User:Gerda Arendt/Images

invisible
	<img src="/load/view.php?a=aHR0cDovL3VwbG9hZC53aWtpbWVkaWEub3JnL3dpa2lwZWRpYS9jb21tb25zL3RodW1iL2YvZjAvSGFicm9wdGlsYVdhbGxhY2lpV29sZi5qcGcvMTk2cHgtSGFicm9wdGlsYVdhbGxhY2lpV29sZi5qcGc" decoding="async" width="196" height="301" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="1960" data-file-height="3005">
singing the praises of
	the scuttled; the banned; and those who have; just given up; just given up;

	<img src="/load/view.php?a=aHR0cDovL3VwbG9hZC53aWtpbWVkaWEub3JnL3dpa2lwZWRpYS9jb21tb25zL3RodW1iLzcvNzAvSmVydXNhbGVtX0dldGhzZW1hbmVfdGFuZ283MTc0LmpwZy8xOTZweC1KZXJ1c2FsZW1fR2V0aHNlbWFuZV90YW5nbzcxNzQuanBn" decoding="async" width="196" height="85" class="mw-file-element" data-file-width="1380" data-file-height="600">
	ein guter Baum; tristis est anima mea; wir danken dir;

despised and rejected
singing the praises of
	the scuttled; the banned; and those who have; just given up; just given up;

Did you know ...

... that "Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud,"
written by Paul Gerhardt after the Thirty Years War,
was translated as
"Go Forth, My Heart, and Seek Delight"?

16 March 2012

Good article

Great Dismal Swamp maroons

A new experience: I found the article in the sandbox of PumpkinSky when he was blocked, rescued it with the help of 17 others for Main page history and nominated it for GA.

My contribution to the article: "These groups are very inspirational. As details unfold, we are increasingly able to show how people have the ability, as individuals and communities, to take control of their lives, even under oppressive conditions."

If you want the author to be free to write more articles like that, you can simply sign here, for background see his talk and archives and more here --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:04, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

11 July 2012

Did you know ...

... that Samuel Barber derived his choral composition Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) from his successful Adagio for Strings, showing "the work's sense of spirituality"?

... that Bach's chorale cantata Meine Seel erhebt den Herren, BWV 10, is based not on a chorale, but on the Magnificat sung by Mary when she visited Elizabeth (pictured)? (2 July 2011, Feast of the Visitation)
... that Bach has a trumpet tell God's glory in cantata Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, BWV 76 , first performed in the Thomaskirche, but oboe d'amore and viola da gamba express "brotherly devotion"? (7 July 2011 - I dedicate my first GA to BarkingMoon (talk · contribs) who made these cantatas lead DYK a year ago and left - for lack of "brotherly devotion".)

Christmas 2012

Did you know ...

... that Bach's cantata for the second day of Christmas, Darzu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes ("For this the Son of God appeared"), BWV 40, is his first Christmas cantata composed for Leipzig?
... that the Annunciation to the shepherds (pictured) in Handel's Messiah, Part I is the only scene from a Gospel in the oratorio?
... that Markus Flaig brought Handel's darkness and great light to St. Martin, Idstein?
... that Bach has a trumpet tell God's glory in cantata Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, BWV 76 , but oboe d'amore and viola da gamba express "brotherly devotion"?

7 July 2011

a year later I dedicated my first GA to BarkingMoon (talk · contribs)

who made the cantata a lead DYK and left

for lack of br'erly devotion.

13 January 2013

Did you know ...

... that soprano Rachel Nicholls, a performer of Wagner's Brünnhilde, sang in Bach's dialogue cantata Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen (Dearest Jesus, my desire) "a clear Lutheran analogy to a love duet"?
... that the Comet Hale-Bopp (pictured) inspired Graham Waterhouse to compose Hale Bopp for string orchestra, which ends with a boy soprano singing How Brightly Shines the Morning Star?
... that Bach has a trumpet tell God's glory in cantata Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, BWV 76 , but oboe d'amore and viola da gamba express "brotherly devotion"?

7 July 2011

a year later I dedicated my first GA to BarkingMoon (talk · contribs)

who made the cantata a lead DYK and left

for lack of br'erly devotion.

2 February 2013

Did you know ...

... that motifs of joy in the strings connect recitative and chorale in a movement of the Bach cantata for Purification, Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin, BWV 125, on the Nunc dimittis canticle of Simeon (pictured)? (dedicated to PumpkinSky 2 February 2012)
... that Bach's solo cantata Ich habe genug, BWV 82, based on the Canticle of Simeon, was recorded more than 100 times?
... that Bach has a trumpet tell God's glory in cantata Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, BWV 76 , but oboe d'amore and viola da gamba express "brotherly devotion"?

7 July 2011 - a year later I dedicated my first GA to BarkingMoon (talk · contribs)

who made the cantata a lead DYK and left

for lack of br'erly devotion

13 February 2013

Letting Go of the Past
It is frightening to let go
of the past. It is like letting go of something
that is precious. That includes the feeling for
everything that has been, and also, for what was
once a solid identity built on deprivation.
Letting go of the past
must be done gradually and with
special care;
one old belief at a time
and only one fear. ...
Thank you, Poeticbent

29 March 2013

Did you know ...

... that Samuel Barber derived his choral composition Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) from his successful Adagio for Strings, showing "the work's sense of spirituality"? (for UO)
... that in Handel's Messiah, Part II contains the famous Hallelujah Chorus and the oratorio's longest movement, the air for alto He was despised? (for BM and GFH)
... that Bach's St Matthew Passion is structured in 67 movements, and tells the Passion based on the Gospel of Matthew, Picander's contemporary poetry, and chorales?

31 March 2013

Music for Easter

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina: Sicut cervus desiderat at fontes
Charles Wood: Halleluja
Orlando di Lasso: Surrexit pastor bonus
W. A. Mozart: Spatzenmesse

19 May 2013

Music for Pentecost

Sunday in St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden

William Lloyd Webber: Missa Princeps Pacis (1962)

Monday in Unionskirche, Idstein (pictured)

Václav Emanuel Horák: "Veni Creator Spiritus"
William Boyce: "Come Holy Ghost"
Mozart: Veni Sancte Spiritus, K. 47
Michael Praetorius: "Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist"

22 May 2013

Did you know ...

