Wuppertal carolers

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Wuppertal carolers
Seat: Wuppertal / Germany
Carrier: Wuppertal Church District
Founding: 1924
Genus: Boys' choir
Founder: Erich vom Baur
Head : Markus Teutschbein
Voices : 120 ( SATB )
Website : wuppertaler-bewerbende.de
The carolers in Naumburg Cathedral on a tour in 2018

The Wuppertal Kurrende is a boys' choir from Wuppertal . Founded in 1924, the Kurrende is today one of the cultural figureheads of Wuppertal. As an institution of the church district of Wuppertal , it is the oldest boys' choir of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland . The Christmas Quempas concerts in the Advent season have enjoyed a special status in Wuppertal for many decades. In its Passion Concerts, the choir repeatedly dedicates itself to major choral symphonic works, such as Bach's St. John Passion or Mozart's Requiem . During its concert tours (most recently to Denmark, Poland, England and the USA) the choir is also active far beyond the city limits. The choir has its home on the Kurrende campus in Mozartstrasse in the Briller district .

The Kurrende includes around 120 active singers in all choir groups in which the boys from the age of six receive a sound musical education. In addition, there are several groups for early musical education for boys and girls between the ages of four and six. Markus Teutschbein has been the choirmaster since 2017 and Jonathan Wahl is the manager. In addition, numerous Kurrendans are volunteering behind the scenes.

history

On March 22, 1924, the 27-year-old choirmaster Erich vom Baur founded the Elberfelder Kurrende with 80 boys and 17 men. Wuppertal, as an amalgamation of several cities, came into being five years later. As early as 1921, von Baur had built up a young choir in addition to a string orchestra with great musical, educational and organizational skills in the YMCA Bergstrasse. This now formed the basis for the new Elberfeld Kurrende. The kurrende sang the first public concert on April 8, 1924 in the Elberfeld town hall . In addition, the so-called singing walks played a central role early on, with his choir von Baur visited old people and the sick and gave this consolation through music. This is where the name of the kurrender comes from: from the Latin currere , which means to run in German .

Thanks primarily to the tireless efforts of Erich vom Baur, the Kurrende developed very successfully in the first few years. After just two years, the choir's Christmas concerts were very popular throughout the future Wuppertal city area, and people in need were given gifts on several hundred singing walks. Since 1932, there was even the first own premises in Duke Street, and on Palm Sunday 1933, the carolers led for the first time the St. Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach on.

The takeover of power by the National Socialists was not without consequences for the kurrende. Although the independence from the Hitler Youth could officially be preserved as the “Fähnlein Kurrende”, organizational and psychological pressure could not completely prevent its appropriation. During the air raids on Wuppertal in June 1943 , the Kurrendeheim in Herzogstrasse was destroyed with all of its inventory, but Erich vom Baur did not let that discourage him either: after the summer holidays he began rehearsing again in his private apartment - initially with just eight boys .

The Kurrende Campus in Mozartstrasse (2009)

After the war, the rebuilding of the Kurrendans began, and in 1948 the choir had 160 active Kurrendans again. Since members and concert-goers came from all over the valley, the choir was officially renamed “Wuppertaler Kurrende” a year later. It was quickly possible to build on earlier successes. In 1954 she was able to call her own home again in Deweerthstrasse and the tradition of summer leisure time established itself: every year the singers went on summer vacation together. Since Erich vom Baur fell seriously ill in the following years, Franz Schneider from Dresden took over the choir direction in 1959. Over the next eleven years he succeeded in maintaining the work of the carolers at a high level: not only musically, but also in 1967 with the construction of a new, larger carpenters home at Mozartstrasse 35 - to this day the home of the Wuppertal carolers.

From 1970, the young Hamburg cantor Heinrich Stolte the Kurrende directed. He followed up on Franz Schneider by differentiating the musical training offers of the participants with special, age-appropriate pre-choirs. Special concert tours abroad were a remarkable and attractive innovation at the time. The USA tours in 1974 and 1978 were preliminary highlights here.

