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Merry Christmas
Did you know ...
... that Herrscher des Himmels, erhöre das Lallen,
a Bach cantata for the Third Day of Christmas,
contains the only aria
that he newly composed
for the oratorio?
"... dies selige Wunder ..." · read · listen
listen for magic
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| calling heaven and earth to be glad |
We shared knowledge, and continue.
We remembered great people, and continue.
We celebrated Beethoven, were inspired to sing songs at places, and continue!
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St. Martin, Idstein
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Calendar 2021 edit
2020 was another green year
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nettles in frost -
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daisies -
wild garlic -
chamomile and cornflowers -
daisy -
foxglove -
goldenrod -
grapes with leaves -
fall colours reflected in pond -
sunrays in foggy forest -
larch in evening light
Garden edit
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- ... that Stonecrop Gardens in the Hudson Highlands features alpine vegetation and a sunken English garden?
- ... that Innisfree Garden in Millwood, New York, was developed from the 1930s by a painter fascinated with an 8th-century Chinese artist, and a landscape architect from Harvard?
- ... that Lester Collins developed Innisfree Garden over 55 years, and it was listed as in the National Register of Historic Places in 2019?
Courage edit
- ... that Anna Martina Gottschick wrote the hymn "Herr, mach uns stark im Mut, der dich bekennt" because a composer wanted to make Ralph Vaughan Williams's 1906 melody of "For All the Saints" available for German church singing?
- ... that "Lob Gott getrost mit Singen" (Praise God confidently with singing), the first line of a 1544 hymn by the Bohemian Brethren, was used for the title of a songbook aimed at senior citizens?
Months and their music edit
Advent edit
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Did you know ...
... that in Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, a cantata in eleven movements for Advent,
Georg Böhm set all eight stanzas of Luther's hymn, and all differently?
... that "Mit Ernst, o Menschenkinder", a 1642 Advent hymn,
includes a call to penitence that John the Baptist took from the prophet Isaiah?
... that the Advent song "Kündet allen in der Not",
an appeal to tell those in need to take courage,
was written by Friedrich Dörr, based on Isaiah's prophecy?
... that "Macht weit die Pforten in der Welt", written for the Basel Mission,
was included with a new melody in Kirchenlied
to proclaim Christ the King in opposition to the Nazi regime?
... that in 1982, a Magnificat in German
composed in 1707 for soprano, traverso, strings, and continuo
and attributed to Bach and Telemann,
was identified as a composition by Melchior Hoffmann?
... that after the Dreikönigskirche escaped destruction in World War II,
it became Frankfurt's leading venue of church music performances? (19 January 2021)
Christmas edit
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| the sound of bells as a symbol of peace and joy |
Did you know ...
... that St. Michael, a 17th-century chapel
on a hill near Kaubenheim, Bavaria,
which offers services in summer and for Christmas,
received electricity around 1980? (story)
... that Friedrich Wilhelm Kritzinger wrote
"Süßer die Glocken nie klingen",
a popular 19th-century Christmas carol to the melody of an evening song,
evoking the sound of bells as a symbol of peace and joy? (story)
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| calling heaven and earth to be glad |
Did you know ...
... that Psalm 148, calling heaven and earth to be glad,
inspired the 17th-century Christmas carol
"Erfreue dich, Himmel, erfreue dich, Erde",
which Maria Luise Thurmair expanded
with more details from the psalm in 1963?
... that O magnum mysterium,
a motet for double choir by Morten Lauridsen,
is a setting of a medieval Latin text for Christmas
to music described as "ethereal sounds in imperturbable calmness"?
- ... that both Jochen Klepper and Hildegard Schaeder sought solace amidst the horror of the Nazi regime in Paul Gerhardt's 17th-century New Year's song "Nun lasst uns gehn und treten"?
January · Wikipedia 20 · Jerome Kohl in Freundschaft edit
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Did you know ...
- ... that "Lobpreiset all zu dieser Zeit", for New Year in the current Catholic hymnal Gotteslob, takes two stanzas from a 1851 song by Heinrich Bone, a third stanza and refrain from 1969, and a 1529 popular melody by Luther?
- ... that "Lasst uns Gott, dem Herrn, lobsingen", a hymn of praise, was written by Dominican Petronia Steiner in 1944 to a melody which Johann Georg Ebeling created in 1666 for a hymn by Paul Gerhardt?
- Did you know ... that on 15 January, Wikipedia celebrated 20 years?
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to direct Mozart operas at the Vienna State Opera,
focused on the psychology of the characters?
(15 January 2021)
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the choir and orchestra of Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium
and conducted them in Mozart's Requiem
for the centenary of the Lutherkirche?
(15 January 2016)
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... that it took more than half a century to complete
the Neue Bach-Ausgabe,
the second edition of the collected works of Johann Sebastian Bach?
(15 January 2011)
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| Luigi Nono and Stockhausen at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse |
In Freundschaft
Did you know ...
