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109-906: In addition, the choir has been invited to participate in important music festivals, including the Lucerne Festival under James Conlon , Mario Venzago , Riccardo Chailly and Mariss Jansons , the European Music Festival in Berlin under Roland Bader , the International Festival of Boys Choirs in Poznań (Poland), as well as festivals in Nancy , Maastricht , Venice , Basel, and the Schubert Choir Festival in Vienna in 1997. The Basel Boys Choir

218-535: A Sängerspiegel ("singer's mirror", equivalent to the Scout Promise ) were incorporated. How long this hierarchical group system survived is unknown. However, everyone participated in all of the public appearances. The idea of a choir camp, which originated in 1930, was re-adopted by president Staehelin in 1932, and a camp was held from October 3–13 in Greifensee that year. The fifth anniversary, which occurred in 1932,

327-598: A banker, was chosen as his successor. Around the same time, Rolf Herter, who had resigned as Assistant Director in 1997, returned to former position, which he continues to hold along with Siegrist to this day. In 2003, the KKB took part in the first Venezia in Musica international choir festival in Venice and Jesolo and Performed Bach's Johannes Passion for Easter, 2004. In May, 2005, a concert tour through Bulgaria took place, during which

436-649: A certain extent, the respective Gospel readings of the church services where the six cantatas of the Christmas Oratorio were to be performed for the first time. The six services of the Christmas season 1734–35 where the oratorio's cantatas were to be performed had these Gospel readings: As usual in most of his oratorios, and all of his Passions, the Evangelist character enunciated the Gospel text in sung recitatives , except

545-425: A children's choir, which meant further competition. For this reason, an "educational department" (now known as "Choir 101") was created to avoid any further reduction in quality. Talented singers then still came into the choir right away, and the others went through the educational department. A further improvement came in 1933 with vocal training, for which they were able to employ Helene Sandreuter. The rehearsal space

654-664: A choir camp in Turku . In 1997, the boys' choir celebrated its 70th year with the premiere performance of Joseph Fitzmartin 's cantata Ich möcht' ein Clown sein ("I would like to be a clown", text by Hanns Dieter Hüsch ). In April, a celebratory church service took place in Münster, and in May, the choir participated in a youth culture gala in the Stadtcasino Basel with other youth performing groups in

763-518: A collection of choral and organ works by Felix Mendelssohn , was made. In 1974, a tour of the Netherlands followed with the help of the organist Hans Peter Aeschlimann, and the KKB became a supporting member of the Gesellschaft für das Gute und Gemeinnützige Basel ("Society for a Good and Charitable Basel"). Their first television appearances took place in 1975 and 1976 on Südwestrundfunk . In 1974,

872-592: A comeback to life-music with the ten-day “Life is Live” Festival, during which the Lucerne Festival Orchestra was led by Herbert Blomstedt for the first time. In May 2021 the Festival communicated a new strategy and presented three new festival formats in spring and autumn. The central Summer Festival will in future be complemented in the fall by Lucerne Festival Forward which will take place in November 2021 for

981-511: A cycle of six cantatas, to be performed on several days during the Christmas period, was not uncommon in Bach's day: Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel , whose church music was not unknown to Bach and Leipzig churchgoers, had composed such Christmas oratorios in 1719 and 1728. In the early 1730s, Bach composed a number of secular cantatas, including: Movements from the BWV ;213, 214 and 215 cantatas form

1090-462: A financial reservoir needed to be developed that could weather a bad economy, namely a concert tour endowment. In May, the first European Festival of Youth Choirs took place; the KKB, with Winkler as its business manager and Raaflaub as its musical director, was heavily involved with the planning and execution of the event. In 1993, the choir participated in more than 40 opera performances (including Puccini 's Tosca and Boito 's Mefistofele ) at

1199-467: A greater variety of institutions; furthermore, many members and patrons contributed to the improved financial situation, allowing them, for example, to hire more qualified teachers. Public relations were enormously strengthened and improved, and the choir got a logo by holding a public competition. In the summer of 1973, their first concert tour took place in the Bernese Oberland and their first record,

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1308-587: A group of three oratorios written in 1734 and 1735 for major feasts, the other two works being the Ascension Oratorio (BWV 11) and the Easter Oratorio (BWV 249). All three of these oratorios to some degree parody earlier compositions. The Christmas Oratorio is by far the longest and most complex work of the three. The first part (for Christmas Day) describes the Birth of Jesus, the second (for 26 December)

1417-499: A largely lost church cantata, BWV 248a . The date is confirmed in Bach's autograph manuscript. The next complete public performance was not until 17 December 1857 by the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin under Eduard Grell . The Christmas Oratorio is a particularly sophisticated example of parody music . The author of the text is unknown, although a likely collaborator was Christian Friedrich Henrici ( Picander ). The work belongs to

1526-724: A larger and considerably more expensive location in Nadelberg by the Peterskirche. In December, 1930, the choir celebrated its 25th appearance. Their quality and proficiency had gradually increased, and soloists were already emerging from the choir. In 1931, Ulbrich introduced a hierarchical group system inspired by the Scouts ; following the Meistersinger model, singers could advance from Schüler (beginner) to Sänger (singer), and finally Meister (master). Additional elements, such as patches and