... that Patrice Chéreau, born 2 November 1944, staged the 1976 centenary production of Der Ring des Nibelungen (pictured), conducted by Pierre Boulez? (DYK Opera 2 November 2012)
... that Helene Wildbrunn, a celebrated Wagnerian soprano at the Vienna State Opera and La Scala, began her career in 1907 as a contralto at the Stadttheater Dortmund? (DYK 2 August 2012)
... that Sebastian Weigle, named "Conductor of the Year" by Opernwelt three times between 2003 and 2006, performed Wagner's Ring Cycle at the Frankfurt Opera? (DYK 23 March 2012)
... that Ulf Schirmer, director of the Oper Leipzig, conducted Richard Wagner's early opera Die Feen as part of the Wagner Year 2013, to be performed in concert at the Bayreuth Festival? (DYK 21 February 2012)
... that soprano Janis Martin appeared at the Zurich Opera as Isolde in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde? (DYK 6 November 2010)
... that soprano June Card appeared as Freia and Gutrune in Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, conducted by Michael Gielen and staged by Ruth Berghaus at the Frankfurt Opera? (DYK 27 August 2010)

29 May 2013

Mass in B minor structure

Did you know ... that Johann Sebastian Bach reworked music from more than three decades earlier for the central piece Crucifixus in the symmetrical structure of his Mass in B minor?

(23 May 2013) work in progress

9 June 2013

Did you know ... that Bach has a trumpet tell God's glory in cantata Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, BWV 76 , first performed in the Thomaskirche (pictured), but oboe d'amore and viola da gamba express "brotherly devotion"?

I dedicated my first GA to BarkingMoon (talk · contribs) who made the cantata for the second Sunday after Trinity a lead DYK on 7 July 2011 and left - for lack of "br'erly devotion".

12 June 2013

Operatic Did you know ...

... that Camille Saint-Saëns reflected Japonism, using "oriental"
pentatonic harmony in La princesse jaune (The Yellow Princess),
premiered on 12 June 1872?

... that Richard Strauss, born 11 June 1864, was not permitted to study Wagner's music as a boy and bought a score of Tristan und Isolde (opening picured) at age 16?
... that Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, termed by the composer "eine Handlung" (an action) and reputedly unperformable, premiered at the Munich Opera on 10 June 1865?

3 July 2013

A Birthday

... that Felice Bauer and Franz Kafka first met 100 years ago today in Prague, exchanged hundreds of letters, and were engaged twice? (13 August 2012)
... that Ottla Kafka, the youngest and dearest sister of Franz Kafka, died in the Holocaust because she divorced her Catholic husband?
... that in 1922, Franz Kafka's story "Ein Hungerkünstler" first appeared in *Die neue Rundschau, a German literary magazine founded in 1890 and still in print?
... that the German left-liberal daily paper Berliner Börsen-Courier published stock exchange data from 1868, had a sports reporter from 1885 and made playwright Bertolt Brecht known in 1922?
... that Franz Kafka wrote the 109 Zürau Aphorisms at the estate of his sister Ottla and her husband in Zürau where he sought recovery from tuberculosis?
... that translators of Franz Kafka's works [1] must cope with ambiguous words like Verkehr, which refers both to traffic and sexual intercourse? (3 July 2013)

21 August 2013

Did you know ...

... that the musicians of the chamber orchestra Kammerorchester Basel accompanied Andreas Scholl (pictured) in Bach cantatas and also sang the closing chorale of Gott soll allein mein Herze haben, BWV 169?

"Du süße Lieb, schenk uns deine Gunst"

(O sweet love, grant us your favour, let us exprience love's ardour, that we love each other from our hearts and stay in peace in one sense. Kyrieleis) (1524)

28 August 2013

Birmingham music

28 August 2013 - Kurhaus Wiesbaden - Rheingau Musik Festival

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet
Edward Elgar: Cello Concerto
Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 8

Sol Gabetta
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons

Did you know

... that when rehearsing Dvořák's Eighth Symphony, conductor Rafael Kubelík said: "Gentlemen, in Bohemia the trumpets never call to battle – they always call to the dance!"?
... that Ben Gunn, imprisoned 32 years for killing a friend when he was 14, earned a Master of Arts degree in peace and reconciliation?

(History 2 September 2013)

"Let us not forget that even one book, one pen, one teacher can change the world", Malala Yousafzai at the opening of the Library of Birmingham on 3 September 2013

29 September 2013

Did you know ...

... that two conductors shared performances of Verdi's Messa da Requiem in St. Martin, Idstein?
... that Johann Sebastian Bach reworked music from more than three decades earlier for the central piece Crucifixus in the symmetrical structure of his Mass in B minor?
... that the Baroque orchestra L'arpa festante produced the first recording of a Passion by Telemann and played Bach's Mass in B minor in the Cathedral of Trier? [2]

3 October 2013

Did you know ...

... that the church choir Chor von St. Bonifatius (pictured) celebrates 150 years today, singing in Wiesbaden the premiere of a Missa solemnis by Colin Mawby, conducted by Gabriel Dessauer? (3 October 2012)
... that Franz Schubert's sixth and final mass was not performed until October 1829, almost a full year after his death? ([3])

16 October 2013

to the memory
of the scuttled,
the banned
and those who have
just given up

31 October 2013

to the memory
of the scuttled,
the banned
and those who have just given up

6 November 2013

Did you know ...

... that a French team created the Jahrhundertring (scene pictured) of Wagner's Ring Cycle at the centenary Bayreuth Festival in 1976, causing "a near-riot"? (Statistics November 2013)
... that Patrice Chéreau, the stage director of the centenary Ring Cycle in Bayreuth, directed the film Intimacy, which "sparked a debate about unsimulated sex on screen"?
... that the song "Ermutigung" by Wolf Biermann, encouraging people not to become hardened in hard times, was written for Peter Huchel, then under house arrest?
... that Johann Sebastian Bach reworked music from more than three decades earlier for the central piece Crucifixus in the symmetrical structure of his Mass in B minor ?

24 December 2013

Music for Christmas, - did you know ...

... that at age 79, composer Heinrich Schütz (pictured) published only the recitatives of his Christmas Story and offered the other music for sale on request?
... that A Boy was Born (pictured), the first major vocal composition by Benjamin Britten, received its premiere in 1934 as a BBC broadcast?
... that Die Singphoniker recorded Schubert's complete part songs and Singphonic Christmas, European Christmas carols?

Christmas eve in St. Martin, Idstein

Andreas Hammerschmidt: "Machet die Tore weit"
George Frideric Handel: "Tochter Zion, freue dich"
Nikolaus Herman: "Lobt Gott, ihr Christen, alle gleich"
Giuseppe Jannacconi: "Ich verkündige euch große Freude"
Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel: Kündlich groß ist das gottselige Geheimnis (Christmas cantata, closing choral "Der Sohn des Vaters, Gott von Art")
Adam Gumpelzhaimer: "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her"
Michael Praetorius: "Es ist ein Ros entsprungen"
Heinrich Schütz: Beschluss from Weihnachtshistorie

Chor St. Martin, strings of the Orchester St. Martin, conductor: Franz Fink

Christmas day in St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden

Michael Haydn: Missa Sancti Francisci Seraphici

Soloists, Chor von St. Bonifatius, members of the Hessisches Staatsorchester, conductor: Gabriel Dessauer

31 December 2013

to the memory
of the scuttled,
the banned
and those who have just given up

Did you know ...

