Wilten Boys' Choir
| Wilten Boys' Choir | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Seat: |
 innsbruck
|
| Founding: | 13th century |
| Genus: | Boys' choir |
| Head : | Johannes Stecher |
| Voices : | approx. 190 ( SSAATTBB ) |
| Website : | http://www.saengerknaben.com |
The Wilten Boys 'Choir is a boys' choir from Innsbruck . They are considered to be one of the most traditional and renowned boys' choirs in Europe.
history
The history of the Wilten Boys' Choir goes back to the 13th century. As early as 1235, there was a collegiate school in Wilten , where young boys were taught. For participating in choir and church singing, they received free food, clothing and a small pocket money. According to reports by well-known historians, the forerunners of the Vienna Boys' Choir were founded by Emperor Maximilian I with singing boys from Wilten. During all these centuries the tradition of the Wilten people was only occasionally interrupted by the chaos of war, for example during the Second World War . After the same, Norbert Gerhold from Langenlois and Wilten canon Otto Karasek OPraem re-established the choir.
Gerhold led the choir until 1982 and was able to make numerous successful recordings and major tours a. a. refer to Denmark, Israel and Japan. In 1983 Armin Kölbl from Innsbruck took over the artistic direction, followed in 1986 by Howard Arman from London. In 1991 he founded the Innsbrucker Capellknaben with choir members from the Wilten Boys' Choir. At that time, Johannes Stecher took over the management of the Wilten Boys' Choir.
Current training situation
Today the choir has around 190 members, who are trained in five groups - from the young choirs to the concert choirs to the male voices - some in cooperation with the Tyrolean State Conservatory . Johannes Stecher heads the Wilten Boys' Choir Department at the Tyrolean State Conservatory. He is supported by the singing teachers Britta Stroeher, Martin Senfter, Albert Frey, Johannes Puchleitner as well as Vinzenz Arnold and Albert Frey in the junior division. The choir members visit schools in Innsbruck and the surrounding area and, depending on their age, can come to Wilten for rehearsals or singing lessons one to three times a week. The youngest choir members are around five years old.
repertoire
This is constantly being changed and expanded, as the choir members - as is not possible with children's choirs - change very quickly and move from the soprano or alto registers to the tenor or bass. The choir deals a lot with ancient sacred music from the Renaissance to the Baroque to the Classical and Romantic periods.
An important part of the repertoire is made up of old Tyrolean composers, such as William Byrd , Heinrich Schütz , Johann Sebastian Bach , Anton Bruckner and Arvo Pärt . Nevertheless, the choir refers to numerous recordings from the classical field with masses and oratorios by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn . As a Tyrolean choir you feel obliged to the tradition of authentic folk songs. And so yodels and folk songs from the Alpine region as well as sacred folk songs, especially during Advent and Christmas, can often be found in the choir programs. Choir programs with the Wiltenern, which contain arrangements from the field of operetta and film music, are very popular and popular.
The opera sector also has an excellent position. At the Tyrolean State Theater , in Italy, at the Salzburg , Bregenz and Tyrolean Festival , the Boys' Choir has been heard several times in the following works: Die Zauberflöte (Mozart), Carmen (Bizet), Tosca (Puccini), Lohengrin (Wagner ), Parsifal (Wagner), Tannhäuser (Wagner), Rosenkavalier (Strauss), Werther (Massenet), Persephone (Strawinsky), The Child and the Magic World (Ravel), The Cunning Little Fox (Janáček), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Britten) , The Turn of the Screw (Britten), Cadence Macbeth (Zehm), Turandot (Puccini), Macbeth (Verdi), Albert Herring (Britten), Shylock! (Kanyar / Fassbaender), Die Tote Stadt (Korngold), Hansen and Gretel (Humperdinck) etc. In 2016, the Wilten Boys' Choir could be seen in the Peter Stein production of The Magic Flute at La Scala in Milan .
Concerts and tours
The choir has grown continuously over the past few years. The choir performs mainly in the German-speaking area. In addition, however, major concert tours are organized around the world. These took the young singers to China, Japan, Israel, Romania, Denmark, France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands, for example.
