Thomanerchor

Infobox musical artist
Name = St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig


Background =
Alias =
Origin = flagicon|Germany Leipzig, Germany
Instrument = Chant (SATB)
Genre = Choral, classical
Occupation = Choir
Years_active = 1212-"present"
Label =
Associated_acts =
URL = [http://www.leipzig-online.de/thomanerchor/ www.thomanerchor.de]
Current_members = Friedrich Weißbach, Richard Drafehn
Past_members = Die Prinzen, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Günther Ramin, Max Ehlert,Mathias Monrad Møller, Lars Städter

The Thomanerchor is a choir featuring boy sopranos in Leipzig, Germany. The choir was founded in 1212. At the present time, the choir consists of 92 boys from 9 to 18 years of age. The members, called Thomaner, live in a boarding school, the "Thomasalumnat", and attend Thomasschule zu Leipzig, a Gymnasium school with a linguistic profile and a focus on musical education. The younger members go to the "76. Grund-schule in der Manetstraße" primary school. Johann Sebastian Bach served as director of the choir from 1723 to 1750.

The Choir

Although the choir's main musical field traditionally consists on the vocal work of Johann Sebastian Bach, the repertoire comprehends chants from all times, from the Renaissance to modernity. Georg Christoph Biller is the 16th conductor ("Thomaskantor") since Johann Sebastian Bach.

The Forum Thomanum is a meeting place in the Bach Quarter of Leipzig. The construction has already began and it should be a big musical campus with the "Thomasalumnat", Kindergarten, Primary School, High School, Choir, Luther Church, Youth hostel, Administration buildings, gym, a rehearsal hall and more amenities. There are some critical voices as well, then the Forum Thomanum project will change the way that the "Thomaner" are instructed and recruited.

The 93 members of the "Thomanerchor" live in the Thomasalumnat in the Hiller street. The boys are separated in "Stuben" and not school classes or groups. One "Stube" is not only a sleeping room, but also an administrative entity with a closed hierarchy and a clear assignment of tasks. There's always an older choir boy with younger in one "Stube" in order to create a hierarchy and didactic relationship. Hence, the education on the Thomanerchor is enforced by the older members and the teachers don't really play a big role. Therefore, it is possible that only 5 teachers look after 90 children. Every year the "Stuben" are distributed again, the ages of the children are considered for the changes and the possibility to influence the social order on the "Stube".

The "Stuben" have only lockable wardrobes ("Köte") and one table for each boy. There are also other furnishings, namely shelves, for books, newspapers and satchels, radios, plants and chairs. Televisions and computers are not allowed and every room has about 10 beds.

The "Thomasalumnat" has also a gym, a rehearsal hall, and a dining-hall where all boys eat together thrice per day, a shop where the tailor sews the boys' suits for the concerts, an archive, a wing of the building for the teachers who live there, a room for the band, a model railway room, a fitness room, a living-room for the older boys, a "press room" for the school's newspaper, a sauna, a library with computers and internet, an infirmary, and a television room. Restrooms are not available for every boy: restrooms are on the hallway for the whole "Stube". There are only two showers for all boys.

The Thomanerchor offers concerts across all of Germany (at least two big tours a year) and abroad. The choir also sings three times a week in the Thomas Church's motet in Leipzig. Every Friday evening at 6 and every Saturday afternoon at 3. On Sundays, they sing during the 9 o'clock service. The choir also sings at protestant festivities. The children have vacations during the summer, paralleling school vacations.

History

The Margrave of Meißen founded on 1212 the Augustinian Choral Monastery ("Augustiner-Chorherrenstiftes zu St. Thomas)". There was an adjoint school to the monastery whose supposed purpose was to foster future priests. Since the reformation on 1539, the school and the choir belongs to the city (not to the Catholic Church); it is also influenced by the Protestant Church of Saxony. This makes the Thomanerchor to the older cultural entity in the city and one of the oldest in Europe. When Johann Sebastian Bach served as director, the choir only had 16 boys. After Bach's death, other famous musicians served as director: among them, Doles, Hiller and Moritz Hauptmann.