... that Bach set Johann Gramann's hymn "Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren" in a cantata reflecting the end of the year with praise?
... that A Boy was Born (pictured), the first major vocal composition by Benjamin Britten, received its premiere in 1934 as a BBC broadcast?
... that the song "Ermutigung" by Wolf Biermann, encouraging people not to become hardened in hard times, was written for Peter Huchel, then under house arrest?

9 January 2014

Clay

moon in pumpkin sky

the inheritance of loss

move like this sing blue

28 January 2014

to the memory
of the scuttled,
the banned
and those who have just given up

Duck Attack! in blue
Four Last Songs
Hope is precious and great joy is found in living

4 February 2014

Did you know ...

... that a German Magnificat, or Song of Mary, ends the last work by composer Heinrich Schütz, known as his swan song? (for 28bytes)
... that in John Rutter's Latin Magnificat of 1990, the text of the second movement is a poem to Mary, "Of a Rose, a lovely Rose"?
... that Bach's chorale cantata Meine Seel erhebt den Herren, BWV 10, is based not on a chorale, but on the Magnificat sung by Mary when she visited Elizabeth (pictured)? (for BarkingMoon)

20 February 2014

Sorrow

in memory
of the scuttled,
the banned
and those who have just given up

Hope is precious and great joy is found in living

26 February 2014

to the memory
of the scuttled,
the banned
and those who have just given up

Hope is precious
and great joy is found in living

1 April 2014

to the memory
of the scuttled,

the banned
and those who
have
just
given
up

with passion

14 April 2014

to the memory of the dead
Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, o Herr for Adrianne
Valet will ich dir geben for Cindy
with passion

16 April 2014

to the memory of the dead
Valet will ich dir geben for Cindy
Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, o Herr for Adrianne
with passion

Passion 2014

Did you know ...

... that texts by the lawyer and successful opera librettist Christian Heinrich Postel are part of Bach's St John Passion?
... that when Michael Weiße published 157 songs in German for the Bohemian Brethren, it was the most extensive hymnal of his time, and the first organized by topic?
... that three of 16 stanzas of Paul Gerhardt's hymn "O Welt, sieh hier dein Leben" appear in Bach's Passions, two in St John and two in St Matthew?
... that Bach used a stanza from "Vater unser im Himmelreich", Luther's versification of the Lord's Prayer, as a chorale in his St John Passion?
... that the Sterbelied "Valet will ich dir geben" is described in a subtitle as a song of consolation, in which a pious heart bids farewell to this world?
... that the third verse of Martin Schalling's death song "Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, o Herr" concludes Bach's St John Passion in its first and fourth version, ending with "praise you for ever"?
... that in the structure of Bach's St John Passion (first page pictured), the centre of symmetry is "Durch dein Gefängnis ...", expressing: "By your prison ... came our freedom"?

Easter 2014

Did you know ... that the Easter egg tree (pictured) in Saalfeld, Thuringia, was decorated with 10,000 Easter eggs in 2012? (19 April 2012)

Saturday in St. Martin, Idstein

Markus Melchiori: Das Grab ist leer
Charles Wood: Danket dem Herrn, denn er ist gütig
Melchior Vulpius: Gelobt sei Gott im höchsten Thron
Heinrich Schütz: Cantate Domino canticum novum
Orlando di Lasso: Surrexit pastor bonus
Théodore Dubois: Toccata in G

Sunday in St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden

Joseph Haydn: Nelson Mass
Naji Hakim: Toccata from I Love The Colourful World

Did you know ... that Bach created an "operatic scene" in his cantata Halt im Gedächtnis Jesum Christ, BWV 67, with Jesus serenely repeating "Peace be with you" against the raging of the enemies?

17 May 2014

to the memory of the dead,
the scuttled, the banned
and those who have
just given up
just given up
just given up

Remember not, Lord, our offences

Pentecost 2014

Sunday in St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden

Josef Rheinberger: Missa St. Crucis in G, op. 151 (1882)

Monday in St. Martin, Idstein

Michael Praetorius: "O Heilger Geist, kehr bei uns ein"
Rutter: "I will sing with the spirit"
Melchior Vulpius: "Der Geist des Herr erfüllt das All"
Rutter: "Nun danket alle Gott"

Did you know ... that Bach marked to repeat the opening chorus of cantata Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! BWV 172, after the final chorale?

28 June 2014

Did you know ... that Richard Strauss reportedly composed "Traum durch die Dämmerung" ("Dream in the Twilight"), on a love poem by Otto Julius Bierbaum, in 20 minutes?
(#511)

6 July 2014

On this day: 6 July

Did you know ... that Bach has a trumpet tell God's glory in cantata Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes, BWV 76 , first performed in the Thomaskirche, but oboe d'amore and viola da gamba express "brotherly devotion"?

2011: BarkingMoon (talk · contribs) made the cantata lead DYK and left - for lack of "brotherly devotion". He expanded the Invisible Rail.

13 July 2014

Danket dem Herrn in St. Martin, Idstein

Festive multichoral sacred music by Heinrich Schütz

13 August 2014

Magnificat:
A Boy was Born
Of a Lili, a lovely Lili,
of a Lili is all my song

2 September 2014

singing the praises of
the scuttled
the banned
and those who have
just given up
just given up
just given up

11 September 2014

dreaming in hope

3 October 2014

Did you know ... that in John Rutter's Latin Magnificat of 1990, the text of the second movement is a poem to Mary, "Of a Rose, a lovely Rose"?

29 October 2014

Did you know ... that in the motet Locus iste, composed for the dedication of the votive chapel of Linz Cathedral, Anton Bruckner requests a pause "by carefully measuring out five beats"?

31 October 2014

Did you know ...

... that Belinda Nash researched the history of the Witch of Pungo for decades?
... that Idstein Castle has a witches' tower?
... that Luther published his Reformation theses (amore et studio elucidandae) OTD in 1517?
... that a friend made his fist edit OTD ten years ago, to United Nations Convention against Torture, and went on to quote "the only real nation is humanity?
... that a friend left in disGrace OTD four years ago?
... that I try to keep calm and carry reformation on?

Sing pause peace 2014

Did you know ...

... that the hymn "Jesu, meine Freude" (Jesus, my joy) by Johann Franck and Johann Crüger mentions singing in defiance of the "old dragon", death, and fear?
... that in the motet Locus iste, composed for the dedication of the votive chapel of Linz Cathedral, Anton Bruckner requests a pause "by carefully measuring out five beats"?
... that Geistliche Chormusik, a collection of 29 motets by Heinrich Schütz containing a "plea for peace", appeared in 1648, when the Thirty Years' War ended?