Annually recurring fixed points are the performance of the Christmas Oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach together with the baroque orchestra Academia Jacobus Stainer on the Saturday before Christmas in the Basilica Wilten in Innsbruck and the performance of the St. Matthew Passion by JS Bach on the first Saturday in Lent also in the Basilica Wilten and with of the Academia. With KonsBarock (the baroque orchestra of the Tyrolean State Conservatory), the Wilteners present Handel's Messiah every June . The popular Advent concert “Christmas in Tyrol” on the longest night of the year, on December 21st, in the Götzens pilgrimage church (Tyrol). Every two years, the Mother's Day Concert and a “Children for Children” benefit concert are held in the Innsbruck Congress. Since 2009 the Wilten Boys' Choir has been presenting a cycle of concerts in the Hofkirche in Innsbruck, each with nine concerts per year. The oratorios are always performed with their own soloists, trained by Johannes Stecher, as well as soloists from the ranks of the former Wilten Boys' Choir.
In 2016 Prof. Mag. Johannes Stecher received the Cross of Merit of the State of Tyrol for his commitment in the field of culture and the 25-year development of the Wilten Boys' Choir.
In 2018, the Wilten Boys' Choir, under the direction of Johannes Stecher, was awarded the Jakob Stainer Prize of the State of Tyrol. This honors the founding of the Academia Jacobus Stainer baroque orchestra and numerous memorable early music performances.
Former Wilten Boys' Choir
Numerous active and former Wilten Boys' Choir have decided to pursue a career as a singer:
- Bernhard Landauer (Altus)
- Andreas Winkler (tenor)
- Daniel Schmutzhard (baritone)
- Paul Schweinester, tenor
- Markus Forster, Altus
- Wolfgang Schwaiger, baritone
- Wolfgang Resch, baritone
- Matthias Hoffmann, bass-baritone
- Florian Spiess, bass
- Michael Kranebitter, bass-baritone
- Philippe Spiegel, baritone
- Cesare Colona, baritone
- Camillo del Antonio, tenor
- Philipp Meraner, tenor
- David Kerber, tenor
- Oliver Sailer, bass
- Matteo Rasic, tenor
- Pascal Ladner, Altus
Conductors, singing teachers, music teachers, church musicians and prominent personalities have also emerged from the choir:
- Michael Mader (conductor)
- Stefan Costa, jazz musician
- Marc Hess, musical producer and singer
- Benedikt Melichar, church musician
- Almost Albert, organist
- Oliver Felipe-Armas, Music School Director
- Karlheinz Hanser, singing professor
- Jan Golubkow, music teacher, choir director
- Wolfram Pirchner, presenter ORF
- Georg Willi, Mayor of Innsbruck
Discography
- ORF Tirol TV documentary "The Magic of the Wilten Boys' Choir - From La Scala to Shanghai" by Mag. Rainer Perle
- Wonderful Christmas time (CD and DVD), choir and soloists of the Wilten Boys' Choir (mcp)
- I like to go to the mountains (mcp)
- "Babel", motets by Arvo Pärt, Wilten Boys' Choir, Johannes Stecher (col legno)
- CD (and DVD) Christmas Oratorio JS Bach, choir and soloists of the Wilten Boys' Choir, Academia Jacobus Stainer, Johannes Stecher (conductor), Daniel Schmutzhard (baritone), Paul Schweinester (tenor), (Gramola)
- DVD Wiltener Sängerknaben / Academia Jacobus Stainer (Vivaldi Gloria, Bach cantatas Christ lay and weeping, lamenting, worries, worries)
- The Wilten Boys' Choir in the Innsbruck Court Church (Gramola)
- Laudate Dominum (Gramola)
- C. Orff: Carmina Burana (Gramola)
- J. Haydn: The Creation
- J. Haydn: Mariazeller Mass
- WA Mozart: Credo Mass
- When Tyrolean Buabm sing (traditional folk songs from Tyrol and the Alpine region)
- Christmas with the Wilten Boys' Choir
- laugh and cry
- Through the church year with Michael Praetorius
- Silent Night - Christmas with the Wilten Boys' Choir
- Joseph Haydn Nicolaimesse (out of print)
- WA Mozart Coronation Mass (out of print)
Web links
- Wilten Boys Choir - Website of the Wilten Boys Choir
- Robin from Tyrol: the Wilten Boys' Choir In: blog.tirol. November 8, 2016.
Individual evidence
- ^ Fritz Steinegger: 50 Years Wilten Boys' Choir - 1946 to 1996 . 1996, p. 74 f .
- ↑ Alexander Rausch, Rudolf Flotzinger: Boys' Choir. In: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon . Online edition, Vienna 2002 ff., ISBN 3-7001-3077-5 .