In 1979 the then director of the Laubacher Kantorei , Heinz Rudolf Meier , took over the musical direction of the choir. He would shape the carolers for the next 27 years. He not only preserved the musical quality of his predecessors, but also dedicated himself to the social and charitable thoughts of the carolers. This long era was marked by numerous highlights, such as the two GDR tours in 1984 and 1989, the joint performances of the St. Matthew Passion with the Essen Cathedral Boys' Choir and the first win in the boy choir category at the German Federal Choir Competition in 1998.

After Heinz Rudolf Meier retired, Martin Lehmann became the new head of the Kurrende in 2006 . After just a few months together, the Wuppertal carolers won the boys' choir category for the second time at the Bundeschorwettbewerb in Kiel. In addition to the numerous concerts and other appearances, the participation in productions of the Wuppertal Opera, the joint project "Celebrating Handel!" With the WDR Big Band as well as a recent tour of the USA in 2010 are among the highlights of these years.

In 2012, Martin Lehmann took over the leadership of the renowned Windsbacher Boys Choir . Dietrich Modersohn was his successor in Wuppertal. During his tenure in 2014, the carolers 90th anniversary fell, which was celebrated with a performance of Haydn's “Creation” together with the symphony orchestra in the town hall. The Kurrende also traveled to England again in 2012. After Dietrich Modersohn said goodbye, the former Kurrendaner Stephan Hensen first became the interim director of the choir. Under his leadership, the Kurrende completed a tour to East Germany and Poland.

Markus Teutschbein has been leading the Wuppertal Kurrende since June 2017 . In autumn 2017 he led the male choir to the German State Choir Competition in North Rhine-Westphalia, where the male choir emerged as the winner in the category “Male choirs up to 32 participants”. The male choir of the Kurrende then represented the state of North Rhine-Westphalia at the German Choir Competition in Freiburg in May 2018 , where it participated "with very good success". In 2018 Teutschbein also conducted Bach's Johannes Passion in his first Passion Concert and took the kurrende on a tour to northern Germany and Denmark. The program for 2019 included performances of Mozart's Requiem, participation in an ARD television service and the community opera “Das Labyrinth” at the Wuppertal theaters and a concert tour to southern Germany and Switzerland.

Choir structure and repertoire

The boys from the age of six receive musical training in two pre-choirs. The youngest in the sparrow group playfully approach the music. In singing and choir school, the boys gradually learn to sing with several voices and thus approach the concert choir, which they join at around the age of nine or ten. Unlike the large boarding choirs, the Kurrendans do not rehearse daily, but twice a week on the campus in Mozartstrasse. In addition to the choir rehearsals, the singers also receive individual voice training and have the opportunity to take instrumental lessons on campus. Weekend and summer camps accompany the musical training of the singers and teach them numerous social skills beyond music.

In addition, the Kurrende offers her own courses in early musical education . Under the guidance of the music teacher Laura Cichello, girls and boys aged four and over learn their first, playful and carefree approach to music.

A special tradition in the Kurrende are ensembles that are formed from the male choir. For example, the Bel Canto ensemble was active for almost 25 years . In 2017, the Vox Vallis ensemble was founded out of the active male choir and has since sung a repertoire from Palestrina to the Princes at its own concerts, but also at weddings, private parties and charity events. In 2018 Vox Vallis' first concert tour led to France.

In the tradition of the great Saxon boys' choirs, the choir's repertoire is mainly based on the sacred a cappella literature of the 16th to the 21st century. But also great choral symphonic works are regularly on the program, most recently the St. John Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach or the Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . Another focus is contemporary music, for example by Ēriks Ešenvalds or Veljo Tormis . In world premieres, the Kurrende sang music by Norbert Linke ( you will see God ) or Ludwig Werner Weiand ( Dona nobis pacem ). In addition to spiritual literature, folk songs and madrigals are also part of the program. A special focus is the work of the Wuppertal composer Kurt Lissmann .

Appearances

Appearance in Naumburg Cathedral

Fixed points in every Kurrende year are the Passion Concert in the period before Easter and the pre-Christmas Quempas concerts. In addition, the choir enriches the concert life of Wuppertal every year with further performances. In addition to these big concerts, there are also church services and charitable singing in old people's homes on the program every year.

