The Kantorei Barmen-Gemarke (Barmen-Gemarke chorale) is a mixed concert choir based in
Wuppertal
Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and to ...
, Germany, focused on sacred music. It was founded by
Helmut Kahlhöfer in 1946 and conducted by him for more than four decades. Their repertory includes great classical works as well as premieres of contemporary music. The choir has appeared internationally.
History
The choir was founded in 1946 by Helmut Kahlhöfer as the church choir of the Protestant reformed parish of the same name.
Kahlhöfer was interested early in a small well-trained flexible group which could perform not only Baroque music but also earlier compositions from the 16th and 17th century. In 1957, the broadcaster
Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the conso ...
began a partnership with the choir which resulted in 123 recordings, from a single chorale to a contemporary oratorio by Ingo Schmitt, a dean of the Musikhochschule.
The choir performed
motet
In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...
s by
Praetorius Praetorius, Prätorius, Prætorius was the name of several musicians and scholars in Germany.
In 16th and 17th century Germany it became a fashion for educated people named "Schulze," "Schultheiß," or " Richter" (which means "judge"), to Latinise ...
,
Schütz Schütz (also spelled ''Schuetz'' without Umlaut ü) is a German surname, deriving from ''Schütze'' (shooter/marksman). Notable people with the surname include:
People
* Alfred Schütz (1899–1959), sociologist and philosopher
* Antal Schütz ...
,
Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
,
Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositi ...
,
Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...
,
Reger
Reger is a German surname, derived from the Middle High German ''reiger'', meaning "heron", likely referring to a tall thin person.''Dictionary of American Family Names''"Reger Family History" Oxford University Press, 2013. Retrieved on 16 January ...
,
Pepping and
Dallapiccola
Luigi Dallapiccola (February 3, 1904 – February 19, 1975) was an Italian composer known for his lyrical twelve-tone compositions.
Biography
Dallapiccola was born in Pisino d'Istria (at the time part of Austria-Hungary, current Pazin, Cro ...
, among others.
Kahlhöfer conducted the choir for more than four decades to 1987, when he was succeeded by Manfred Schreier.
Wolfgang Kläsener
Wolfgang Kläsener (born 1962) is a German church musician, choral conductor, and academic lecturer. He conducted the choir Kantorei Barmen-Gemarke and he is artistic director of the Kettwiger Bach-Ensemble.
Career
Born in Dortmund, Kläsener st ...
was the conductor from 1993 to 2017, succeeded by . All conductors pursued rich stylistic diversity.
From 2004 the choir used a new ''Truhenorgel'' by
Orgelbau Mebold.
They recorded
cantatas
A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir.
The meaning of t ...
and
passions
''Passions'' is an American television soap opera that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1999, to September 7, 2007, and on DirecTV's The 101 Network from September 17, 2007, to August 7, 2008. Created by screenwriter James E. Reilly and pro ...
by Johann Sebastian Bach,
both with Kahlhöfer
as with Kläsener.
In 2001 they recorded Max Bruch's ''Schön Ellen'', a choral ballad for two solo singers, chorus and orchestra, with the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra conducted by
George Hanson
George Hanson (April 12, 1935 – September 22, 2016) was an American basketball coach. Hanson was the head coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers for the 1970–71 season, where he finished 11–13 and led the squad to a 5th-place finish. Hanso ...
. Reviewer
Christopher Fifield
Christopher Fifield (born 1945) is an English conductor and classical music Music history, historian and musicologist based in London.
From 1982 until 2022 music director of the Lambeth Orchestra, Fifield is known for his exploration of neglected ...
noted that they do justice to Bruch's early style, especially at the "jubilant end".
In 2012 they were invited to concerts in Israel with the Sinfonietta Beer Sheva, to celebrate the orchestra's 40th anniversary.
In 2015 they participated in an event at the Stadthalle Wuppertal with flautist
Ian Anderson
Ian Scott Anderson (born 10 August 1947) is a British musician, singer and songwriter best known for his work as the lead vocalist, flautist, acoustic guitarist and leader of the British rock band Jethro Tull. He is a multi-instrumentalist w ...
,
John O'Hara
John Henry O'Hara (January 31, 1905 – April 11, 1970) was one of America's most prolific writers of short stories, credited with helping to invent ''The New Yorker'' magazine short story style.John O'Hara: Stories, Charles McGrath, ed., The L ...
and the Wuppertaler Sinfonieorchester.
References
External links
*
Kulturzentrum Immanuelskirche / Programm(in German) Immanuelskirche
Kantorei Barmen-Gemarke(in German)
Verband Deutscher Konzertchöre The Verband Deutscher KonzertChöre (VDKC, Association of German Concert Choirs) is a national association with seven state organisations. It represents more than 550 member choirs with more than 30,400 singers. It is a non-profit organisation, whic ...
75 Jahre Musik für Wuppertal! – Kantorei Barmen-Gemarke nachhaltig fördern(in German) wsw-taler.de
(in German) Pepping-Gesellschaft
* (in German) Evangelische Kirche im Rheinland 9 December 2016
{{authority control
German choirs
1946 establishments in Germany