in 1997.
One of the early gay choirs in Europe was Noot aan de Man from Amsterdam , which was founded in 1982. The choir no longer exists. In the same year the Triviatas choir was founded in Cologne . Many other lesbian and gay choirs followed.
The choirs are important integration sites within the lesbian-gay community. They offer a space in which the members can pursue their musical interests as well as are protected from resentments and prejudices against homosexuals and can move freely and undisguised. This played an important role, especially at the beginning of the homosexual choir movement, with increasing social emancipation, the musical aspect increasingly came to the fore.
Differences to predominantly heterosexual choirs
Lesbian and gay choirs differ from traditional forms of choral singing partly in terms of their repertoire, but especially in terms of the way they are presented . Songs are often put together into thematic programs or musicals and presented on stage with more or less elaborate choreographies. There is a close relationship here with the musical revue of the 1920s and 1930s. Costumes are often made in-house at great expense; Song lectures can alternate with conferences or short theater scenes.
Genres of music
The vast majority of the groups sing a cappella or with piano accompaniment. Rhythm instruments are also popular. In addition, accompaniment by a band or orchestra is rarely given. With regard to the musical styles, the entire spectrum of contemporary and, in the broadest sense, classical music is covered.
Choral works from the Renaissance and Baroque are included, as well as works by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Robert Schumann . The repertoire includes German hits from the 1920s / 1930s and the second half of the twentieth century. Current rock and pop songs are also often covered .
Songs are often rewritten to incorporate political, humorous or erotic allusions and statements.
Choir festivals
There are several national, European and international gay and lesbian choir festivals. There are two festivals in Germany, the southern German gay-lesbian-queer choir festival for southern Germany and Nordakkord for the northern half of Germany. The European festival is called Various Voices , started in 1985 under the name "Homo cantat" and is organized by the legato choirs.
The festivals are organized by different choirs from the gay and lesbian choir scene. They usually take place every two years and sometimes under different names. The festival program typically includes welcome events, street singing together, a wide variety of workshops (e.g. voice training, stage presence or city tours) as well as several public concerts by the participating choirs.
South German gay-lesbian-queer choir festival
| Surname | venue | Host year |
|---|---|---|
| ChoriRosa | Freiburg in Breisgau | 1996 |
| Screech | Karlsruhe | 1998 |
| South Lush | Stuttgart | 2000 |
| Shrine line | Frankfurt am Main | 2002 |
| Screech | Karlsruhe | 2004 |
| Monaccord | Munich | 2006 |
| South Lush | Stuttgart | 2008 |
| Shrine line | Frankfurt | 2010 |
| SaarQueerele | Saarbrücken | 2012 |
| Sirena | Nuremberg | 2013 |
| Queer Beats | Mainz | 2015 |
| Screech | Karlsruhe | 2019 |
North chord
| venue | Host year |
|---|---|
| Muenster | 2011 |
| Hamburg | 2013 |
| Leipzig | 2015 |
| Cologne | 2017 |
| Berlin | 2019 |
Various Voices
| Host year | venue | annotation |
|---|---|---|
| 25.05. - May 26th, 1985 | Cologne (Germany) | 4 choirs from 4 countries |
| 1986 | Amsterdam (Netherlands) | 4 choirs from 4 countries |
| 1987 | Stockholm (Sweden) | 4 choirs from 4 countries |
| 05/21 - May 22, 1988 | Berlin (Germany) | 14 choirs from 5 countries, for the first time also with lesbian choirs |
| 05/11 - May 14, 1989 | London (UK) | 14 choirs from 5 countries |
| May 15 - May 18, 1991 | Hamburg (Germany) | 14 choirs from 5 countries |
| 05/20 - May 23, 1993 | Zurich (Switzerland) | 14 choirs from 5 countries |
| 25.05. - May 27, 1995 | Groningen (Netherlands) | 36 choirs from 8 countries with 800 singers, for the first time under the name Various Voices |
| 16.05. - May 18, 1997 | Munich, Germany) | 54 choirs from 9 countries with 1300 singers |
| 05/20 - 05/26/2001 | Berlin, Germany) | 70 choirs from 10 countries with 1500 singers |
| 03.05. - 05/08/2005 | Paris (France) | 56 choirs from 10 countries with 1350 singers |
| 01.05. - 05/04/2009 | London (UK) | 59 choirs from 14 countries with 1700 singers |
| 13.06. - June 16, 2014 | Dublin (Ireland) | 76 choirs from 16 countries with 2500 singers |
| 09.05. - 13.05.2018 | Munich, Germany) | 100 choirs from 19 countries with 2700 singers |
| 15.06. - June 19, 2022 | Bologna (Italy) |
See also
literature
- Catherine Roma: Women's Choruses. In: George Haggerty, Bonnie Zimmerman (Eds.): Encyclopedia of lesbian and gay histories and cultures. Volume 1, Taylor & Francis, 2000, pp. 166-167.
Web links
- Legato e. V. - Lesbians and Gays Singing Together, umbrella organization of lesbian and gay choirs in Europe
- Homepage of GALA Choruses Inc. , an international organization of lesbian and gay choirs with a focus on the USA
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Paul Attinello: Choruses and bands. 2002, Version: July 15, 2004, In: Claude J. Summers (Ed.): Glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture.
- ↑ Catherine Roma interviewed by Joyce Follet ( Memento of the original from August 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , June 19 and 20, 2005, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts (108 pages pdf, English; 466 kB)
- ↑ Homepage Stonewall Chorale
- ^ Vita of the choir
- ↑ Dear shrill geese . In: Der Spiegel . No. 29 , 1981, pp. 150-152 ( online - 13 July 1981 ).
- ↑ statutes of the association LEGATO
- ^ Minutes of the Legato general meeting of January 10, 2004 in Bern, year of dissolution unknown, approx. 2003.
- ↑ The Federal Republic 1970–1990 ( Memento of the original from June 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Chronicle of the history of (male) homosexuality in Cologne , CSG eV Cologne
- ↑ Nordakkord website
- ↑ Various Voices
- ↑ Various Voices on LEGATO website
- ↑ Legato website
- ↑ rosanote.de
- ↑ schrillmaenner.de ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Tunten from Amsterdam. In: Stuttgarter Zeitung. June 5, 2000.
- ↑ LSVD press review ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Baden Latest News, June 14, 2004, gay and lesbian choir meeting in Karlsruhe Tollhaus ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Monaccord website ( Memento of the original from February 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Südluscht website
- ↑ LSVD website ( Memento from June 8, 2015 in the web archive archive.today )
- ↑ inqueery.de
- ↑ SaarQueerele website
- ^ Sirena website
- ↑ 10th South German lesbian-gay choir festival
- ↑ Queertakte website
- ↑ Allgemeine Zeitung
- ↑ Kreisch festival site. June 23, 2019, accessed June 23, 2019 .
- ↑ Film documentation ( Memento of the original from April 9, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Dublin 2014 (password: gloria2015)
