The Cistercian Monks of Heiligenkreuz Abbey

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The Cistercian Monks of Heiligenkreuz Abbey
Presentation of the gold for Chant for Peace with Elias Meiri
Seat: AustriaAustria Heiligenkreuz
Carrier: Heiligenkreuz Abbey
Founding: 2007
Genus: Gregorian Choral Schola
Voices : ( TB )

The Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz is the stage name of the Choralschola of the Lower Austrian monastery Stift Heiligenkreuz , which has been making CD recordings of Gregorian chant since 2007 and has thus attracted international attention. The names of the individual singers are not known, as they see themselves primarily as consecrated people who sing for religious and non-professional reasons.

Recordings

"Chant - Music for Paradise"

In 2007, monks from Heiligenkreuz Abbey posted a video on the Internet platform YouTube . The video reached many viewers within a very short time, so that the major label Universal Music signed the project.

At the beginning of April 2008 the recordings took place in the Kreuzkirche in Heiligenkreuz. The 17 young confreres that the cantor chose for the recordings wanted to record the chorals in the church instead of going to the studio. The Kreuzkirche was adapted at short notice for the three-day recordings. It was important for the confreres to sing towards the altar, towards the tabernacle, towards the cross relic when recording.

In May of the same year the album Chant - Music for Paradise was released , with which a short time later the international charts could be reached. The success in Great Britain in particular was rated positively by the Austrian media. Before that, only Falco , DJ Ötzi and Peter Cornelius, as band members of Enigma, were Austrian musicians that were so high in the British album charts.

The Cistercians of Heiligenkreuz repeated the success of the Benedictine monks of the Spanish monastery of Santo Domingo de Silos , who reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the CD Chant in 1994 and delivered the best-selling Gregorian chant album of all time.

The proceeds from the CD sale are intended to enable the training of priests from the third world in the Heiligenkreuz Abbey. The album Chant - Music for Paradise reached gold status in Austria and was also able to place in the charts in Switzerland and Belgium ( number 1 ). The album also reached number 177 on the hit list in France. The album reached number 24 in Italy and number 27 in Spain.

On October 3, 2008, the album Chant - Music for Paradise, expanded by a second CD was released . The album's bonus CD includes an Advent vesper , the Rorate fair, the Christmas cheers and the Puer natus Christmas fair .

"Chant - Amor et Passio"

The Heiligenkreuzer Mönche founded their own label, Obsculta Music , in 2011 to bring another CD onto the market. Amor et Passio was first offered for sale on November 4, 2011. Originally the new CD was intended exclusively for distribution in the monastery shop of the monastery, but the monks later decided on the traditional Viennese label Preiser Records . After four weeks the CD had achieved gold status in Austria, and in September 2012 it was awarded platinum.

In addition to the Gregorian chant, the Amor et Passio CD also includes compositions by the Luxembourg composer and pianist David Ianni, including the setting of the Lauretan and Sacred Heart litanies .

As in 2008, the proceeds from the CD sale will benefit priest students from developing countries.

"Chant - Stabat Mater"

The CD Chant - Stabat Mater followed in 2012 . The pieces refer to the founding of the Heiligenkreuz monastery in Stiepel . The selection of pieces is particularly related to the suffering of the Virgin Mary , firstly because the Cistercian order is particularly committed to the veneration of Mary and secondly because Stiepel is a place of pilgrimage to Mary. A Mater dolorosa is venerated there.

The CD also includes bonus material with piano accompaniment by the Luxembourg pianist and composer David Ianni.

Chant - Stabat Mater was presented on September 30, 2012 as part of a prayer evening in the Heiligenkreuzer Stiftskirche. It was the monks' first benefit concert; the proceeds went to the Heiligenkreuz University of Applied Sciences .

"Chant - Missa Latina"

In November 2012 the CD "Chant - Missa Latina" was released. It was recorded together with the Ensemble Vox Gotica and also includes the polyphonic “Missa sine nomine” by the late Gothic composer Guillaume Dufay . All the chants of the Holy Mass in the post-conciliar rite (also called novus ordo ) are also on the CD.

In press releases, the monastery drew attention to the fact that Latin was not abolished by the Second Vatican Council , but promoted. They quote Sacrosanctum Concilium No. 54: "Provision should be made so that the Christian faithful can also speak or sing the parts of the Mass Ordinarium that are due to them in Latin." This concern of the council has since been forgotten by many.