1635-712: A particularly sophisticated expression of the parody technique, by which existing music is adapted to a new purpose. Bach took the majority of the choruses and arias from works which had been written some time earlier. Most of this music was 'secular', that is written in praise of royalty or notable local figures, outside the tradition of performance within the church. The scoring below refers to parts, rather than necessarily to individual players. Adherents of theories specifying small numbers of performers (even to 'One Voice Per Part' ) may however choose to use numbers approaching one instrument per named part. Each section combines choruses (a pastoral Sinfonia opens Part II instead of

1744-427: A perfect fit with the re-used music. It may have even been the case that the Christmas Oratorio was already planned when Bach wrote the secular cantatas BWV 213, 214 and 215, given that the original works were written fairly close to the oratorio and the seamless way with which the new words fit the existing music. Nevertheless, on two occasions Bach abandoned the original plan and was compelled to write new music for

1853-543: A pre-existing melody, in the motet Komm, Jesu, komm , BWV 229 (composed before 1731–32), and at least one entirely by Bach, "Vergiss mein nicht, vergiss mein nicht", BWV 505 , in Schemellis Gesangbuch (published in 1736). Like for his other oratorios , and his Passion settings , Bach employed a narrative based on the Gospel in his Christmas Oratorio . The Gospel narrative of this oratorio followed, to

1962-457: A replacement for Massini. At the parents' meeting, yet another name change was decided upon which was in keeping with its recent shift toward Ecumenism and also conveyed its character as a boys' choir, in spite of the changed voices. This goal was accomplished with the name Basel Boys Choir ( Knabenkantorei Basel, KKB ). The KKB then experienced a tremendous growth: as an independent organization, they were able to ask for financial support from

2071-456: A search commission was formed. The final choice was Markus Teutschbein. Raaflaub's crowning achievement as director of the choir was two sold-out performances of Felix Mendelssohn's oratorio St. Paul . During the months immediately following Raaflaub's resignation, assistant director Herter took partial responsibility for leading the choir, while Teutschbein stayed in Germany. Teutschbein has been

2180-597: A special focus given to sacred music . Performances were held in churches throughout Lucerne, as well as in the KKL and included annual guest performances by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir. Additionally, Bernard Haitink together with the Lucerne Festival Strings led annual master classes for young conductors. The Easter Festival was ended after the 2019 edition. The Piano Festival

2289-421: A text from Georg Christian Lehms 's Gottgefälliges Kirchen-Opffer cantata libretto cycle, which had been published in 1711. In the second half of the 1720s Bach often collaborated with Picander as a librettist for his cantatas. The Shepherd Cantata , BWV 249a, first performed on 23 February 1725, one of Bach's secular cantatas , is an early example of such cantata. Bach reused the music of this cantata in

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2398-495: A weak appearance in a church service in Kleinhüningen, they demanded that the choir refrain from further public appearances for the time being. For that reason, the rehearsal time was extended from 75 to 120 minutes and divided into 60 minutes each of singing technique and choir rehearsal after the summer break in 1930. Meanwhile, the choir had grown to 88 boys, which necessitated changing the rehearsal space from St. John's Chapel to

2507-475: A widely varied range of approximately 100 concerts and related events primarily at the Lucerne Culture and Congress Centre (KKL) designed by Jean Nouvel . The festival started with the so-called "Concert de Gala" in the gardens of Richard Wagner's villa at Tribschen in 1938 conducted by Arturo Toscanini , who had formed an orchestra with members of different orchestras and soloists from around Europe. In

2616-582: Is also the host choir of the well-known and highly successful European Festival of Youth Choirs ( Europäisches Jugendchorfestival, EJCF ). The choir consists of approximately 45 unchanged and 35 changed voices. The changed voices are, as a rule, former trebles and altos who have been in the choir for at least a year. The singers dedicate a considerable amount of their free time to the choir: in addition to rehearsals, there are church services , concerts , concert tours, radio and television appearances as well as CD recordings. A choir camp takes place each year for

2725-455: Is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach intended for performance in church during the Christmas season . It is in six parts, each part a cantata intended for performance in a church service on a feast day of the Christmas period. It was written for the Christmas season of 1734 and incorporates music from earlier compositions, including three secular cantatas written during 1733 and 1734 and

2834-417: Is exceptional in that it contains a few hymn settings, or versions of hymn tunes, for which there is no known earlier source than Bach's composition: There are very few known hymn tunes by Bach (he used Lutheran hymn tunes in the large majority of his sacred compositions, but rarely one of his own invention): apart from what can be found in the Christmas Oratorio , there appears to be one, partly inspired by

2943-545: Is from the 1731 St Mark Passion , BWV 247 . Like for most of his German-language church music, Bach used Lutheran hymns , and their Lutheran chorale tunes, in his Christmas Oratorio . The first chorale tune appears in the 5th movement of Part I: it is the tune known as Herzlich tut mich verlangen , that is, the same hymn tune which Bach used in his St Matthew Passion for setting several stanzas of Paul Gerhardt 's "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden" (" O Sacred Head, Now Wounded "). The same melody reappears in

3052-475: The Gregorian Chant Circle was founded, which fosters continued training in church music, both for older current choir members as well as alumni. Ulbrich pushed for the improvement of educational opportunities: bassist Stefan Kramp was hired as a voice teacher, and the educational department became "Choir 101", which it remains today. In November, 1980, Hermann Ulbrich, the founder of the choir, died at