16 November 2014

Selig sind die Toten in St. Martin, Idstein [4]

Mourning, war and peace

Heinrich Schütz: Selig sind die Toten, SWV 391
Johann Caspar Kerll: Requiem (Introit of the Missa pro defunctis)
Dieterich Buxtehude: Mit Fried und Freud + Klag-Lied
John Dowland: Flow My Tears
Arvo Pärt: Da pacem Domine
Schütz: Nun lässest Du Deinen Diener in Frieden fahren, Nunc dimittis from Musikalische Exequien, SWV 281
Schütz: Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt, SWV 380

Did you know ... that Arvo Pärt began his choral composition Da pacem Domine (Give peace, Lord) two days after the 2004 Madrid train bombings?

Durch ein persönliches schlichtes Klag-Lied erweiterte Dieterich Buxtehude Mit Fried und Freud zu einer Trauermusik für seinen Vater.

Thanksgiving 2014

Did you know ... that botanist Thomas W. Whitaker was honored for his work with squashes and pumpkins by having a squash variety named after him?

Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir

Gratias agimus tibi

4 December 2014

Happy birthday! - Did you know ...

... that Gabriel Dessauer conducted in Wiesbaden the premiere of Reger's Hebbel Requiem in the organ version of Max Beckschäfer?
... that the church choir Chor von St. Bonifatius celebrates 150 years today (3 October 2012), singing in Wiesbaden the premiere of a Missa solemnis by Colin Mawby, conducted by Gabriel Dessauer?
... that the Missa Tempore Quadragesimae by Michael Haydn, a mass suitable for Lent and Advent, contains a section in free tempo?

Christmas 2014

(shamelessly advertising "on earth peace")

Christmas eve in St. Martin, Idstein

Michael Praetorius: "Es ist ein Ros entsprungen"
Felix Mendelssohn: "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"
John Rutter: "Angels' Carol"
"O du fröhliche, o du selige gnadenbringende Weihnachtszeit"

Chor St. Martin, strings, conductor: Franz Fink

Christmas day in St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden

Charles Gounod: St. Cecilia Mass

Soloists, Chor von St. Bonifatius, Hessisches Staatsorchester

conductor: Gabriel Dessauer

Did you know ...

... that the Gloria by Karl Jenkins was premiered in 2010 by The Really Big Chorus?
... that Bach's Magnificat in E-flat major, BWV 243a, was performed for his first Christmas as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, but its initial performance may have been earlier in 1723 at a Marian feast there?

Schon gewusst? A Boy was Born ist Benjamin Brittens erstes großes Chorwerk.

2015

Best wishes for a happy and peaceful 2015!

Did you know ...

... that Bach's cantata for New Year's Day, Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied' (Sing a new song unto the Lord) combines verses of two psalms and Luther's Te Deum?
... that Princess Tatiana von Metternich-Winneburg (born 1 January 1915) turned the East Wing of Schloss Johannisberg into a concert hall for the Rheingau Musik Festival?
... that Bach composed Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht (Time, which day and year doth make) in 1719 as a congratulatory cantata for the court of Anhalt-Köthen?

1 February 2015

Did you know ...

... that the international Reger-Chor celebrated 25 years, singing music by Bach, Van Nuffel, Ryelandt, and Reger's Hebbel-Requiem in Wiesbaden and Bruges?
Johann Sebastian Bach widmete 1733 seine Missa (Kyrie und Gloria) dem Kurfürsten in Dresden, behielt aber die Partitur.
... that the opera house for the Dresden court, Opernhaus am Taschenberg (pictured), opened in 1667 and was dedicated as a church in 1708?
... that Johann Sebastian Bach reworked music from more than three decades earlier for the central piece Crucifixus in the symmetrical structure of his Mass in B minor?

7 February 2015

Did you know ...

... that Bach composed his cantata Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe, BWV 22, as an audition piece for the post of Thomaskantor in Leipzig, displaying a "sheer range of forms and musical expression"?
... that the position of Thomaskantor in Bach's time has been described as "one of the most respected and influential musical offices of Protestant Germany"?

8 February 2015

Did you know ...

... that two conductors shared performances of Verdi's Messa da Requiem in St. Martin, Idstein?
... that Karl Jenkins conducted the premiere of his Te Deum, "a joyous, theatrical piece", in the European Capital of Culture of 2008, Liverpool?
... that Karl Jenkins derived Palladio, a concerto grosso for string orchestra named after Palladio, from his TV commercial for De Beers diamonds?
... that the Gloria by Karl Jenkins was premiered in 2010 by The Really Big Chorus? [5]

11 Mar

1 April 2015

Passion 2015

Did you know ...

... that Luther thought the communion hymn "Jesus Christus nostra salus" by Jan of Jenštejn, archbishop of Prague, was actually by martyr Jan Hus?
... that "Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, der von uns den Gotteszorn wandt", Luther's hymn for the Eucharist based on a Latin model, includes thoughts from his sermons during Lent of 1524?

Adoramus te, Christe (Gregor Aichinger):

Christus factus est (Anton Bruckner, aus WAB 9)

Dein Kreuz, o Herr, wollen tiefgeneigt wir verehren (Karl Fink)

Tristis est anima mea (Johann Kuhnau)

... that in a motet for Maundy Thursday, Tristis est anima mea, Jesus says in Gethsemane (pictured) "Sad is my soul even unto death"?
... that a chorale fantasia on "O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß" (O man, bewail thy sins so great) by Sebald Heyden concludes Part I of Bach's St Matthew Passion?

Easter 2015

Påskäggsträd

Saturday in St. Martin, Idstein

Karl Fink: Sende aus deinen Geist – Singen will ich dem Herrn
Handel: Hallelujah, Amen
Bartholomäus Gesius: Heut thriumphieret Gottes Sohn
Melchior Vulpius: Gelobt sei Gott im höchsten Thron
Bach: Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir
Markus Melchiori: Das Grab ist leer

Sunday in St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden

Nepomuk Hummel: Mass in B-flat major

23 April 2015

Thank you for reflecting the Gerechtigkeitsspirale!

Did you know ... that a church's 1510 spiral of justice declares: "Justice suffered in great need. Truth is slain dead. Faith has lost the battle"?

The poem ends with "Praise the right thing (integrity, decency)".

Pentecost 2015

Mozart: Veni Sancte Spiritus
Melchior Vulpius: "Der Geist des Herr erfüllt das All"
Arvo Pärt: Salve Regina

Did you know ... that Arnold Schönberg arranged Bach's chorale partita on Luther's hymn for Pentecost "Komm, Gott Schöpfer, Heiliger Geist", a paraphrase of "Veni Creator Spiritus"?

31 May 2015

Did you know ...

... that the 1715 Bach cantata O heilges Geist- und Wasserbad, BWV 165, relates to Jesus teaching Nicodemus about "being born of water and of the Spirit"?
... that the organ in the village church of Störmthal was approved by Bach and dedicated with a cantata written for the occasion?
... that Ernst Pepping composed symphonies, a German mass in 1938, a Latin mass in 1948, and Jesus und Nikodemus?

