StMV Blue Singers Göttingen

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Blue Singers Student Music Association

coat of arms Circle
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Basic data
University location: Goettingen
University / s: Georg-August-University Goettingen
Founding: before June 20, 1860 (oldest known document)
Foundation date: July 21, 1860
Corporation association : Association of Academic and Musical Associations (SV) (joined in 1874)
Abbreviation: Gö!
Color status : colorful
Colours: light blue-white-light blue
Colours:
Fox colors: no
Type of Confederation: Mixed union
Position to the scale : not striking
Motto: Pure as gold, solid as bronze be the singer's heart!
Field shout ( Panier ): Mrs Musika is the banner
Total members: approx. 330 (winter semester 2017/18)
Active: approx. 60 (WS 2019/20)
Website: www.blauesaenger.de

The student music association Blue Singers in Göttingen in the SV (better known under the abbreviation " The Blue Singers ") is a mixed , non-colored and non-striking student association in Göttingen . It was founded in 1860 under the name of the student choir of the Georgia Augusta , making it the oldest cultural college group at Göttingen University. The AHV, originally founded in 1882 as the “Old Men Association of the former Georgia Augusta Student Choir”, has been called the Philistines Association (PhV) since 2012. The Blue Singers are members of the Association of Academic and Musical Associations (SV) .

The Blue Singers currently operate as standing institutions

  • a symphony orchestra,
  • a big band,
  • a mixed choir as well
  • a theater company.

In addition, the Philistines Association (PhV) has another mixed choir as well as another 60-piece symphony orchestra. Both ensembles rehearse on one to two weekends a year on a project basis. The framework conditions also make it possible for chamber ensembles or choirs, jazz ensembles, string orchestras or similar formations to emerge like projects, sometimes over several semesters. The support of such projects is also the purpose of the Blue Singers Association.

With four standing ensembles (or six with the PhV ensembles), the Blue Singers are currently the only organization in Göttingen that maintains such a large number of groups with a cultural theme but with a different focus. In addition to the also the Special Housing Association belonging AGV Munich (nine standing ensembles: three choirs, two symphonic orchestras, two theater companies, a big band, a symphonic band) are the Blue singer maintains the only fraternity, our own symphony orchestra as a stationary device.

history

Foundation as an association

The current association, founded in 1860 as the student choir of the Georgia Augusta ( StGV for short ), was the first choral society in Göttingen that consisted exclusively of students. Up until this point in time, the students had to rely on singing in the civil choral societies if they wanted to sing in a choir. The popularity that the choral society received from the students when it was founded was correspondingly high. A call to the student body in late autumn 1859 made it aware that at the first concert in January 1860 almost 50 students were already members of the StGV, which corresponded to almost 8% of all students enrolled in Göttingen.

Development towards connection

Originally, the "Georgia Augusta Student Choir" was an academic choral society open to all students, regardless of whether they were members of any other student association . Against the background that only a few fraternity students were also members of the student choir - the time requirements of the club and fraternity life could not be sufficiently reconciled - its members decided in 1874 to exclude the possibility of simultaneous membership in another fraternity in Göttingen . Shortly afterwards, the StGV chose its own colors (light blue-white-light blue) and a corresponding coat of arms. At the same time, the step from association to association was completed. In the same year so-called “cartel contracts”, i.e. mutual support agreements, were concluded with other student choirs such as B. the Akademisches Gesangverein München or the Akademische Liedertafel Berlin , which had already concluded such a contract with each other in 1867 and from which today's special houses association emerged.

Division and origin of the name "Blue Singers"

The rapidly increasing number of members after the celebrations for the 25th anniversary (WS 1884/85: 59 members / SS 1886: 74 members) led to tensions within Aktivitas: [There] two parties emerged, one of which was more for art and public singing Occurrence and the costly social events associated with it [...], while the other put the care of folksong and student songs, coziness and friendship first. On June 10, 1887, the minority split off, calling for a musical work that was more geared towards student songs and folk songs. The following day, this minority founded the Academic Choral Society Gottinga with the colors green-white-gold. In order to better distinguish between the two student choirs that now exist, the terms “blue singers” and “green singers” were established in Göttingen. Officially, however, the name "Student Choral Society of Georgia Augusta" was retained until Aktivitas was dissolved in November 1935.

