The Leipziger Universitätschor (LUC) is the university choir of the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

. A mixed choir, it is formed by approximately 100 students from all faculties. It was founded in 1926 as Madrigalkreis Leipziger Studenten (Madrigal circle of Leipzig students), and has gone by its present name since 1938. It is now part of the Leipziger Universitätsmusik.

History

Music at the

has a long tradition. Music was one of four initial topics taught upon the university's founding. The first (director of university music) known by name was Werner Fabricius, who served from 1656 to 1679; he was followed by Johann Kuhnau and Max Reger, among many others. On 17 June 1926, Friedrich Rabenschlag founded the Madrigalkreis Leipziger Studenten in his room in the

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

Bachviertel. The small group performed mostly

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

music of the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

. When Rabenschlag became the church musician (''Kantor'') of the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig, the university church, in 1933, performances were often held there, often in collaboration with the Universitätskantorei. Both choirs merged in 1938 to the Leipziger Universitätschor. Rabenschlag conducted the choir until 1962, when he retired for health reasons. On 27 November 1962, Rabenschlag's successor was Hans-Joachim Rotzsch, who continued to conduct the choir even after he was appointed ''

Thomaskantor (Cantor at St. Thomas) is the common name for the musical director of the , now an internationally known boys' choir founded in Leipzig in 1212. The official historic title of the Thomaskantor in Latin, ', describes the two functions of Cantor ( ...

'' in 1972. During his tenure, the Paulinerkirche, the choir's home, was dynamited on 30 May 1968 by the GDR regime. On 19 December 1973, Max Pommer became the new conductor of the Leipziger Universitätschor. He focused on

historically informed performance Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of Western classical music, classical music which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of ...

s, but also conducted contemporary works by Paul Dessau and

Alfred Schnittke Alfred Garrievich Schnittke (24 November 1934 – 3 August 1998) was a Russian composer. Among the most performed and recorded composers of late 20th-century classical music, he is described by musicologist Ivan Moody (composer), Ivan Moody as a ...

. In 1987, Wolfgang Unger took over as conductor. He revived the academic services, now held at the Nikolaikirche. Unger was appointed Universitätsmusikdirektor in 1991. The choir celebrated its 65th anniversary with a performance of Mozart's Requiem on 22 November 1991. Twenty-five years after the demolition of the Paulinerkrche, the choir performed a memorial concert at the

Gewandhaus Gewandhaus () is a concert hall in Leipzig, the home of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Today's hall is the third to bear this name; like the second, it is noted for its fine acoustics. History The first Gewandhaus (''Altes Gewandhaus'') The ...

on 26 May 1993. The choir's recording of Hugo Distler's ''Litugische Gesänge'' won an Echo Klassik award . Unger led the choir until his death in 2004. He was succeeded by David Timm.

Conductors

Several conductors shaped the choir: * 1926–1962: Friedrich Rabenschlag * 1962–1963: Christoph Schneider (ad interim) * 1963–1973: Hans-Joachim Rotzsch * 1973–1987: Max Pommer * 1987–2004: Wolfgang Unger * 2004–2005: Ulf Wellner (ad interim) * Since 2005: David Timm

References

Literature

* Manuel Bärwald: ''Der Leipziger Universitätschor in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Untersuchungen zu Ursprung, Entwicklungen und Traditionen im Kontext seiner Chorleiter.'' In: Eszter Fontana (ed.): ''600 Jahre Musik an der Universität Leipzig. Studien anlässlich des Jubiläums.'' Stekovics, Wettin 2010, , pp. 349–365. *

External links

* *
Leipziger Universitätschor
vdkc.de {{Authority control Leipzig University

German choirs 1926 establishments in Germany Music in Leipzig