3161-563: The Berlin Philharmonic , Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra , Vienna Philharmonic , Bernard Haitink , Anne-Sophie Mutter and Sir Simon Rattle . Since the 1970s the annual festivals are organized around different themes. Since 1970 Lucerne Festival has been legally organized as a foundation. Since 1999 the Executive and Artistic Director of Lucerne Festival has been Michael Haefliger, whose contract has been extended to 2025. By founding

3270-597: The Christmas Oratorio for Christmas, 1928, and a Passion concert for Easter, 1929. In August, 1929, a working party was founded on the occasion of the first parents' evening, and Jakob Staehelin was elected its first president, making him also the first president of the KKB. In August, 1929, the Chorschüler der evangelisch-reformierten Kirche Basel-Stadt ("Choir students of the Protestant Church of Basel-City"), which consisted of former choirboys whose voices had changed,

3379-456: The Christmas Oratorio . In detail: The oratorio was written for performance on six feast days of Christmas during the winter of 1734 and 1735. The original score also contains details of when each part was performed. It was incorporated within services of the two most important churches in Leipzig , St. Thomas and St. Nicholas . As can be seen below, the work was only performed in its entirety at

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3488-565: The Christmas Oratorio . The alto aria in Part III, "Schließe, mein Herze" was originally to have been set to the music for the aria "Durch die von Eifer entflammten Waffen" from BWV 215. On this occasion, however, the parody technique proved to be unsuccessful and Bach composed the aria afresh. Instead, he used the model from BWV 215 for the bass aria "Erleucht' auch meine finstre Sinnen" in Part V. Similarly,

3597-572: The European Festival of Youth Choirs (EJCF), which would first take place in 1992. In August, the KKB appeared in the Lucerne Festival and participated in a performance of Leonard Bernstein 's Chichester Psalms . To conclude the year, a tour took place in the Bernese Oberland to commemorate the choir's first concert tour. In November, 1988, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach 's Magnificat and Mozart's Coronation Mass were performed. In 1990,

3706-725: The Kommission für den Unterricht in der Biblischen Geschichte ("Commission for the Teaching of Biblical History", KUBG), and suggested that he found a singing school for the preservation of choral tradition that was in the service of the church, but independent of the YMCA . Lipp passed the idea on to the consistory , where it found little support. Nevertheless, the KUBG approved the charter, which Ulbrich had previously written together with Lipp and YMCA youth secretary Jakob Staehelin, and he took responsibility for

3815-487: The Lucerne Festival Orchestra . International stars are invited to be "artistes étoiles " and "composers-in-residence". The Summer Festival is organized around an annual theme; recent topics have been "Identity", "Childhood" and "Power". The theme of the 2021 Summer Festival is "crazy". The inaugural Lucerne Festival Forward took place from 19 to 21 November 2021. Both artistically and programmatically, it

3924-509: The Pastoral Part II (referring to the Shepherds) is, by contrast, scored for woodwind instruments and does not include an opening chorus. Part IV is written in F major (the relative key to D minor ) and marks the furthest musical point away from the oratorio's opening key, scored for horns. Bach then embarks upon a journey back to the opening key, via the dominant A major of Part V to

4033-623: The Vienna Boys' Choir sang a sold out joint performance with the KKB in Basel's Stadtcasino. At the end of February, the choir was invited to the Festival International de Chant Choral in Nantes . The large jubilee weekend, with choirs from throughout Europe and more than 600 participants from the Basel area, took place on May 16 and 17. This weekend festival can be seen as a kind of pilot project for

4142-535: The annunciation to the shepherds , the third (for 27 December) the adoration of the shepherds , the fourth (for New Year's Day) the circumcision and naming of Jesus , the fifth (for the first Sunday after New Year) the journey of the Magi , and the sixth (for Epiphany ) the adoration of the Magi. The running time for the entire oratorio is around three hours. In concert performance, it is often presented split into two parts. In

4251-568: The liturgical calendar of the German reformation era in Saxony, the Christmas season started on 25 December (Christmas Day) and ended on 6 January ( Epiphany ). It was preceded by Advent , and followed by the period of the Sundays after Epiphany. It included at least three feast days that called for festive music during religious services: apart from Christmas ( Nativity of Christ ) and Epiphany ( Visit of

4360-510: The 13th stanza of Luther's hymn as text. A well-known English version of that stanza is "Oh, my dear heart, young Jesus sweet", the first stanza of " Balulalow ", as, for instance, sung by Sting : Ach mein herzliebes Jesulein, Mach dir ein rein sanft Bettelein, Zu ruhn in meines Herzens Schrein, Dass ich nimmer vergesse dein! Oh, my deir hert, young Jesus sweit, Prepare thy creddil in my spreit, And I sall rock thee in my hert, And never mair from thee depart. The Christmas Oratorio

4469-457: The 1725 first version of his Easter Oratorio . Ihr Häuser des Himmels, ihr scheinenden Lichter , BWV 193a , composed in 1727, is another secular cantata on a text by Picander which was, shortly after its first performance, reworked into a sacred cantata ( Ihr Tore zu Zion , BWV 193 ). In 1728–29 Picander published a cantata libretto cycle , leading to at least two further Christmas season cantatas by Bach: A Christmas oratorio presented as

