Rudolf Pohl

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Rudolf Pohl (born November 5, 1924 in Aachen ) is a German prelate and church musician as well as cathedral music director a. D. in Aachen.

Live and act

After graduating from high school at the Kaiser-Karls-Gymnasium in Aachen, his subsequent military service (training as an aircraft pilot together with the later professor of education in Hagen Friedrich Wilhelm Kröger ) and his release from American captivity in Cherbourg , France , Pohl studied theology and philosophy at the universities of Paderborn, Frankfurt am Main and Bonn as well as at the Aachen seminary . On July 2, 1951 he was ordained a priest and was then taken over as chaplain in Krefeld . He then studied musicology at the University of Bonn from 1954 to 1959 .

In 1954, Pohl accepted a call from the reigning cathedral music director Theodor Bernhard Rehmann to Aachen; he had already noticed him in earlier years when Pohl was Domsingknabe in Aachen between 1933 and 1942 . From him he was commissioned to rebuild the boys' choir and the Aachen Cathedral Singing School . It is to Pohl's merit that this traditional choir, whose history goes back to the Choralschola of Charlemagne , was able to gain significantly in importance again after the war years. It is also thanks to him that the affiliated cathedral singing school was officially re-established in 1960 under the sponsorship of the cathedral chapter, initially as a school trial with two entrance classes , and from 1969 to 1971 it was expanded into a single, independent primary school and then run as a private Catholic primary substitute school for boys.

Meanwhile doctorate Pohl in 1959 to Dr. phil. from the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Bonn, Rigorosum with Josef Ratzinger , professor of fundamental theology . The dissertation was a musicological thesis on the choral works of the collegiate conductor Johannes Mangon (1525–1578), who was also active in Aachen , with whom he has repeatedly dealt with in practice up to the present day, reissued, edited, commented and on Performed. This was followed by studies at the Pedagogical Academy in Aachen from 1960 to 1961 , which he completed with the first teacher examination. Likewise, in 1957, Pohl was part of the festival management of the 111th Lower Rhine Music Festival in Aachen, along with Theodor Bernhard Rehmann, Wolfgang Sawallisch , Wilhelm Pitz and others . After Rehmann's sudden death in 1963, the incumbent Aachen Bishop Johannes Pohlschneider transferred the overall direction of the Aachen cathedral choir to him and appointed him cathedral music director. In the period that followed, Pohl built up the cathedral choir for classical liturgical instrumentation, including the boys' upper voices from the connected cathedral singing school, which led to considerable national and international recognition. In addition to the usual assignments in the context of the liturgical events at Aachen Cathedral , numerous concert tours followed in the most important cities in Germany and the Benelux countries, Ireland, France, Italy, Poland, the former Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, Austria, England, Spain and Israel. Here Rudolf Pohl performed a demanding program with the great church music works, masses , oratorios and passions . In addition, numerous recordings, radio and television broadcasts of concerts and church services were among his highlights with the Aachen Cathedral Choir.

In 1985 Rudolf Pohl was appointed President of the Consociatio Internationalis Musicae as the successor to Prelate Johannes Overath at the 8th International Congress for Church Music in Rome in recognition of his services to the implementation of the relevant demands of the Second Vatican Council and the preservation of the Thesaurus Musicae Sacrae Sacrae (CIMS) elected, the only church music association established by the Apostolic See . He held this honorary position for many years. A year later, in 1986, he resigned from his position as cathedral music director and was replaced by the organist and choirmaster Hans-Josef Roth . As early as 1977, Bishop Klaus Hemmerle had appointed Rudolf Pohl Dome of Honor at Aachen Cathedral.

On his initiative, the Rudolf Pohl Foundation was set up, with the endowment of which is intended to support and promote the training of active cathedral choir boys on artistically valuable instruments from the classical field through performance-related grants.

On January 12, 2002, Rudolf Pohl was honored in Aachen for his life's work by the former Lord Mayor Jürgen Linden with the Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class .

On July 30, 2010 his book Enchiridion Musicae Sacrae "Handbook of Church Music" was published. It is about church music in the testimonies of faith and the church. On the occasion of the general audience on October 13, 2010, Pohl presented his book to Pope Benedict XVI.

Works (selection)

  • Johannes Mangon: Choir Book I. The Masses . Commented, transcribed and set up for modern choral practice by Rudolf Pohl. Einhard, Aachen 2000.
  • Johannes Mangon: Choir Book II. The Motets . Commented, transcribed and set up for modern choral practice by Rudolf Pohl. PJ Tonger Musikverlag, Cologne-Rodenkirchen 1998.
  • Johannes Mangon: Choir Book III. Antiphons, Cantica, Hymns and Varia . Commented, transcribed and set up for modern choral practice by Rudolf Pohl. Einhard, Aachen 2000.
  • Music in the Aachen Cathedral. 1200 years of choir school at the court of Charlemagne . Arend and Ortmanns, Aachen 1981.
  • Enchiridion Musicae Sacrae. Musica sacra in the testimonies of faith and the Church . Einhard, Aachen 2010.

Awards (selection)

  • 1969 honorary member of the Associazione per l'amicizia Italo-Germanica, Rome
  • 1974 Croix du Combattant de l'Europe, Paris
  • 1974 Honorary member of the Federation of former German Paratroopers V.
  • 1975 Golden badge of honor of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V.
  • 2002 Federal Cross of Merit, 1st class, Aachen

Literature and Sources

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry on KKG alumni from June 27, 2012
  2. ^ Chronicle of the City of Aachen 2002, p. 1
personal data
SURNAME Pohl, Rudolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German prelate and church musician as well as cathedral music director in Aachen
DATE OF BIRTH November 5, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Aachen , Rhine Province , Weimar Republic