Singing Academy
A singing academy - originally a peculiarity of the German-speaking area - describes a larger mixed choir association , the actual purpose of which is to first study large, important musical works - mostly oratorios by well-known masters - in an internal circle, to educate oneself and to cultivate an upscale sociability. The organization of public concerts was of secondary importance.
At the beginning of the 19th century, singing academies were founded in many German cities. The formation of such associations was closely related to the development of a bourgeois musical life. The first Singakademie - the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin - was founded by Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch in 1791.
The name Singakademie is originally associated with the history of this world's first mixed choir and came about after the Berlin Choir Association under Fasch moved its rehearsal room from private rooms to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1793 .
Other mixed choirs, which adopted both the idea and the name Singakademie, emerged, among others, in Leipzig (founded in 1802 by Limburger and Shift ), Dresden (1807, Dreyssigsche Singakademie ), Halle (1814), Bremen (1815), Hamburg ( 1819), Breslau (1825) and Vienna (1858).
Today the following major singing academies exist in German-speaking countries:
- Altona Singakademie
- Berlin Singakademie from 1963
- Frankfurter Singakademie , (Frankfurt am Main)
- Linz Singing Academy
- Mainz Singing Academy
- Singakademie Halle
- Hamburger Singakademie
- Rostock Singing Academy
- Sing-Akademie zu Berlin from 1791
- Singakademie Chemnitz
- Singakademie Plauen
- Singakademie Dresden
- Singakademie Frankfurt (Oder)
- Singakademie Stralsund
- Singakademie Stuttgart
- Suhl Singakademie
- Singakademie Potsdam
- Vienna Singing Academy
Singakademie or Sing-Akademie is also - because of the reference to the builder and owner Sing-Akademie zu Berlin - an often used term for the Sing-Akademie building in which the Maxim-Gorki-Theater Berlin is playing today.