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4578-715: The 1940s the Swiss Festival Orchestra ( Schweizerische Festspielorchester ) was founded from members of the elite Swiss orchestras, which became a central part of the festival known since 1943 as the Internationalen Musikfestwochen Luzern (IMF) . In 2000 the Internationale Musikfestwochen Luzern (IMF) was renamed as Lucerne Festival. Each festival features resident orchestras and soloists alongside guest performances from international ensembles and artists, in 2019 including

4687-418: The 1960s, Ulbrich handed over some of his responsibilities: his wife, Helene Sandreuter, and his son, Markus Ulbrich, along with Kurt Tschirren, an employee in the administration, assisted him in leading the choir, and Markus Ulbrich and Tschirren Kurse worked in the educational department. In 1967 the "mutant group," a group of singers undergoing a voice change, was formed with the purpose of productively using

4796-629: The Artistic Director of the Academy since 2016 and his contract has been extended until 2025. In 2021 the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO) as a new festival orchestra devoted to contemporary music was founded to bring together current and former Academy students. Through the “Music for Future” category, Lucerne Festival shows its commitment to the generation of tomorrow: not only all those who will be performing in

4905-497: The Basel Girls' Choir were successfully brought to the stage. Three years of fall concert tours of Germany took the KKB through Calw , Limburg , Göttingen and Rotterdam ( Netherlands ) in 2004, Nederhof , Wiesbaden , Wirges and Luxembourg in 2006, and Frankfurt (Oder) , Saalfeld , Jena , and Sondershausen in 2007. After the concert season was over, Raaflaub announced his resignation, effective February 2007. As in 1980,

5014-628: The KKB could also be heard in performances of Die Zauberflöte in theaters in Bern , Basel and Freiburg im Breisgau . The founding of the choir goes back to the initiative of the then-school teacher Hermann Ulbrich, who sang in the Basel Bach Choir and attended the Thomanerchor 's many concerts under Karl Straube in Basel. Ulbrich turned to Ernst Lipp, a fellow singer in the Bach Choir and president of

5123-493: The KKB found itself in deeper financial trouble; the Basel-city canton revoked the KKB's subsidies. Klaus Knall himself stepped down at the end of the year for professional reasons as well as a lack of time. Beat Raaflaub , who just two years earlier had lost the position to Knall, became the new musical director. In 1983 and 1984, various sources of support were withdrawn, and as a result the organization had to be restructured: now,

5232-735: The KKB performed Handel's Coronation Anthems and the Chichester Psalms , choreographed by Parwin Hadinia in the Theater Basel , for its 75th birthday. The concert was so successful that in June, 2003, an extra performance followed in the Schauspielhaus Zürich . Jürg Rauschenbach, who was intimately involved in the execution and the success of the large concert tours through South Africa and Brasil, stepped down as president in 2002. Kuno Hämisegger,

5341-683: The KKB performed with the Charivari at the Carnival of Basel , after which they returned to the Theater Basel for a performance of Alban Berg 's Wozzeck , and they also performed Frank Martin 's Danse Macabre in Münster. In May, 1991, the boys' choir sang on the occasion of the 700 year anniversary session of the Federal Assembly of Switzerland at the Federal Palace of Switzerland in Bern . At

5450-544: The KKB's musical director from February 2007 until Autumn 2016, and his first joint project with the choir was to organize the sixth EJCF in May 2007, in Basel. In September, the choir appeared in the Jugendkulturfestival Basel ("Basel Youth Culture Festival") as well as The Glue's Lala Blabla Pomme d'Adam Festival. In January 2008, Handel's Messiah was performed with the Berner Freitagsakademie in

5559-681: The Lucerne Festival Orchestra, which was introduced to the public for the first time in August 2003, the conductor Claudio Abbado and Michael Haefliger established a link to the very origins of Lucerne Festival in 1938. It was then, with a legendary "Concert de Gala," that Arturo Toscanini gathered celebrated virtuosos of the era together to form a unique elite orchestra. The Lucerne Festival Orchestra comprises internationally acclaimed principals, chamber musicians, and music teachers. With Riccardo Chailly, this unique orchestra once again has an Italian music director. Riccardo Chailly, who became Abbado’s successor in

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5668-559: The Magi ) the period also included New Year's Day (1 January), in Bach 's time still often referred to as the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ . Also 26 and 27 December (second and third day of Christmas) were commonly considered feast days, with festive music in church. If a Sunday fell between 27 December and 1 January, also on this first Sunday after Christmas a church service with music

5777-402: The Polish city of Poznań , and at the end of the year they performed Mendelssohn's Elijah . On January 11, 2001, the boys' choir took part in a performance of Mahler's Eighth Symphony ( Symphony of a Thousand ) involving a thousand performers, including 14 other choirs. Johannes Tolle stepped down as assistant director; he was replaced by Jürg Siegrist, a former member of the choir. In September,

5886-429: The St. Nicholas Church. First performances: The ease with which the new text fits the existing music is one of the indications of how successful a parody the Christmas Oratorio is of its sources. Musicologist Alfred Dürr and others, such as Christoph Wolff have suggested that Bach's sometime collaborator Picander (the pen name of Christian Friedrich Henrici) wrote the new text, working closely with Bach to ensure