The “Blue Singers” during National Socialism

As early as the summer semester of 1933, the Blue Singers' house was converted into a comradeship house at the instigation of the active members. At the same time, musical performance declined from 1933, which was also due to the fact that the musical director Wilhelm Kamlah , one of Heinrich Schütz 's most important experts in the 20th century, resigned from his position in 1934. The extent to which this was also connected with the fact that Wilhelm Kamlah was persecuted by the National Socialists for political reasons (he was banned from practicing his profession in 1934 because of “Jewish infiltration”) is unknown. On November 26th, 1935 the activitas of the student choir broke up. The house was rented to someone else (including the Göttingen Handel Society ). From the summer of 1937 the house was used by a Nazi comradeship, initially only once a week, but from the winter semester of 1937 onwards, it was permanently used as a comradeship house. The old gentlemen's association of the student choir agreed to accept this Nazi comradeship as a new activity after the latter had agreed to shift the focus of their work to music, if possible. Later this NS comradeship was given the name Albert Leo Schlageter , also in connection with the street on which the house was renamed for a long time . As a result of pressure from the National Socialists, from 1942 the old men's association of the student choir was gradually converted into a National Socialist old man (AHS), which ultimately dragged on until January 1944. At this point in time, the house also became the property of the AHS. When the Allied troops entered Göttingen on April 8, 1945, the Nazi comradeship and the AHS were dissolved and the property was confiscated. The house was subsequently used as the NCO's home for the British Army and, from 1947 onwards, served the Werner School of the Red Cross as a residential and training facility.

The "Blue Singers" since 1945

In 1947 the British military government gave its approval to re-establish the "Old Gentlemen's Association of the (former) Student Choral Society of Georgia-Augusta", which was lost in 1944. Shortly afterwards, a “student music group” was formed at Göttingen University, and the AHV finally took over the support. The cultural work that the student music group had done until 1951 found a rapid upswing when the house was moved back into place. The choir in particular, which in the mid-1950s was transformed from a purely male choir through the inclusion of the Göttingen Handel Choir into a large mixed choir, was able to perform large concerts over a number of years together with the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra under Günther Weißenborn (including Beethoven's 9th Symphony ). In 1958, AHV and Aktivitas agreed - not without controversial discussions - on the common name “Student Music Association at Georgia Augusta in SV”, which was finally converted into “Student Music Association” in connection with the social developments at the beginning of the 1960s .

The Blue Singers are considered within the Association of Special Houses to trigger the so-called “ ladies question ”. In 1970, the Aktivitas der Blauer Sänger decided to include women as fully equal members in the course of a fundamental revision of the statutes, which was also tolerated by the Old Men Association. Although z. For example, the year before, AMV Waltharia Frankfurt, which is also part of the Sondershäuser Association, opened its association for women, the Blue Singers were ultimately the ones who fought most vehemently for a corresponding solution in the Sondershäuser Association.

Currently (2019) Aktivitas has 60 members (36 on site, 24 outside). This means that the Blue Singers currently have the greatest activity of all Göttingen connections. The AHV currently has 272 members (including 260 first-time philistines), making it the second largest philistine association of the special houses association after the AGV Munich (761 members).

Musical activities

Since, despite the considerable musical activities, the “Blue Singers” are a student association (life union principle, old insignia such as coats of arms and circles), there are, strictly speaking, two legally completely independent associations: the “Aktivitas” (association of students in Göttingen) and the "Alt-Herren-Verband" (alumni association). Both clubs operate their own ensembles independently of one another.

