Philharmonic Choir Bochum

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Philharmonic Choir Bochum
Seat: GermanyGermany Bochum
Carrier: Philharmonic Choir Bochum (Association)
Founding: January 4, 1860
Genus: mixed choir
Founder: Heinrich Kruger
Head : John Lidfors
Voices : 100 ( SATB )
Website : www.philharmonischer-chor-bochum.de

The Bochum Philharmonic Choir, known as the Bochum Municipal Music Association until June 8, 1970 , is a mixed Bochum choir made up of amateur singers with a history going back more than 150 years. The choir, which gives around four to five concerts a year, appears as the choir of the Bochum Symphony Orchestra and the city of Bochum. The conductor and choir director John Lidfors has been leading the choir since the 2017/2018 concert season .

history

Heinrich Kruger

The roots of the choir lie in the music association founded on January 4, 1860 under the direction of the Bochum singing teacher Heinrich Krüger . After some preparations, which took place on December 21, 1859, members from "better circles", as they were called in official reports, initially came together and formed a choral society for a mixed choir. However, the association only gave itself the name Musikverein in 1887. Up until this point in time, the association was simply called the choral society . The interest in the association was so great at the time that the choir was able to perform with a strength of 70 to 80 singers from the time it was founded.

Despite initially lacking financial support, the association organized choir and orchestral concerts. At the time, Bochum only had a small "municipal band" made up of professional musicians, whose members also changed frequently. The association also initially performed its concerts in the halls of inns, which did not exactly attract a well-paying audience. It was not until 1905 that the music association received regular grants for concerts, which ultimately made it possible to make the performances more professional. In the winter of 1908/1909, the Musikverein organized its first so-called people's concerts in order to give citizens with little financial means access to good music, as it was called at the time (entry fee 50 pfennigs). For the 50th anniversary of the Bochum Musikverein, the club then gave a two-day anniversary concert on April 23, 1910.

Under the music director Arno Schütze, the choir of the association temporarily reached a strength of 220 members, but did not get out of the deficit despite financial support from the then municipal authorities of Bochum. After the Bochum Municipal Orchestra , which was newly founded in April 1919 , took over the subscription series of the Musikverein and gave its first concert on May 20, 1919, the magistrate finally took over the financial risks of the association and on July 1, 1922 put what was now renamed the Bochum Municipal Music Association Musikverein under the artistic direction of the Bochum general music director Rudolf Schulz-Dornburg . The choir itself was allowed to keep its democratic self-administration. In 1926, the convinced National Socialist Leopold Reichwein took over the management of the Bochum orchestra and choir. After the National Socialists came to power in 1933, the choir of the municipal music association only had around 120 members on its 75th anniversary in 1935.

Immediately after the end of the Second World War , the conductor Hermann Meißner took over the musical direction of the choir, followed by Franz Paul Decker and from 1964 by Yvon Baarspul . However, the choir suffered under Baarspul and faced its greatest challenge. Baarspul criticized the old age of the choir and criticized its singing qualities. He also advised individual members to leave the choir, which, however, led to the board of the choir resigning from their offices. During the dispute with the conductor, the choir lost some of its members and was therefore close to being dissolved.

It was only after Othmar Mága took over the management of the symphony orchestra and the choir in 1970 that calm returned to the association. At the endeavor of Mága - the term “Musikverein” is undefined and “urban” and is not a nice word in the cultural field - the choir was finally renamed Philharmonic Choir Bochum on June 8, 1970, also with the aim of increasing the quality of the choir and get more young people interested in the choir.

Partnerships

Since 2006, the Bochum Philharmonic Choir has had a partnership with the Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus , with whom he a. a. together in June 2010 at the concert ! Sing - Day of Song in the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen .

Awards

  • May 14, 1961 - Zelter badge , awarded by the then Federal President as "Award for the services acquired over many years in the care of choral music and German folk song".

Conductor of the choir

literature

  • Musikverein Bochum (ed.): Festival and program book - Celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Musikverein Bochum . Bochum 1910 (source: Bochum City Library).
  • Dieter Bloch: Public Music Care . In: Bochum Aspects 69 . Laupenmühlen & Dierichs, Bochum 1969.
  • Dieter Bloch: From town musician to philharmonic orchestra - 550 years of music in Bochum . Laupenmühlen & Dierichs, Bochum 1973.

Web links

  • Homepage. Bochum Philharmonic Choir, accessed on March 6, 2014 .

Individual evidence

  1. Sing along! Web presence of the Bochum Philharmonic Choir, accessed on June 26, 2020
  2. a b choir and choir direction. Bochum Philharmonic Choir, accessed on March 27, 2019 .
  3. Jürgen Boebers-Süßmann: John Lidfors: A new face in the Bochum Music Forum . In: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung . Essen August 16, 2017 ( online [accessed August 16, 2017]).
  4. Festival and program book . Bochum 1910, p.  8th ff .
  5. a b c Helmut Croon: The city of Bochum - its way to the modern city and university city . In: Bochum (Hrsg.): 8. Heimatbuch . 1985 ( online [accessed March 7, 2014]).
  6. ^ Andreas Meyer: Look into history - Part 1: The early years in the industrial age. Philharmonic Choir Bochum, archived from the original on March 7, 2014 ; accessed on March 28, 2019 (original website no longer available).
  7. Festival and program book . Bochum 1910, p.  9 .
  8. Festival and program book . Bochum 1910, p.  17 .
  9. a b Bloch: Public Music Care . 1969, p. 118 .
  10. a b c Andreas Meyer: A look into history - Part 2: Development of the choir until today. Philharmonic Choir Bochum, archived from the original on March 7, 2014 ; accessed on March 28, 2019 (original website no longer available).
  11. Musikverein Bochum must not simply go under . In: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) - local section . Bochum June 8th 1968.
  12. ^ Municipal Music Association now Philharmonic Choir - resolution at the suggestion of GMD Maga . In: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) - local section . Bochum June 10, 1970.
  13. ^ Partnership with Philharmonic Choir, Bochum . Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus , archived from the original on March 7, 2014 ; accessed on March 28, 2019 (English, original website no longer available).
  14. ^ Zelter badge for the municipal music association . In: Westfälische Rundschau - local section . Bochum September 21, 1961.
  15. ^ Bochum City Archives: Signature Bochum BO 41 BS / 111
  16. Festival and program book - celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Bochum Music Association . 1910.