5995-415: The Theater Basel. In May, the US concert tour was able to take place, shortened by a week and accompanied by legislator Hans-Rudolf Striebel. The first KKB concerts outside of Europe took place in such cities as New York and Philadelphia. In March, 1994, the KKB performed and recorded Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach 's St. Mark Passion , rediscovered in 1985. This was their first globally distributed recording;

6104-417: The Theodorskirche. Their third appearance, a Bach concert in April 1928, was also their last before a long summer break, during which a large advertising campaign was carried out to ensure the continued existence of the group. Adolf Hamm, an organist at the Münster, played an important role in the campaign; he ensured that after the successful campaign, the choir, which had grown to 63 boys, was able to perform

6213-499: The age of 77; consequently, Markus Ulbrich retired for professional and personal reasons at the end of the year. For the first time, a commission was formed to search for a new choir leader. In the end, the choice was between German cantor Klaus Knall and the leader of the Muttenz youth music school, Beat Raaflaub. The commission unanimously voted for Knall, who took over leadership of the choir in 1981. Upon Knall taking over, Schniepper stepped down as administrative director. In 1982,

6322-429: The area. To conclude the year, three sold-out performances of Joseph Haydn 's The Seasons took place in November. That same year, assistant director Rolf Herter stepped down; he was replaced by a German director named Johannes Tolle. The anniversary concert tour took place in February 1998, taking the KKB through South Africa for two weeks. In May, the choir participated in the EJCF one more time. In October, Raaflaub

6431-445: The basis of several movements of the Christmas Oratorio . In addition to these sources, the sixth cantata is based on a largely lost church cantata, BWV 248a , of which at least the opening chorus is based on the lost secular cantata BWV 1160 . The trio aria in Part V "Ach, wenn wird die Zeit erscheinen?" is believed to be from a similarly lost source, and the chorus from the same section "Wo ist der neugeborne König"

6540-423: The beginning of October, the choir was able to make a scheduled trip to sing in Saint Petersburg , although only weeks before, Mikhail Gorbachev had attempted to stop it. In 1992, a scheduled three week concert tour of the United States suffered a financial setback as a result of the withdrawal of two large sponsors, and had to be cancelled as a result. In response, it was agreed at the yearly general meeting that

6649-413: The board took direct control over the choir. In 1984, Gerhard Winkler took over the presidency from Max Huldi after he resigned. Benjamin Britten 's St. Nicolas was performed at Basel's Martinskirche and in Reinach , and in June, 1985, the KKB made the first German-language recording of the Britten cantata. In September, 1986, soloists from the KKB participated in a production of The Magic Flute for

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6758-425: The boys' choir took place at the Swiss national exposition in Zürich in 1939. After the outbreak of World War II, rehearing became increasingly more difficult, and in 1940 the rehearsal space changed yet again, first to the City of Basel Music Academy , then to the kindergarten at the Basel Mission . Since Ulbrich had to serve in the military until July, 1940, Emil Herrmann and Helene Sandreuter were entrusted with

6867-415: The changed voices were finally allowed to join the unchanged voices; the KUBG approved a trial period for their inclusion. A name change was also discussed, but put off until after the trial period. On August 23, 1958, the first rehearsal with eight changed voices took place, and Ulbrich announced in January, 1959, that their inclusion would be made permanent. However, since no tenors could be found until 1962,

6976-409: The choir became the first foreign choir to be allowed perform in the orthodox Easter celebration at Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Sofia . In January and April of that same year, the choir performed the original version of Gioacchino Rossini 's Petite messe solennelle . In December 2005, an additional performance of Britten's cantata St. Nicolas and Arthur Honegger 's A Christmas Cantata with

7085-565: The choir effective at the end of June. The leadership of the choir was taken over by their son Markus along with two other former choirboys, Kurt Tschirren and Werner Schniepper. Markus Ulbrich placed a heavy emphasis on the works of Heinrich Schütz, with performances of The Seven Words of Jesus Christ on the Cross (1791), St. John Passion (1972), and History of the Resurrection (1974). Tschirren quit in 1972, whereupon Schiepper took over his responsibilities and Hans Peter Oppliger took over Tschirren's responsibilities. Between 1970 and 1972 there

7194-405: The choir fell dramatically from its generally high levels, and the choir had only 16 members in May, 1943, who were not of a high enough quality to give a successful concert with the Schola Cantorum at the Barfüsserkirche ("Barefeet Church"). Fortunately, by 1944 the choir had grown back to 30 members. In May, 1945, the choir organized a thanksgiving service on the occasion of the end of the war. In

7303-424: The choir performed the Lyon Cathedral in Lyon , as well as in collaboration with the Petits Chanteurs de Saint-Marc (featured in the movie Les Choristes ) and gave other performances in Nîmes , Carpentras and Besançon . Shortly thereafter, the KKB appeared in three joint concerts with the Freiburg Cathedral Boys' Choir and the Chœur de Garçons de Mulhouse . In 2011 the Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

7412-449: The choir. The enrollment of new singers was expanded to include students from the second grade and older, allowing them to compete strongly with the Scouts. In 1956, there was another change of president; Studer stepped down because he had to move and handed the position over to the composer Rudolf Moser. In 1959, after the success of a concert with organist Hans Balmer, the choir performed several contemporary works for Swiss radio. In 1958,