As part of various projects, there have been repeated collaborations with orchestras and choirs in the region. The kurrende appears regularly on the opera stage of the Wuppertal stages , with the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra the choir performs great choral symphonic works in the Wuppertal town hall . The choir has already toured several times abroad, for example to Great Britain , France , Denmark , Austria , Norway and the United States . As a cultural ambassador for the city of Wuppertal and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia , the Wuppertaler Kurrende appeared together with the Philadelphia Boys Choir (USA) at the Expo 2000 in Hanover. The Knabenkantorei regularly goes on concert tours in the various federal states. The Wuppertal Kurrende has boys' choirs from home and abroad as guests in their concert series “Boys Choir Guest Concerts”. In 2012 the choir appeared in the short film The Lost Choir by the Düsseldorf advertising agency Gray Group Germany , which was shown at the spotlight film festival . On May 30, 2019, the Wuppertaler Kurrende worked together with the Elberfeld girls competing in the TV service of the ARD in the Salvatorkirche in Duisburg , which was broadcast in honor of the 60th anniversary of Kindernothilfe with Christina Rau , Sabine Heinrich and Manfred Rekowski .

Choirmaster

Kurrende leader Markus Teutschbein

The founder of the Kurrende, created in 1924, was the music pedagogue Erich vom Baur. In the 95-year history of the Kurrende, the position of the Kurrende leader has been characterized by a high degree of continuity. From 1959 to 1970 Franz Schneider headed the Kurrende, followed by Heinrich Stolte. From 1979 to 2005, church music director Heinz Rudolf Meier was the director of the choir. He was replaced by Martin Lehmann at the end of 2005 , who moved to the Windsbacher Boys Choir in 2012 . Dietrich Modersohn took over the choir direction for him . Stephan Hensen led the choir from April 2015 to May 2017. Markus Teutschbein has been the musical director of the Wuppertal Kurrende since June 2017 .

Social offer

The Kurrendaner during the summer leisure 2018 in Werfenweng

In addition to musical training on the campus in Mozartstrasse, the Kurrende offers a lot more: soccer and basketball courts, table football, table tennis, climbing wall and its own bistro with its premises offers many leisure activities beyond music. In addition, there are various weekend camps for the individual choir groups throughout the year, and in summer many Kurrendaner go to Austria or Denmark for two weeks on summer camps. In this way, the Kurrendaner learn not only musically, but also many other social components as well as on the side: listening, working together in a group for a big goal and mutual awareness.

Awards

The kurrende won twice in the German Choir Competition as the national winner in the boys' choir category: in 1998 at the 5th German Choir Competition in Regensburg and at the 7th German Choir Competition in 2006 in Kiel. In addition, the kurrende received several first prizes at the state choir competition of North Rhine-Westphalia. In 1999 the choir was honored with the highest cultural award in its hometown, the Von der Heydt Culture Prize of the city of Wuppertal. The kurrende is also the winner of the city marketing prize. In 2017 the male choir of the Wuppertal Kurrende won the state choir competition NRW and was delegated to the federal choir competition 2018 in Freiburg. There the male choir took part "with very good success". In May 2020, the Wuppertal Kurrende was awarded the prize of the Enno and Christa Springmann Foundation .

Known members

Web links

Commons : Wuppertaler Kurrende  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Hendrik Walder: New Manager: The Kurrende is complete again. Retrieved December 18, 2018 .
  2. Lori Fulcer: The Lost Choir - Mad World. Retrieved December 19, 2018 .
  3. Protestant service on Ascension Day. Retrieved June 1, 2019 .
  4. Interview with Martin Lehmann, who has been leading the Windsbacher Boys Choir since February. Retrieved December 18, 2018 .
  5. Carolers: Divine service with a solemn change in leadership. In: Westdeutsche Zeitung , January 15, 2012
  6. Westdeutsche Zeitung: New director relies on cooperation. Retrieved December 18, 2018 .
  7. ^ Westdeutsche Zeitung: Wuppertal at the final in Freiburg. Retrieved December 18, 2018 .
  8. ^ Enno and Christa Springmann Foundation. Retrieved May 9, 2020 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 15 ′ 37 ″  N , 7 ° 7 ′ 47 ″  E