Aktivitas ensembles

Choir of the StMV Blue Singers Göttingen

The Blue Singers Choir is also the founding ensemble of the association. It has therefore existed since 1860 (with an interruption between 1935 and the beginning of the 1950s). In the first few years the choir attracted a large number of students, but was also able to work with Hermann Friedrich August Thureau (later city and court organist and conductor in Eisenach) and Philipp Spitta (later Bach biographer and musicologist) but also conductors. As early as 1863 , The Musical World, published in London, published an article on “Music in Göttingen” a. a. with the words "In one of its concerts the Studenten-Gesangverein gave a very good performance of Mendelssohn's Antigone, with pianoforte accompaniment."

At about the same time as the choral society was transformed into a student association in 1874, so-called “extraordinary members” could also join the student choral society. While the "regular members" were the singers of the choir, those were exempt from singing, but had to participate in other ways (e.g. through instrumental contributions) in the musical community / club life.

With the dissolution of the student choir at the end of 1935, the choir ceased. The extent to which the Nazi comradeship that moved into the house in 1937 resumed or continued the choir is currently being investigated. There is evidence that choirs only resumed in the 1950s.

Initially re-established as a purely male choir, the Blue Singers 'Choir was transformed into a mixed choir in the 1950s when the "Handel Choir", which existed until then, which consisted almost entirely of women, joined the Blue Singers' Choir. The choir that arose as a result was so large that the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Günther Weißenborn regularly engaged it for concerts (including the Symphony No. 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven). However, when Günther Weißenborn ended his position as chief conductor in 1957, the collaboration ended and the Blue Singers' choir lost its previous importance in the musical life of Göttingen. Over 80 singers took part in the choir in the 2017/2018 winter semester. He is currently headed by Amelie Hartung.

Orchestra of the StMV Blue Singers Göttingen

A “foundation” of the orchestra in the narrower sense can no longer be definitely identified today. The concert programs that have been handed down show that the choir was occasionally accompanied by an orchestra as early as the 19th century. Since no external orchestra is named in any of the documented cases, it is reasonable to assume that they were instrumental friars who formed an ensemble on a project basis and strengthened themselves with external instrumentalists. This “project-oriented orchestra” may have been a forerunner of the Academic Orchestra Association founded in 1906 , as the Academic Music Director Otto Freiberg was the conductor of the student choir at the time . At the end of the 1920s, articles appeared in the association's newspaper that reported on an existing orchestra that was rehearsing regularly, but which after a few years was no longer verifiable.

Today's orchestra of the Blue Singers goes back directly to the “Student Music Circle”, which emerged in 1947 from student string instrumentalists, albeit not against the immediate background of wanting to found an orchestra. Rather, making music together was in the foreground. Through contacts of individual members to the "old men association of the former student choir of the Georgia Augusta" a more intensive relationship arose with the blue singers, which led to the old men association, the student music group as a new (post-war) activity and they turned to the student traditions in addition to musical work. As in the 19th century in the choir, the orchestra became part of a larger form of organization with the addition of non-instrumentalists.

For many years the orchestra was purely a string orchestra, which was only supplemented occasionally and, if necessary, by individual wind players (from the ranks of the liaison members or by externally committed members). From around the beginning of the 1990s, however, more and more winds joined the orchestra, which, in addition to expanding the program, also led to a continuous increase in the number of winds. By the anniversary concert in the summer of 2000, the orchestra had grown into a romantic ensemble, which, however, was unable to maintain this strength in the coming semesters. The orchestra currently has a late classical wind section with around 50 participants and is dedicated to a classical-romantic program apart from the great symphonies. In the summer semester 2011 the orchestra realized the German premiere of Charles Ives' “Overture in G Minor” . The only well-known conductor to be mentioned is Volker Schmidt-Gertenbach , who led the orchestra at the end of 1960 and was chief conductor of the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra from 1974 to 1989 . Ulrich Witt directed the orchestra from April 2006 to February 2016. He held this post the longest of all previous conductors. The current conductor since the 2016/2017 winter semester is Wolfgang Volpers.