7521-430: The choirboys participated in a performance of Mahler's Third Symphony during a Swiss concert series; other engagements at the Lucerne Festival followed in subsequent years. At the end of the year, Britten's St. Nicholas cantata was performed in collaboration with Kantorei St. Arbogast . The choir's 75 year anniversary was celebrated with a three-week concert tour through Brazil in the summer of 2002. The Brazilian tour

7630-510: The city, involving all age groups, and offered unusual concert formats and integrated new technologies. Starting in 2022, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra will open the Festival year annually on the weekend before Easter, under the direction of its music director Riccardo Chailly. A Mendelssohn Festival is planned for the first two years, coupling all of the composer's symphonies with music by his contemporaries Wagner, Schubert, and Berlioz, as well as his role model Johann Sebastian Bach. Following

7739-436: The content upon the Gospel reading for that day in order to achieve a coherent narrative structure. Were he to have followed the calendar, the story would have unfolded as follows: This would have resulted in the Holy Family fleeing before the Magi had arrived, which was unsuitable for an oratorio evidently planned as a coherent whole. Bach removed the content for the Third Day of Christmas (27 December), John's Gospel, and split

7848-478: The deepest boys' voices and the voices still in the process of changing were used to sing the tenor parts. In 1959, the previously discussed name change finally took place: the choir became the Evangelische Kantorei Basel ("Basel Protestant Choir") and became directly controlled by the consistory. In 1960, the choir was shaken by President Moser's accidental death; his successor was Rudolf Massini. In

7957-686: The direction of the choir. Alongside sporadic collaborations with Theater Basel and various orchestras, such as the Basel Symphony Orchestra and the Basel Sinfonietta, plus ensembles from outside Basel such as the Bern Freitagsakademie, as well as with various guest choirs, there were also regular collaborations with the Basel Girls' Choir in the past. A collaboration with the Collegium Musicum Basel Orchestra

8066-434: The double-CD release was distributed by Ars Musici. In April, Gerhard Winkler stepped down as president. His successor was Jürg Rauschenbach. In 1995, the boys' choir embarked on a concert tour of Germany, traveling through the cities of Ulm , Wiesbaden , Göttingen , Hannover and Frankfurt am Main ; the choir also participated in the second EJCF. In 1996, a concert tour through Finland and Estonia took place followed by

8175-486: The first time at the Theater Basel , and later in Bern and in Freiburg im Breisgau . The boys' choir participated in the performance of Gustav Mahler 's Eighth Symphony from October 13 to 17 at the Festival of European Music in Berlin under Roland Bader; in November, Mozart's Requiem and Grabmusik were performed by the whole choir. In 1987, the choir held a lavish celebration for its 60-year anniversary: on January 10,

8284-498: The first time, a new short festival with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra starting in spring 2022 and a Piano Festival with pianist Igor Levit was announced for May 2023. The largest festival is the Summer Festival taking place in August and September and featuring over 100 events. The core of the festival are around 30 symphony concerts featuring the world’s best orchestras, conductors and soloists. Since 2003 it has been launched by

8393-564: The future on concert stages as soloists or in the orchestra, but also the young audiences who will be listening to them: children, young people, and families. Lucerne Festival organized three festivals every year until 2019. Due to the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 all three festivals had to be cancelled; inaugural Spring Musical Weekend (with Teodor Currentzis), the Summer Festival and the weekend in fall (with Igor Levit and Patricia Kopatchinskaja). Instead, in August 2020 Lucerne Festival presented

8502-478: The great success of his Beethoven cycle at Lucerne Festival, pianist Igor Levit will curate a new piano festival. Beginning in 2023, he will present a long weekend each May in which he himself will not only perform but also introduce artist friends and ensembles from other musical genres. The Easter Festival (Lucerne Festival zu Ostern) was founded in 1988 and took place each spring over a nine-day period two weeks before Easter and lasting until Palm Sunday , with

8611-520: The heating problems in the Katharine Chapel of the cloister. The first public appearance occurred on October 30, 1927, as a part of a church service in the Martinskirche, but it was such a fiasco (the 19 boys who did show up sang very poorly) that Ulbrich threatened to resign. Lipp encouraged him to continue, however, and on Christmas, 1927, the choir enthralled the congregation of a church service in

8720-503: The interim direction of the choir, leading to temporary cessation of voice lessons. Meanwhile, the size of the choir had shrunk by 25 percent. Ulbrich, who was still on duty, developed a Christmas liturgy with the choir. In 1941, a joint performance with the Schola Cantorum took place. Ernst Lipp, who had been intimately involved with the development of the choir since its founding, died that same year. In 1942 and 1943, interest in joining

8829-461: The jubilant re-assertion of D major in the final part, lending an overall arc to the piece. To reinforce this connection, between the beginning and the end of the work, Bach re-uses the chorale melody of Part I's " Wie soll ich dich empfangen " in the final chorus of Part VI, "Nun seid ihr wohl gerochen"; this choral melody is the same as of " O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden ", which Bach used five times in his St Matthew Passion . The music represents

8938-560: The last movement of the oratorio (No. 64, closing chorale of Part VI). In the oratorio there is, however, no association with the pain and suffering evoked in the Passion. Martin Luther 's 1539 " Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her " melody appears in three chorales: twice on a text by Paul Gerhardt in Part ;II of the oratorio, and the first time, in the closing chorale of Part I, with