7 June 2015

50 years St. Martin, Idstein

Bach: Sinfonia from Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir, Air & Gavotte
Brixi: Missa brevis in C
Bruckner: Locus iste
Rutter: Nun danket alle Gott

Did you know ...

... that Johannes Krahn designed the Bienenkorbhaus (Beehive House) in Frankfurt and St. Martin in Idstein?
... that two conductors shared performances of Verdi's Messa da Requiem in St. Martin, Idstein?

that Gabriela Eibenová (pictured) flew from Prague to Frankfurt to fill in for a soprano in Bach's Mass in B minor in St. Martin, Idstein?
... that John Eliot Gardiner noted the "immensity, vigour, flexibility and imagination of the opening chorus" of Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot, BWV 39?
... that in the motet Locus iste, composed for the dedication of the votive chapel of Linz Cathedral, Anton Bruckner requests a pause "by carefully measuring out five beats"?

more memories?

12 June 2015

Happy birthday, Egon Schiele!

Did you know ... that "Geh aus, mein Herz, und suche Freud", written by Paul Gerhardt after the Thirty Years War, was translated as "Go Forth, My Heart, and Seek Delight"?

27 August 2015

Rheingau Musik Festival, 27 August 2015, St. Stephan

Rolf Beck for his 70th birthday

Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf

Komm, Jesu, komm

Fürchte dich nicht

Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied

28 August 2015

28 August 2013

Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 8

"Let us not forget that even one book, one pen, one teacher can change the world", Malala Yousafzai at the opening of the Library of Birmingham (pictured) on 3 September 2013

17 September 2015

I adopted a kitten and named her Ala.

November 2015

Gabriel Fauré: Cantique de Jean Racine op. 11 (1865)
Olivier Latry: Salve Regina (2007)
Gabriel Fauré: Requiem op. 48 (1888)

Saturday 7 November in St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden (pictured)

Sunday 15 November in St. Martin, Idstein

Advent

Übers Gebirg Maria geht
Over the mountains Mary goes

go over the mountains be inspired support each other sing (16th century)

*dream*

Did you know that Max Reger composed "in new simplicity" Unser lieben Frauen Traum, about a dream of Mary of a tree growing in her?

Advent
go · dream · wake up

Christmas 2015

Fürchte dich nicht – Fear not

Did you know that in his Christmas cantata
Unser Mund sei voll Lachens, BWV 110,
Bach embedded voices in the overture of his
fourth orchestral suite and achieved a
"marvellous rendition of laughter-in-music"?

Christmas eve in St. Martin, Idstein

Puer natus est pro nobis
Giovanni Paolo Cima: Hodie Christus natus est
Tomás Luis de Victoria: O magnum mysterium
Jan Sandström: Es ist ein Ros entsprungen

Christmas day in St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden

Bach: chorale movements from Christmas Oratorio (1, 5, 24, 43, 54, 59, 64)

May our mouth be full of laughter

2015 review

9 January
seek delight

8 February

Jenkins Te Deum

29 March
thank you

23 April
spiral of justice

24 May
Salve Regina

22 June
Jesus und Nikodemus

7 July
Mass in C major

17 August
confused

1 September
fear not

October
vacation

15 November

Cantique de Jean Racine Latry Salve Regina Faurè Requiem

December
wake up

2016

peace bell

Tutto nel mondo è burla

Did you know ...

... that music from Bach's cantata for New Year's Day,
Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm,
BWV 171, appears in his Mass in B minor?
... that the ice-breaking in the title
Islossningen i Uleå älv, a 1889 composition for
narrator, men's chorus, and orchestra
by Jean Sibelius, was a political statement?

14 Feb Gunsenheimer: Die Versuchung Jesu

25 Mar Kuhnau Tristis est anima mea

27 Mar Haydn: Missa in tempore belli

16 Apr Haydn Die Schöpfung

12 Jun Rossini Petite messe solennelle

27 Aug Reger Der 100. Psalm

3 Oct Mendelssohn Elias

6 Nov Reulein Laudato si'

WIKIPEDIA15

Did you know ...

... that director Frank Stähle revived the choir and orchestra of Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium and conducted them in Mozart's Requiem for the centenary of the Lutherkirche?
... that Max Deutsch intentionally destroyed his compositions so that his only surviving legacy would be his students?

how much heartache

RIP

15 Jan

5 Feb
Pierre Boulez

(1925–2016)

10 Mar
Nikolaus Harnoncourt

(1929–2016)

14 Mar
Peter Maxwell Davies

(1934–2016)

11 Mar

27 Jul
Einojuhani Rautavaara

(1928–2016)

Bach's birthday

Did you know ...
BWV 1

... that the mezzo-soprano Pamela Dellal, who recorded music by Hildegard von Bingen and Fanny Mendelssohn, translated all texted works by Bach? ... that Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1, Bach's chorale cantata for the feast of the Annunciation, was first performed on Palm Sunday? ... that Hana Blažíková is a soprano with the Bach Collegium Japan, conducted by Masaaki Suzuki, for the project to record the complete Bach cantatas?

15 April

Pumpkin in the sky with diamonds

Dreadstar ☥ 01:09, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

10 July

10 July
The Witch of Pungo
The good name of Grace Sherwood was restored on July 10, 2006, the 300th anniversary of her conviction.

Franz Kafka: Der Process (The Trial), - we read in the introduction of our article: the story of a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, with the nature of his crime revealed neither to him nor to the reader". Or a woman.

Reger

Max Reger (1873–2016)
Did you know ...

... that the international Reger-Chor celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2010, singing music by Bach, Van Nuffel, Ryelandt, and Reger's Hebbel Requiem in St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden, and St. Salvator's Cathedral, Bruges? ... that Gabriel Dessauer conducted in Wiesbaden the premiere of Max Reger's Hebbel Requiem in the organ version of Max Beckschäfer? ... that Ignace Michiels of St. Salvator's Cathedral has been the organist for the German-Flemish Reger-Chor in works such as Reger's Requiem? ... that St. Stefanus, Ghent, was the venue of a concert dedicated to the Martin Luther Year, featuring Max Reger's setting of Psalm 100 ?


... that "Im April" from Max Reger's Sechs Lieder, Op. 4, has been called "one of Reger's sunniest songs"? ... that poems by Martin Greif inspired music by Max Reger, Alban Berg, Anton Webern, and possibly Gustav Mahler? ... that Max Reger composed his first cello sonata as a student and had it published in London? ... that at the age of 19, while composing Drei Chöre, Op. 6, Max Reger began his lifetime practice of writing dynamic markings in red? ... that Max Reger composed the chorale fantasia Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott, Op. 27, for Karl Straube, who premiered it before it was published? ... that Sechs Lieder, Op. 35, are six songs by Max Reger on love poems by five authors which inspired "some of Reger's most magical sonorities"?