Theater of the StMV Blue Singers Göttingen

As early as the 19th century, there were isolated performances of theater plays within the association, but it was only after the Second World War that a theater group gradually established itself as a permanent ensemble and is recognized as such in the student cultural scene. Usually a new piece is rehearsed every semester, which is performed several times on the in-house stage at the end of the semester. Some of these are well-known works such as " Leonce and Lena " by Georg Büchner and " Romulus the Great " by Friedrich Dürrenmatt , but also pieces by members of the Blue Singers. For several years there has been an increasing number of collaborations with the theater in the operating room. In contrast to the other musical groups, the responsibility for the staging typically changes with each piece in the theater of the Blue Singers.

The Blue Singers Bigband

Since the summer semester 1996 there is a big band called "The Blue Singers Bigband". Initially intended as a one-off project, it began weekly rehearsals in the 1996 winter semester. At the 8th international BigBand Contest "Swingin 'Saxonia" in 2014 she took second place in the category "Amateurs". The current band leader is Timm Fitschen.

Ensembles of the Philistine Association

Choir of the PhV of the StMV Blue Singers Göttingen

On the occasion of the 125th Foundation Festival of the Blue Singers in 1985, a service was held in St. Mary's Church , at which a choir of active and former students sang Johann Sebastian Bach's motet "Singet dem Herrn". After the festival, it was decided to continue this project. At first a meeting was organized at the house of the Blue Singers, but the place was soon moved to the Heimvolkshochschule in Loccum , where they have always met on the first weekend after Whitsun since then . The conductor of the choir has been the Kiel university professor Johannes Schilling. The choir has been led by Christoph Kohlwes since 2011.

Orchestra of the PhV of the StMV Blue Singers Göttingen

In the run-up to the 150th foundation festival in summer 2010, some members of the AHV wanted to found an orchestra on a project basis. Rehearsals began in autumn 2008. The orchestra currently consists of around 80 musicians, almost all of whom belong to the AHV of the Blue Singers. The orchestra's first public appearance took place on June 26, 2010 with the 4th Symphony by Robert Schumann . The conductor and organizer of the orchestra is currently Hans Koch, who already conducted the Orchestra of the Active on the occasion of the 100th Foundation Festival in 1960. In the summer semester 2015 the orchestra a. a. with Franz Schubert's B minor symphony again in the foundation festival concert of the Blue Singers. The next project is planned for the summer semester 2018.

Other ensembles

Another ensemble is the octet Irmtraut and the Seven Dwarfs . It describes itself as the most mixed men's octet and, as the name suggests, is made up of one woman and seven men. It was created in 1996 from members of the Blue Singers on a project basis, whereby the line-up of the male voices has changed several times since it was founded and now also includes non-members of the Blue Singers. Since 2002 it has performed regularly with a wind ensemble from the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra at the “ Bullerjahn ”. A CD was created from “Bullerjahn” in 2004.

The House of the Blue Singers

Connection house in Düstere-Eichen-Weg 26
Bismarck as a blacksmith, handing the sword of unity to Germania - detail from a glass window in the StMV house based on a painting by Guido Philipp Schmitt

In the year 1903/04, the then built AHV the Student Choral Society of Georgia Augusta to plans by the Hanover architect Eduard Wendebourg in Dark Oak Route 26 own fraternity house , which is still used by the Blue singers today. The house of the Blue Singers was the first house of a non-colored association in Göttingen. The hall of the listed building is the largest private hall in Göttingen with over 130 m². The stained glass windows it contains (see section on the right) were made in 1908, 1910 and 1919.

After moving into the house at the beginning of the summer semester in 1904, the number of activities increased in the following semesters to such an extent that Aktivitas asked for an expansion as early as 1906, which was carried out in 1910. At that time, the house, along with the property and inventory, was worth 74,206 marks. The house underwent another renovation in 1928.

Since students had expressly refrained from setting up student rooms during the planning phase, the house was not intended for permanent living by the members, but only a "caretaker's apartment" was set up. When the decision was made in 1933 to convert the house into a comradeship house, considerations arose to rebuild the house generously and, in particular, to raise the roof in order to set up comradeship rooms underneath. Alternatively, consideration was given to building an accommodation barrack in the garden. Both plans were abandoned, however, because the financial support actually promised by the NSDStB was not received.