9047-534: The mandatory time off from the choir for vocal training and learning repertoire to better prepare themselves for vocal maturity. Beginning in 1967, the choir started advertising for all elementary school grades. In 1968, the older singers (possibly inspired by the Protests of 1968 ) demanded the representation in a working committee, which they were finally granted. In February, 1970, Hermann Ulbrich and Helene Sandreuter announced their resignations from their positions with

9156-503: The minister Alfred Studer replaced Courvoisier as president. That same year, the choir returned to their original rehearsal space, the Bishop's residence, where the KKB still rehearses to this day. On June 22, 1952, the choir celebrated its 25-year anniversary with a special church service in Münster. The composer Rudolf Moser composed a setting of the 29th psalm for the choir. Changed voices, drawn from former trebles and altos, were brought into

9265-683: The music hall of Stadtcasino Basel; the concert was rounded out by César Franck 's Psalm 150 and Georges Bizet 's Te Deum . Bach's St. John Passion was performed three times in March 2009; after two concerts in the Basel Münster and the Arlesheim Dome, the KKB opened its 37th summer concert season in the Bürgel Monastery in Jena . In early summer 2009, a concert tour through France took place. There,

9374-509: The new work. In addition to the new compositions listed above, special mention must go to the recitatives, which knit together the oratorio into a coherent whole. In particular, Bach made particularly effective use of recitative when combining it with chorales in no. 7 of part I ("Er ist auf Erden kommen arm") and even more ingeniously in the recitatives nos. 38 and 40 which frame the "Echo Aria" ("Flößt, mein Heiland"), no. 39 in part IV. Until 1999

9483-460: The only complete English version of the Christmas Oratorio was that prepared in 1874 by John Troutbeck for the music publisher Novello . A new edition has been worked up by Neil Jenkins. The structure of the story is defined to a large extent by the particular requirements of the church calendar for Christmas 1734/35. Bach abandoned his usual practice when writing church cantatas of basing

9592-403: The opening chorus to Part V, "Ehre sei dir Gott!" was almost certainly intended to be set to the music of the chorus "Lust der Völker, Lust der Deinen" from BWV 213, given the close correspondence between the texts of the two pieces. The third major new piece of writing (with the notable exception of the recitatives ), the sublime pastoral Sinfonia which opens Part II, was composed from scratch for

9701-526: The original English with great success; in March, there followed a concert tour through Hungary with four more Messiah concerts, one of which took place in Matthias Church in Budapest . In the fall, the choirboys participated in an open-air production of Orff's Carmina Burana . In October 2008, the changed voices performed Luigi Cherubini 's Requiem in D Minor for men's chorus in the Basel Münster and in

9810-565: The passages in direct speech, which were sung by soloists or choral groups representing the characters who spoke these texts according to the Gospel narrative. The Gospel text included by Bach in his six Christmas Oratorio cantatas consists of: The Gospel readings for the Third Day of Christmas (Prologue of the Gospel of John), and for the Sunday after New Year (the Flight to Egypt) are not directly used in

9919-426: The presidency. In December, 1938, the choir undertook a half-hour radio program for the first time. The high point of the year, however, had already taken place on May 12, 1938: their participation in the premiere of Arthur Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher at Theater Basel with Ida Rubinstein as Jeanne and the chamber orchestra Basler Kammerorchester under the direction of Paul Sacher . A repeat performance with

10028-605: The purpose of learning repertoire . The choir's a cappella repertoire ranges from Renaissance to contemporary music ( Miskinis , Tormis ). Performances of oratorios , masses , and cantatas by Bach , Handel , Mozart , Mendelssohn , Britten , and Rossini are the choir's main focus. Additionally, the boys' choir has participated in the Lucerne Festival as well as the following opera performances in Basel: Die Zauberflöte , Tosca , Mefistofele , Carmen , La Bohème , Carmina Burana und Macbeth . Soloists from

10137-532: The six sections, but these sections are also numbered consecutively. As John Butt has mentioned, this points, as in the Mass in B minor , to a unity beyond the performance constraints of the church year. Bach expresses the unity of the whole work within the music itself, in part through his use of key signatures . Parts I and III are written in the keys of D major , part II in its subdominant key G major . Parts I and III are similarly scored for exuberant trumpets, while

10246-553: The still-to-be-founded choir. At the beginning of June, 1927, Ulbrich sent out advertising for the Choirboys of the Protestant Church of Basel-City , institutionalized in May. On June 15, 1927, the first informational meeting took place with 33 interested boys; this date is taken to be the KKB's founding date. The first rehearsal took place on August 19, 1927 in the Bishop's residence of the Basel Münster ; soon, though, they moved due to

10355-448: The story of the two groups of visitors—Shepherds and Magi—into two. This resulted in a more understandable exposition of the Christmas story: The Flight into Egypt takes place after the end of the sixth part. That Bach saw the six parts as comprising a greater, unified whole is evident both from the surviving printed text and from the structure of the music itself. The edition has not only a title— Weihnachts-Oratorium —connecting together