... that Max Reger was inspired by his teacher's chorale fantasia to compose Zwei Choralphantasien, Op. 40? ... that in No. 2 of three chorale fantasias, Op. 52, Max Reger has the chorale tune enter like "the voice of an angel", according to the organist Karl Straube? ... that a reviewer of Zwölf Stücke, Op. 65, twelve organ pieces by Max Reger, wrote that the composer was "still in his storm and stress period"? ... that Max Reger recorded some of his 52 Chorale Preludes, Op. 67, on the Welte Philharmonic organ? ... that after attending the premiere, a critic wrote that *Gesang der Verklärten* by Max Reger "may well reach the outermost limit of musical expression altogether"? ... that Max Reger's Zwölf Stücke, Op. 80, for organ contain nine pieces composed in 1904 and three from 1902?


... that Max Reger based four tone poems, Vier Tondichtungen nach A. Böcklin, on four paintings by Arnold Böcklin, including Isle of the Dead? ... that music publisher Henri Hinrichsen, owner of C. F. Peters in Leipzig, promoted composers such as Gustav Mahler, Max Reger, and Arnold Schoenberg? ... that Max Reger's Eine romantische Suite for orchestra, inspired by three poems by Joseph von Eichendorff, was arranged for chamber ensemble by Arnold Schönberg? ... that Max Reger's three sacred motets for up to eight voices, Geistliche Gesänge, Op. 110, were composed in different years at different places for different choirs?


... that Lula Mysz-Gmeiner, a contralto and influential voice teacher from Transylvania, performed lieder written for her by Max Reger and other prominent contemporaries? ... that Die Weihe der Nacht, composed by Max Reger for a female soloist, men's choir, and orchestra and set to a poem by Friedrich Hebbel, evokes daybreak? ... that Max Reger conducted the premiere of "An die Hoffnung" (To Hope), a setting of Hölderlin's poem and his only orchestral song, with contralto Anna Erler-Schnaudt?


... that Der 100. Psalm, an extended setting of Psalm 100 for choir, orchestra and organ by Max Reger, was premiered simultaneously in Chemnitz and Breslau? ... that Georg Dohrn conducted at the Konzerthaus Breslau the premiere of Reger's Der 100. Psalm, Mahler's Eighth Symphony, and Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto with Vladimir Horowitz? ... that Wolfram Röhrig, who was responsible for "entertaining music" including jazz for the broadcaster Süddeutscher Rundfunk, recorded Max Reger's Der 100. Psalm ? ... that David Timm, the director of music at Leipzig University, recorded his Jazz-Messe together with Reger's Der 100. Psalm?


... that Max Reger composed 20 Responsories in English for use in the American Lutheran church, although he did not speak English? ... that Max Reger composed Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue, Op. 127, for Karl Straube, to be played as the first organ piece at the new Centennial Hall in Breslau in 1913? ... that Max Reger composed "in new simplicity" Unser lieben Frauen Traum, a motet suitable for Advent, about a dream of Mary of a tree growing in her?


... that among the late works by Max Reger are a fragment of a Latin Requiem and the Hebbel Requiem? ... that Max Reger's Nachtlied (Night Song) appears on the recording The Best of the King's Singers? ... that Max Reger had the proofs of his eight-part motet Der Mensch lebt und bestehet open next to his bed when he was found dead on 11 May 1916? ... that in seven last pieces for organ, Sieben Stücke, Op. 145, Max Reger quotes Lutheran chorales and a patriotic anthem?


... that the Requiem by Max Reger is a musical setting not of the Latin Requiem, but of a poem Requiem written by the dramatist Friedrich Hebbel? ... that Max Reger regarded his composition Der Einsiedler, a setting of a poem by Eichendorff for baritone, choir and orchestra, as "among the most beautiful things I've ever written"? ... that Max Reger dedicated Der Einsiedler to conductor Philipp Wolfrum and his choir, but they performed the premiere only after the composer's death, together with his Requiem?


... that in 2008, the Max-Reger-Institute in Karlsruhe began publishing the complete works by Max Reger? ... that Elsa Reger, who had first rejected Max Reger's courting, titled her autobiography Mein Leben mit und für Max Reger? ... that Dr. J. Butz, founded in 1924, has published sacred music by English composers such as Colin Mawby, Christopher Tambling, and Robert W. Jones in Germany?


... that Martin Schmeding recorded the complete organ works by Max Reger on thirteen different organs from the composer's period, including the Sauer organ at Berlin Cathedral? ... that Cybele Records has published award-winning audiobooks, "portraits" of living composers, and in 2016 the complete organ works of Max Reger? ... that Helmut Kahlhöfer conducted his choir Kantorei Barmen-Gemarke in recordings of Reger's Geistliche Gesänge, Op. 110, and Bach's Mass in B minor for the tricentenary of the composer's birth?

28 August 2016

28. August 2013
Birmingham music

5 October 2016

In memoriam Frank Stähle
5 October 2016 Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium

Bach: Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 537 Bach: Ich lasse dich nicht, BWV Anh. 159 Yupanqui: Zamba de Vargas Bach: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 Haydn: Variations in F minor, Hob 17:6 Debussy: Cello Sonata Bach: Chorale "Komm, o Tod, des Schlafes Bruder" from Kreuzstabkantate, BWV 56 Widor: First movement from Symphony No. 6

In memoriam 2016

A Requiem in our time
OREYA singing Samuel Barber's Agnus Dei

Frank Stähle – Wer bis an das Ende beharrt my father – Christ lag in Todes Banden Dreadstar – Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid Pierre Boulez – Ainsi parla Zarathoustra Nikolaus Harnoncourt – Rotraud Hansmann Peter Maxwell Davies – List of compositions Einojuhani Rautavaara – A Requiem in Our Time Max Reger – Requiem Clementia Killewald – Eibingen Abbey a friend – Mitten wir im Leben

6 November 2016

Laudato si'
... that Peter Reulein composed the oratorio Laudato si' – Ein franziskanisches Magnificat for five soloists, choirs, organ and orchestra to be premiered in Limburg Cathedral? ... that the Franciscan Helmut Schlegel wrote the lyrics of an oratorio Laudato si', including writings by Francis of Assisi and Pope Francis, and the Magnificat?


... that in November 2016 Peter Reulein conducted the premiere of his oratorio Laudato si', described as a Franciscan Magnificat, with more than 250 performers at the Limburg Cathedral?

Thanksgiving 2016

Danke
Variedades de calabaza

Happy Thanksgiving with a variety of pumpkins in the Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid

Advent 2016

Evening service in Advent
St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden 9 December 2016

Hammerschmidt: Machet die Tore weit Michael Haydn: Missa tempore Quadragesimae Bach: Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten Colin Mawby: Halleluja Coda J. C. F. Bach: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme H: Balfour Gardiner: Te lucis ante terminum Mendelssohn: In die Trauer greift Gott ein Max Reger: Unser lieben Frauen Traum [6] [7]

Christmas 2016

sing peace to men and women
Singt Fried den Menschen!