By the end of the 19th century, the St. Thomas school next to the St. Thomas Church was demolished and the Choir moved to the Hiller street, now the Leipziger "Music Quarter". During the Nazi era, the choir was incorporated to the Hitler Jugend on 1937. But the Nazi government didn't succeed in infiltrating their ideology into the choir's repertoire because the then-director Ramin concentrated into religious works. He also tried to keep the boys as longer as possible away from being enlisted.

Since 1992 Georg Christoph Biller directs the Choir.

Famous Thomaner

* Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
* Günther Ramin
* Jörg-Peter Weigle
* Die Prinzen
* Hans-Jürgen Beyer
* Georg Christoph Biller
* Jürgen Golle
* Reiner Süß
* Erhard Mauersberger
* Martin Christian Vogel
* Ensemble amarcord
* Stephan Genz
* Hanns-Martin Schneidt
* Martin Petzoldt
* Matthias Weichert

Film

* "Paul Gerhardt - der Film. Mit dem Thomanerchor Leipzig." Hansisches Druck- und Verlagshaus, Frankfurt am Main 2007. ISBN 3-938704-45-4

ee also

* St. Thomas Church, Leipzig
* Thomasschule zu Leipzig

Bibliography

* Horst List: "Aus der Geschichte des Thomanerchores." Thomanerchor, Leipzig 1953.
* Lenka von Koerber: "Wir singen Bach. Der Thomanerchor und seine Kantoren." Urania-Verlag, Berlin 1954.
* Horst List: "Auf Konzertreise. Ein Buch von den Reisen des Leipziger Thomanerchores." Reich, Hamburg-Bergstedt 1957.
* Richard Petzoldt: "Der Leipziger Thomanerchor." Edition Leipzig, Leipzig 1962.
* Bernhard Knick: "St. Thomas zu Leipzig. Schule und Chor. Stätte des Wirkens von Johann Sebastian Bach. Bilder und Dokumente zur Geschichte der Thomasschule und des Thomanerchores mit ihren zeitgeschichtlichen Beziehungen. Mit einer Einführung von Manfred Mezger." Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 1963.
* Hans-Jochim Rothe: "Thomanerchor zu Leipzig, Deutsche Demokratische Republik." Thomanerchor, Leipzig 1968.
* Horst List: "Der Thomanerchor zu Leipzig." Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1975.
* Armin Schneiderheinze: "Der Thomanerchor zu Leipzig." Thomanerchor, Leipzig 1982.
* Wolfgang Hanke: "Die Thomaner." Union-Verlag, Berlin 1985.
* Stefan Altner, Roland Weise: "Thomanerchor Leipzig. Almanach 1." 1996. ISBN 3-98-043131-2
* Gunter Hempel: "Episoden um die Thomaskirche und die Thomaner." Tauchaer Verlag, Taucha 1997. ISBN 3-910074-67-7
* Michael Fuchs: "Methoden der Frühdiagnostik des Eintrittszeitpunktes der Mutation bei Knabenstimmen. Untersuchungen bei Sängern des Thomanerchores Leipzig." 1997
* Stefan Altner: "Thomanerchor und Thomaskirche. Historisches und Gegenwärtiges in Bildern." Tauchaer Verlag, Taucha 1998. ISBN 3-910074-84-7
* Georg Christoph Biller, Stefan Altner: "Thomaneralmanach 4. Beiträge zur Geschichte und Gegenwart des Thomanerchors." Passage-Verlag, Leipzig 2000. ISBN 3-932900-33-2
* Gert Mothes, Siegfried Stadler: "Die Thomaner." Passage-Verlag, Leipzig 2004. ISBN 3-932900-91-X
* Stefan Altner: "Das Thomaskantorat im 19. Jahrhundert. Bewerber und Kandidaten für das Leipziger Thomaskantorat in den Jahren 1842 bis 1918. Quellenstudien zur Entwicklung des Thomaskantorats und des Thomanerchors vom Wegfall der öffentlichen Singumgänge 1837 bis zur ersten Auslandsreise 1920." Passage-Verlag, Leipzig 2006. ISBN 3-938543-15-9
* Helga Mauersberger (Hrsg.): "Dresdner Kreuzchor und Thomanerchor Leipzig. Zwei Kantoren und ihre Zeit. Rudolf und Erhard Mauersberger." Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft Marienberg, Marienberg 2007. ISBN 978-3-931770-46-4

External links

* [http://www.leipzig-online.de/thomanerchor Official Homepage]