From 1937 the house was used by a Nazi comradeship, which was later called "Kameradschaft Albert Leo Schlageter " , analogous to the renaming of the street . The old gentlemen's association of the student choir of Georgia Augusta finally accepted this Nazi comradeship as the successor to the 1935 student choir as a new activity after it had agreed to focus the comradeship work on music.

From 1942 the pressure of the National Socialists increased on the still existing old-men-associations of the former student associations, which were usually registered as owners in the land registers. The members of the old men’s association of the Georgia Augusta student choir were also asked to transfer the AHV to a National Socialist old man (AHS), otherwise the AHV would ultimately lose its house. This development was completed in January 1944 with the land registry transfer of house and farm ownership. With the entry of the Allies in Göttingen on April 8, 1945, the AHS and the NS-Kameradschaft (as NS organizations) were dissolved and the movable and immovable property was completely confiscated. The house was initially used by the British troops as a non-commissioned officers' home until in 1947 a trustee rented it to the Werner School of the Red Cross , who extensively restored it and used it as a residential and school building. After they had moved into a new and larger house in Göttingen in 1951, the house was taken over on November 19, 1951 by the (now re-established) old men’s association of the former Georgia-Augusta student choir and the new Aktivitas. The original furnishings were returned (according to the handover protocol): 3 tables, 7 chairs, 1 garden spade. The grand piano lay with broken legs in the garden and, exposed to the weather for years, was no longer usable. From the archive of the Blue Singers, which u. a. the sheet music that had been used for over 90 years (including works composed by the members themselves) had not been preserved.

Until 1960 parts of the house were rented to the Göttingen Wingolf and the gymnastics club Cheruscia . Since moving back into the house in 1951, parts of the house have been inhabited by members. The caretaker's apartment was given up in the late 1960s. This also went hand in hand with the task of preparing the lunch table in-house. At first, the lunch was obtained from outside, but with the opening of the central canteen of the Georg-August-Universität this facility was finally given up.

A dissertation entitled “The house of the student choir of Georgia Augusta Göttingen is currently being prepared at the“ Medieval and Modern History ”department of the Georg-August University in Göttingen. The importance of the association's location and its effects on the development of an academic choral society in the 19th and 20th centuries as a contribution to the development history of German associations and corporations ” . This is the first scientific publication that deals with the history of the development of a fraternity house.

Known members

literature

  • Carl Baustaedt: Federal history of the blue singers. Goettingen 1954.
  • Carl Friesland: History of the Georgia Augusta Student Choir. Hanover 1904.
  • Hermann Ude (ed.): The SV student. Handbook for the Association of Special Houses. Kartell Association of German Student Choral Societies. Hannover 1903, pp. 96-103.
  • Joachim Wilkerling , Achim Block and the Association of Alter SVer as editors: 100 years of the special houses association of academic-musical connections. 1867-1967. Festschrift of the association of special houses. Aachen 1967, p. 121.
  • Festschrift of the Blue Singers 1860–1960 and Federal History 1954–1960. Goettingen 1960.
  • Contributions to the national history of the Blue Singers 1960–1985. Melsungen 1985.

Web links

Commons : StMV Blaue Sänger Göttingen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Boldt , Geschichte der Turnerschaft Gottingo-Normannia zu Göttingen 1875 - 1975, p. 89
  2. ^ SV-Zeitung , Volume 111, No. 2 (April, May, June 2009), p. 36f.
  3. ^ The Musical World , London, July 11, 1863 edition
  4. ↑ cf. z. B. Carl Friesland: History of the student choir of Georgia Augusta , Hanover, 1904
  5. ↑ See the concert programs documented since 1960. z. B. at https://blauesaenger.de/j3/index.php/kultur/orchester/programmarchiv
  6. ^ EH Eberhard: Handbook of the student liaison system. Leipzig, 1924/25, p. 52.
  7. ↑ Cf. Carl Baustaedt, Federal History of the Blue Singers 1910-1954 . Taking into account the inflation rates since 1904, this would correspond to a value of around 496,544 euros today.