Merry Christmas, DYK ... that in the carol "Vom Himmel hoch, o Engel, kommt", printed in 1622, the angels are requested to come from Heaven with musical instruments, to sing of Jesus and Mary, and for peace?

For unto us a Child is born
sing peace more

Handel: For unto us a Child is born John Goss: Behold, I bring you good tidings Mendelssohn: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing! Franz Schubert: Mass in G Naji Hakim: Toccata of I Love The Colourful World

the time is fulfilled
Laudato si'

Merry Christmas, erfüllt ist die Zeit, Magnificat

play for young children
DYK ...

... that the Taschenphilharmonie, called the world's smallest orchestra, earned prizes for classical music embedded in narration for young children?

2017

sing peace

2017 is the year of the reformation.

29 Jan – Reulein – Laudato si' – Frankfurt Cathedral

19 Feb – Praetorius – Mass for two choirs – St. Martin, Idstein

5 Mar – Rossini – Petite messe solennelle

– Herz Jesu Oberrad

16 Apr – Beethoven – Mass in C major – St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden

4 Jun – William Lloyd Webber – Missa Princeps Pacis – St. Bonifatius

25 Jun – Missa Princeps Pacis – Propsteikirche, Leipzig

3 Oct – Handel – Der Messias

– St. Bonifatius

5 Nov – Reger – Der 100. Psalm

– St. Stefanus, Ghent

18 Nov – Rutter – Requiem – St. Bonifatius

26 Dec - Haydn: Theresienmesse - St. Bonifatius

Poulenc

Francis Poulenc (7 January 1899 – 30 January 1963)

... that the catalogue of compositions by Francis Poulenc, published in 1995 by Carl B. Schmidt, contains Concert champêtre, FP 49, inspired by the harpsichordist Wanda Landowska?

... that the early Sonata for horn, trumpet and trombone by Francis Poulenc was described as offering a "variety of tone colors, striking rhythms, delicious dissonances, and elegant wit"?

... that Francis Poulenc composed the four motets Quatre motets pour un temps de pénitence, FP 97, at different times, three of them on responsories for the Holy Week?

... that Francis Poulenc placed an ode to liberty at the end of his Figure humaine, FP 120, a cantata for a twelve-part choir, composed in occupied France and premiered by the BBC?

... that Francis Poulenc's L'Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant, FP 129, for narrator and piano was inspired by children requesting him to play from the book Histoire de Babar?

... that Francis Poulenc Litanies à la Vierge Noire, a French litany to the Black Virgin at Rocamadour, after a pilgrimage to the shrine?

2 February 2017

2 February
in peace and joy I let go

Did you know ...

... that the bass Thomas Thomaschke appeared as
Wagner's Hunding at La Scala,
as Mozart's Sarastro in Glyndebourne,
and recorded Bach's Mit Fried und Freud with Harnoncourt?

... that while English composers often combine "Mag and Nunc", Arvo Pärt set his Magnificat for Berlin and his Nunc dimittis later
for the Edinburgh Episcopal Cathedral?

... that the East German actress Sonja Kehler (born 2 February 1933),
who was known for singing Brecht, taught acting in Denmark?

Reformation

2017 Reformation

Did you know ...

... that the communion song "Gott sei gelobet und gebenedeiet", which Martin Luther derived from an older model, entered Catholic hymnals in the 20th century?

... that Martin Luther paraphrased in "Mitten wir im Leben sind mit dem Tod umfangen" the Latin "Media vita in morte sumus" (In the midst of life we are in death), including its Trisagion?

... that "Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit", a hymn by the Protestant reformer Martin Luther based on Psalm 124, appears in the current Protestant hymnal only partly, within stanzas from a colleague's hymn?

... that "Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort" by Luther was titled "A hymn for the children to sing against the two arch-enemies of Christ, and His Holy Church, the Pope and the Turks"?

... that "Es woll uns Gott genädig sein", a paraphrase by Martin Luther of Psalm 67 in German, appeared in the Erfurt Enchiridion in 1524?

... that "Dies sind die heilgen Zehn Gebot" is a hymnal version of the Ten Commandments by Martin Luther?

... that Martin Luther wrote the song of praise "Die beste Zeit im Jahr ist mein" (The best time of the year is mine)
as part of a poem, not as a hymn?

... that "Es spricht der Unweisen Mund wohl" ("The mouth of fools doth God confess") by Martin Luther was one of eight hymns in the first Lutheran hymnal?

... that "'Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr" is one of the oldest hymns of the Reformation? (1531)

... that three stanzas of the penitential hymn "Ach lieben Christen seid getrost" by Johannes Gigas were retained unchanged for Bach's chorale cantata? (1561)

... that the hymn "Herr Jesu Christ, wahr Mensch und Gott" ("Lord Jesus Christ, true man and God") by the Lutheran Paul Eber appeared in Catholic hymnals from 1567? (1563)

... that the simple hymn "Nun laßt uns Gott dem Herren", used at the end of a meal, became a model for other songs of thanks? (1587)

... that Daniel Rump closely modeled the beginning of his Advent song "Der Morgenstern ist aufgedrungen" after a Tagelied, a wake-up call for lovers? (1587)

... that the Advent song "Macht hoch die Tür" is number 1 in the German Protestant hymnal? (1623)

... that "Jerusalem, du hochgebaute Stadt", a song of New Jerusalem, was written by Johann Matthäus Meyfart, rector of the Casimirianum, for an academic sermon? (1626)

... that the communion hymn "Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele", with lyrics by Johann Franck and a melody by Johann Crüger, was translated to "Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness"? (1649)

... that the Advent hymn "Wie soll ich dich empfangen" with lyrics by Paul Gerhardt had a melody by Johann Crüger when he published it in 1653, but Bach used a different melody in his Christmas Oratorio? (1653)

... that while the Three Kings bring gold, incense and myrrh to the manger, the singer of "Ich steh an deiner Krippen hier" offers spirit and mind, heart, soul and courage as gifts? (1653)

... that in the pastoral poem "Ich will dich lieben, meine Stärke", by Angelus Silesius, the Soul promises to love Jesus until her death? (1657)

... that the lyrics of "Meinen Jesum laß ich nicht" ("I do not let go of my Jesus") are based on memorial sermons for Elector Johann Georg of Saxony, who reflected the ideas on his deathbed? (1658)

... that Michael Praetorius published Missodia Sionia, a collection of 104 pieces of sacred music in Latin, including 14 settings of Amen and a mass for eight voices?