... that Jerome Kohl,
a music theorist of the University of Washington,
was recognized internationally
as an authority on the composer Karlheinz Stockhausen,
publishing a book on his
Zeitmaße in 2017?
February · Bach · Innisfree edit
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Did you know ...
- ... that Bach's cantata Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn was first performed 295 years ago today during a memorial service for Johann Christoph von Ponickau? (6 Feb 2022)
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Did you know ...
... that Anne Bierwirth
has performed the alto part
in Bach's Christmas Oratorio,
and in a recording of
the first Passion oratorio in German
by Reinhard Keiser?
(pictured, 2nd from left,
in Christmas Oratorio
at Unionskirche, Idstein in 2018)
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Did you know ...
... that Innisfree Garden
in Millwood, New York,
was developed from the 1930s
by a painter fascinated
with an 8th-century Chinese artist,
and a landscape architect from Harvard?
March edit
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Did you know ...
... that Chieftain's Salute, composed by Graham Waterhouse,
is scored for Great Highland Bagpipe and string orchestra?
(22 August 2009)
... that Graham Waterhouse composed Rhapsodie Macabre
for piano and string quartet as an homage to Franz Liszt
and played the cello part in Munich and London?
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Did you know ...
- ... that "Wer unterm Schutz des Höchsten steht", a hymn paraphrasing Psalm 91, has been recommended instead of the psalm in the Liturgy of the Hours, and for memorial services after disasters?
- ... that Ich will den Kreuzweg gerne gehen, a Passion cantata for solo bass by Telemann composed in Frankfurt, was performed there in Lent during the COVID-19 pandemic?
- ... that Das Leiden Jesu von seinen Freunden, one of Christoph Graupner's church cantatas, reflects how Jesus suffered from his friends, and ends with a chorale fantasia "full of dissonances"?
- ... that "Der am Kreuz ist meine Liebe" (He on the Cross is my love) is the first line of four hymns from the 17th, 18th and 20th centuries?
- ... that in "Herr, stärke mich, dein Leiden zu bedenken", Christian Fürchtegott Gellert reflected the theological and emotional impact of the Passion of Jesus, using a familiar Passion hymn tune?
April edit
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Did you know ...
... that Leonard Bernstein rediscovered
his setting of Psalm 148
for voice and piano, dated 1935,
in the mid-1980s,
and it was first performed in 1993?
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Did you know ...
... that in the 1930s, the Baroque parterre
of the Schlosspark (aerial view pictured) in Brühl,
now part of a World Heritage Site,
was restored according to the original 1728 plans?
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Did you know ...
... that Jesu, meine Freude
(Jesus, my joy),
a motet by Bach,
has a complex symmetrical structure
in which six hymn stanzas alternate
with five Bible verses?
... that the hymn "Jesu, meine Freude"
by Johann Franck and Johann Crüger
mentions singing in defiance
of the "old dragon", death, and fear?
May edit
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Did you know ...
- ... that "O komm, du Geist der Wahrheit" is an 1833 German-language hymn for Pentecost in which the "Spirit of Truth" is called to come and restore the attitude of early Christianity?
- ... that "Wo Menschen sich vergessen" was the first song in the opening service of the 2021 Ecumenical Church Assembly in Frankfurt, held as an open-air livestream?
- ... that "Segne du, Maria", requesting Mary to bless her child in life and death, was written by Cordula Wöhler in 1870 and finally included in the common Gotteslob hymnal in 2013?
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Did you know ...
... that Philipp Harnoncourt
initiated the restoration of
a Gothic chapel with a triangle floorplan,
originally dedicated to the Trinity
and reopened on Trinity Sunday 2020?
The building,
useless but not senseless
("nutzlos, aber nicht sinnlos"),
was opened with trombone music,
listen
June edit
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Did you know ...
- ... that St. Nikolaus von Flüe, the first Catholic church in Wörsdorf, was consecrated in 1962?
- ... that "Alle Menschen höret auf dies neue Lied", a new offertory hymn with a simple melody, has been suggested for use in confirmation masses?
- ... that "Lass uns in deinem Namen, Herr" is a 1964 Christian hymn with text and music by Kurt Rommel, praying for the courage to take the necessary steps?
- ... that although Vivaldi composed cello sonatas for private international customers, six of them were published in Paris in 1740 without his permission?
- ... that "O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort", translated as "Eternity! tremendous Word", is a hymn by Johann Rist (pictured) that served as the basis for the first work in Bach's chorale cantata cycle?
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Did you know ...
... that the Jubilate by Benjamin Britten
was written in 1961 for St George's Chapel
at the request of the Duke of Edinburgh,
and performed there for some of his birthdays
and his funeral?
10 June 2021
(his centenary)
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Rheingau Musik Festival edit
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Did you know ...