10464-414: The summer of 2016, extended his contract until the end of 2026. The Lucerne Festival Academy was founded in 2003 by Pierre Boulez and Michael Haefliger. Each summer, Academy members are joined by leading internationally renowned composers and conductors to work on contemporary scores and modern classics and to perform music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The composer Wolfgang Rihm has been

10573-469: The years after the war, the number of singers gradually increased. Ulbrich and Sandreuter, now married, could once again fully dedicate themselves to the choirboys. In 1945, the choir was already ready to perform for the premiere of Unser Vater by Walter Müller von Kulm with the Bach Choir. In 1949, the choir participated in the 17th "church music day," organized by the Swiss League of Church Music. In 1950,

10682-752: Was awarded the Bumberniggel prize from the anniversary foundation of the UBS AG . In 1999, there followed a concert tour through the Czech Republic with appearances in Brno , Hradec Králové , Pardubice , and Prague , as well as performances of Bach's Christmas Oratorio in December. In June, 2000, the choir traveled around the German cities of Berlin (with an appearance in the Berlin Cathedral ) and Potsdam as well as

10791-527: Was celebrated with a large family night with a lottery and singing. One problem that came up again and again between 1930 and 1933 was the variation in the number of singers and the quality of the choir: Ulbrich was able to keep some of the members of the choir from leaving and train them for some promising performances, but the best singers quickly fell victim to their voices changing and had to leave; meanwhile, Ulbrich needed to recruit and train new boys. Furthermore, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis planned to form

10900-559: Was changed from the expensive location in Nadelberg to the church. At the end of the year, Jakob Staehelin stepped down as president due to having to move from Basel; his cousin Hans Staehelin took over his position. The years leading up to the Second World War were marked by solid efforts for improvement. Ulbrich and Sandreuter, the voice teacher, fell in love and were married on July 11, 1936. Also in 1936, Alfred Courvoisier assumed

11009-428: Was defined by members of the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra (LFCO). The Festival moreover actively involved the public in the planning process through its digital communication channels. This newly conceived Festival orchestra for the music of our time is composed of members of the international Academy network. The KKL Luzern serves as the Festival headquarters, but “Lucerne Festival Forward!” performed throughout

11118-584: Was founded in 1998 and took place every November over a nine-day period. It showcased keyboard virtuosos and emerging stars in a mixture of recitals, orchestral concerts, and chamber music. The ancillary "Piano Off-Stage!" program presented a series of jazz events in a range of Lucerne's bars and restaurants. The Piano Festival was ended after the 2019 edition. 47°02′56″N 8°18′23″E  /  47.04889°N 8.30639°E  / 47.04889; 8.30639 Christmas Oratorio The Christmas Oratorio (German: Weihnachtsoratorium ), BWV 248 ,

11227-407: Was founded. The expansion of the choir to include changed voices had already been considered by January 1928, but the proposal did not resonate with the older students; the consistory also refused it because of the unintentional competition it would create with the adult community and church choirs. Nevertheless, the choir students appeared at Hamm's Free Organ Recital in December, 1928, but the group

11336-442: Was held, and similar for a Sunday between 1 and 6 January (second Sunday after Christmas, or: first Sunday after New Year). Before Bach composed his Christmas Oratorio for the 1734–35 Christmas season in Leipzig , he had already composed Christmas cantatas and other church music for all seven occasions of the Christmas season: Four of these third cycle cantatas for the Christmas season, BWV 110, 57, 151 and 16, were on

11445-400: Was intense discussion regarding how the choir should be legally organized in the future. Various possibilities, including a merger with the YMCA , were seen as disadvantageous. Finally, they decided to establish the choir as an independent organization in order to separate it from the consistory. The foundational meeting took place on February 2, 1972 and resulted in the election of Max Huldi as

11554-504: Was performed, in 2012 Beethoven's C-Major Mass followed. In 2014 the Knabenkantorei Basel performed the late version of Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Mark Passion reconstructed by Alexander Grychtolik . In the following year several concerts with the oratorio Elias by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy took place. From autumn 2016 to summer 2017 Rolf Herter conducted the choir on an interim basis. In summer 2017 Oliver Rudin took over

11663-749: Was planned in 2007, but both organizations decided to cancel again in 2009. Lucerne Festival Lucerne Festival is one of the leading international festivals in the world of classical music and presents a series of classical music festivals based in Lucerne , Switzerland. Founded in 1938 by Ernest Ansermet and Walter Schulthess , it currently produces three festivals per year. Since 1999, Michael Haefliger has been its Executive and Artistic Director. Each festival features resident orchestras and soloists alongside guest performances from international ensembles and artists. The central festival takes place in summer from mid-August to mid-September and offers

11772-577: Was the longest and most successful in the choir's history; the KKB was enthusiastically received in 13 cities and reached tens of millions of viewers in an appearance in the city of Riversul , which was broadcast on national television. In the Fall, the choir held its first ten-day choir camp in the former Maloja Palace in the Swiss district of Maloja; originally planned as a one-time camp, the KKB returned to Maloja for its Fall camp every year until 2007. In December, 2002,

11881-410: Was ultimately unable to survive (for the time being). On December 22, 1929, the boys' choir organized their first full concert: a Christmas liturgy at the Münster with the locally renowned soprano Helene Sandreuter, which was a big success. The quality of the singing, which was still modest in comparison with large boarding school choirs, was such a cause for concern among the choir parents that, after

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