... that Heinrich Schütz published his Symphoniae sacrae I, a collection of 20 "eloquent, sensitive, and often sensuous" settings of biblical texts, in 1629 in Venice, where he studied with Monteverdi?

... that "Ich hab in Gottes Herz und Sinn" is the only hymn by Paul Gerhardt which Bach set to music as a chorale cantata?

... that Bach composed five organ settings of the hymn "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend", which was translated by Catherine Winkworth for communion as "Lord Jesus Christ, be present now!"?

... that in seven last pieces for organ, Sieben Stücke, Op. 145, Max Reger quotes Lutheran chorales and a patriotic anthem?

... that St. Nicolai, Lüneburg, a brick Gothic church with a "star" rib vault (pictured), was the location of the first Lutheran sermon in Lüneburg?

... that when the citizens of Hanover accepted the Reformation in 1533, the 200-year-old Kreuzkirche became Lutheran?

... that Johann Sebastian Bach sang as a choir member for two years at St. Michaelis in Lüneburg, a brick Gothic former abbey church?

... that a Hiroshima peace bell was donated to the Aegidienkirche, the ruin of a Gothic church that was left as a war memorial?

Did you know ...

... that Martin Janus wrote the original lyrics of "Jesu, meiner Seelen Wonne", which Bach used in a cantata in a setting known as Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring?

... that the minister, writer, and publisher Christian Gottlob Barth (pictured) is remembered on 12 November in the calendar of saints?

Did you know ...

... that Otto Riethmüller was director of the Confessing Church's youth organisations and created their logo, the Cross on the Globe, in 1935?

... that facing the rise of Nazi ideology, Otto Riethmüller compiled the song for young people "Sonne der Gerechtigkeit" from hymns of three authors of two earlier centuries?

... that "Von guten Mächten", a poem written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in prison in 1944 where he faced execution, became a hymn with several melodies?

Passion 2017

Did you know ...

... that Bach wrote the chorale
"O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig"
(O Lamb of God, innocent)
in red between the music for the two choirs
in the beginning of his St Matthew Passion?

... that Bach set a stanza
from the evening hymn
"Werde munter, mein Gemüte"
(Become cheerful, my mind),
which Johann Rist and Johann Schop created in collaboration, in his St Matthew Passion?

... that tenor Max Ciolek performed
the Evangelist in Bach's Passions,
and the Mass in B minor
with La Petite Bande in Australia?

Easter 2017

Why seek ye the living
among the dead?

Did you know ...

... that "Christ ist erstanden" (Christ is risen),
possibly the oldest German hymn, mentioned in the 12th century,
was set for choir in the 21st?

... that Charles Villiers Stanford composed the anthem for Easter
"Why seek ye the living?" on Luke 24:5–7 for mixed choir and organ, when he was organist at Trinity College, Cambridge?

... that Ursula Zollenkopf, a contralto of the NWDR Chor, performed solo and choral parts in a posthumous Schoenberg opera premiere
and in an Easter cantata by Bach?

... that Bach's cantata for Easter Monday, Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden, BWV 6,
is based on the Road to Emmaus narration?

... that the opening chorus of Bach's cantata for the Second Day of Easter, Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen, BWV 66, has been termed "one of the longest and most exhilarating of Bach's early works"?

Pentecost 2017

Did you know ...
... that "Der Geist des Herrn erfüllt das All", a hymn for Pentecost,
was written by Maria Luise Thurmair in 1941,
the year of her marriage to the hymn writer Georg Thurmair?

... that Erwünschtes Freudenlicht, BWV 184,
Bach's cantata for the third day of Pentecost,
contains dances, because it is based on a secular model?

Musical memories


The Blessed Damozel

Did you know ...

... that when Debussy wrote his cantata La Damoiselle élue,
setting a poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
he had probably not seen the poet's painting of the subject?

... that the Twelve Fantasias for Viola da Gamba solo,
published by the composer Georg Philipp Telemann in 1735,
were believed lost but published again in 2016?

... that Paula Murrihy, who appeared in operatic title roles
such as Dido, Carmen, Hänsel and the Rosenkavalier,
sang Lieder with viola and piano for the Hessischer Rundfunk?

... that Nicole Chevalier was awarded Der Faust
for her performance of the four female characters
in Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffman at the Komische Oper Berlin?

... that Marc Soustrot conducted at the Frankfurt Opera a staging of both
Debussy's cantata La Damoiselle élue
and Honegger's oratorio Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher?

Telemann

Did you know ...

... that at age 18, Daniel Schiebeler wrote the libretto for an opera by Telemann based on an episode from Cervantes' Don Quixote, which he could read in Spanish?

... that in the opera Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Comacho,
Georg Philipp Telemann characterized the noble people by elements
from the opera seria, and the peasants by Spanish folk music?

... that the Twelve Fantasias for Viola da Gamba solo, published by their composer Georg Philipp Telemann in 1735, were believed lost but published again in 2016?

Auugust 2017

Did you know ...

... that the Basilica of St. James in Levoča contains the world's tallest carved wooden altar?

13 August 2017

Did you know ...

... that the second of Five Childhood Lyrics,
compositions for an unaccompanied choir
by John Rutter, is Edward Lear's
"The Owl and the Pussycat" ?

Wollny

Did you know ...

... that accordionist Vincent Peirani and pianist Michael Wollny,
both multiple ECHO Jazz winners,
recorded the "symbiotic" album Tandem?

... that when the jazz pianist Michael Wollny was artist in residence
of the Rheingau Musik Festival, he played a concert with
Andreas Schaerer, Émile Parisien and Vincent Peirani?

Wollny
Schaerer
Parisien
Peirani

Rüdesheim

Today's featured picture 22 November 2017 - a place of memories

Rüdesheim

Did you know ...

... that Hans Otto Jung was a jazz musician during World War II, led a winery from the Boosenburg, and was a cofounder of the Rheingau Musik Festival?
... that while the medieval bergfried of the Boosenburg in Rüdesheim is extant, its moat was made a wine cellar, and the buildings replaced by a Gothic Revival villa?
... that St. Jakobus in Rüdesheim held services, concerts and an exhibition in 2017 to celebrate 70 years after the church, damaged in World Wat II, was rebuilt?

Thanksgiving 2017

Nun danket alle

Happy Thanksgiving!

Did you know ...

... that the simple hymn
"Nun laßt uns Gott dem Herren",
used at the end of a meal,
became a model for other songs of thanks?

... that Bach used music of thanks
from his cantata
Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir, BWV 29 ,
for his final
Dona nobis pacem (Grant us peace)?

Christmas 2017

Merry Christmastide

mein hertze soll dir grünen
my heart shall green for you
(Paul Gerhardt, 1653)

Did you know ...

... that the musicologist Willi Gundlach, who founded the chamber choir of Dortmund University, trained volunteers to sing a Bach cantata in one day, including Part I of Bach's Christmas Oratorio? (25 Dec)