- ... that when La Folia Barockorchester made the first recordings of anonymous violin concertos found in the Dresden Hofkirche, they chose not to discover the identity of the composers?
- ... that the Concerto for Two Cellos, RV 531, Antonio Vivaldi's only concerto for two cellos, begins unusually with the two soloists entering alone in fast imitation?
- ... that Bach's solo cantata Ich habe genug, BWV 82, based on the Canticle of Simeon, was recorded more than 100 times?
July edit
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Did you know ...
... that the Heiligen-Geist-Kapelle in Bruck,
a unique late-Gothic chapel with a star rib vault,
was almost demolished to make room for a highway?
... that a verse from Psalm 85 has inspired artworks
depicting the kiss of Justice and Peace?
3 July 2021 again
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Did you know ...
- ... that the Alfred Fischer Hall, built as the machinery hall for a 1912 coal mine, was the venue for a concert performance of Beethoven's Fidelio in 2021?
- ... that the Protestant Church in Borgholzhausen features a 1501 carved stone altar with scenes from the Passion of Jesus?
- ... that the church cantata Gelobet sei der Herr täglich (Praised be the Lord daily) by Philipp Heinrich Erlebach for four voices and strings is extant in a manuscript score from around 1710?
Opera edit
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Did you know ...
- ... that in Inferno, an opera by Lucia Ronchetti premiered in 2021 at the Oper Frankfurt, the main character Dante has a speaking voice and an inner voice of four male singers?
- ... that Giedrė Šlekytė conducted a version of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte for children at the 2018 Salzburg Festival, and Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites at the Oper Frankfurt in 2021?
- ... that Claus Guth (pictured), recognised internationally for directing the 1999 premiere of Berio's Cronaca del luogo at the Salzburg Festival, later received two Faust awards?
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Did you know ...
- ... that a reviewer noted that when Leo Hussain conducted Weinberg's Die Passagierin at the Oper Frankfurt, the orchestra excelled in chamber music moments, hard beats and distorted entertainment music? 4 May
- ... that Elizabeth Reiter portrayed the double role of Renee, an "icy wife"; and Alice, an "insatiable lover"; in the German premiere of Olga Neuwirth's opera Lost Highway?
- ... that Roland Böer (pictured), who made his debut at La Scala in Milan with Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, was the artistic director of the Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte in Montepulciano?
- ... that the mezzo-soprano of Beth Taylor was the only lower voice when she appeared as Dardano in Handel's Amadigi, portraying her male character with fine vocal lines and "remarkable coloraturas"?
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Did you know ... ... that the Polish mezzo-soprano Agnieszka Rehlis, who sang in the Grammy Award–winning album Penderecki conducts Penderecki, was Verdi's Azucena in Zürich in 2021?
... that Elena Guseva's training as a choral conductor helped her analyse the score when playing Polina in Prokofiev's The Gambler at the Vienna State Opera?
... that at age 22, Yoel Gamzou from Tel Aviv conducted an orchestra that he had founded, playing his completion of Mahler's Tenth Symphony in Berlin?
August edit
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Did you know ...
- ... that "Nun saget Dank und lobt den Herren", a 16th-century German hymn based on Psalm 118, was rewritten and shortened in the 20th century for a hymnal of the Swiss Reformed Church?
- ... that the melody of "Nimm, o Gott, die Gaben, die wir bringen", an offertory hymn written in 2009, is taken from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar?
September edit
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Did you know ...
- ... that Dieter Trautwein gave his 2003 autobiography the same title as his hymn "Komm, Herr, segne uns" (Come, Lord, bless us), for which he wrote the text and music in 1978?
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- ... that Nothgottes, a pilgrimage destination in the Rheingau since the 14th century, is a monastery of Cistercians from Vietnam?
- ... that the first prayer of "Hilf, Herr meines Lebens", a Christian song written when its author was age 85, is not to be on earth in vain?
- ... that in her 2021 composition This too shall pass with string orchestra, Raminta Šerkšnytė used a vibraphone for the flow of time, a violin for the transience of humans, and a "heavenly" cello?
October edit
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Did you know ... Did you know ...
- ... that Fabian Kelly, a tenor focused on historically informed performance, was a soloist in Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine and Handel's Messiah?
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Did you know ...
- ... that the 1974 song "Manchmal feiern wir mitten im Tag" claims that we sometimes celebrate resurrection in the middle of a day?
- ... that the 1979 German song "Selig seid ihr, wenn ihr einfach lebt" offers eight beatitudes which include a blessing for living simply, and another for daring to be kind?
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Did you know ...
... that In Freundschaft
was composed in friendship
by Karlheinz Stockhausen
as a clarinet solo
for Suzanne Stephens,
and later adapted to the instruments
of other friends?
November edit
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Did you know ...
- ... that Felix Mendelssohn, inspired by the singing of nuns at the Trinità dei Monti in Rome, composed the motet Veni Domine for Advent?
December edit
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