"Chant - Into the Light"

The new CD Chant - Into the Light was released in November 2014 , after the Heiligenkreuzer Mönche entered into a distribution partnership with Naxos of America, the leading provider of online streaming services, in 2014. This and the considerable sales figures achieved within a very short time, reflected the continuing interest in Gregorian chant of the monks and their level of awareness - especially in the USA. In addition to the English name of the CD, the texts in the booklet are also written in English and Spanish out of consideration for the American audience.

Chant - Into the Light is a compilation from the albums Chant - Amor et Passio and Chant - Stabat Mater . It contains 24 titles and is dedicated to Mary and her love for her Son, Jesus Christ , which is told through songs about love and hope. The songs should also give the listener a deeper experience of Easter .

"Chant - Chant for Peace"

On the occasion of the 49th anniversary of the declaration of the 2nd Vatican Council on the Church's relationship to non-Christian religions, Nostra aetate , a commemorative event took place on November 9, 2014 in the abbey church of the monastery, during which the victims of the November pogroms in 1938 were also commemorated has been. The Schola of the Heiligenkreuz monks, together with the well-known Jewish singer Timna Brauer and the Elias Meiri Ensemble, performed Gregorian, Yemeni- Jewish chants and psalms. Due to the strong response to this symbolic gesture of a Christian-Jewish dialogue, a renewed collaboration with the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft the plan for a new CD.

The new album combines the Gregorian chant of the Cistercian monks with Old Testament texts, sung by Timna Brauer. Brauer is accompanied by the Elias Meiri Ensemble. The music thus combines Gregorian chant with the hypnotic Hasidic and Yemenite chants of Timna Brauer, which, according to Brauer, complement each other due to their common roots in the Psalms of the Old Testament.

The album Chant for Peace was due to be released on May 8, 2015, the 70th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe. Last but not least, it also represents a confrontation between the Heiligenkreuz monks and the anti-Semitism that is spreading in the world in a new way , as Fr Karl , spokesman for the monks, explained.

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
2008 Chant - Music for Paradise DE5
gold
gold

(43 weeks)DE 		AT1
Seven times platinum
× 7
Seven times platinum

(68 weeks)AT 		CH22 (20 weeks)
CH 		UK7th
gold
gold

(16 weeks)UK 		US183 (1 week)
US
First published: May 16, 2008
2011 Chant - Amor et Passio - AT14th
gold
gold

(10 weeks)AT 		- - -
First published: November 4, 2011
2012 Chant - Stabat Mater - AT61 (2 weeks)
AT 		- - -
First published: September 28, 2012
2015 Chant for Peace - AT8th
gold
gold

(10 weeks)AT 		- - -
First published: May 8th, 2015
with Timna Brauer & Elias Meiri Ensemble

More studio albums

  • 2014: Chant - Missa Latina
  • 2014: Chant - Into the Light

Awards

  • 2008: Platinum in Belgium for Chant - Music for Paradise
  • 2008: Platinum in the Netherlands for Chant - Music for Paradise
  • 2008: Media Prize of the Lower Austrian Tourism Prize
  • 2009: Nomination for the Echo in the category “Most Successful Newcomer International”. (The award in this category went to Amy Macdonald )
  • 2009: Double platinum in Poland for Chant - Music for Paradise
  • 2009: ECHO Klassik in the “Bestseller of the Year” category for Chant - Music for Paradise

Web links

Commons : The Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

swell

  1. ↑ http://www.ifpi.at/
  2. ↑ Hit parade report
  3. ^ ORF report Heiligenkreuzer Mönche publish second chorale CD
  4. ↑ Heiligenkreuzer Mönche: CD recordings with Bochum confreres , in: Kathpress-Ordensnews No. 36 of August 14, 2012, pp. 4–5.
  5. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
  6. ↑ Music Sales Awards: DE AT UK
  7. ↑ BEA
  8. ↑ NVPI (search for Chant)
  9. ↑ Heiligenkreuzer Mönche nominated for the "Echo" ( memento from April 21, 2019 in the Internet Archive ) in Badener Zeitung from February 11, 2009
  10. ↑ Winner: Echo 2009
  11. ↑ ZPAV