Concert series "366+1 – the church resounds" for the year "Reformation and Music" has started
Photo: epd-Bild/Andreas SchoelzelThe Madrigal Choir and the Capella St. Anna, directed by Michael Nonnenmacher.At the beginning of the theme year "Reformation and Music" 2012, the Chairman of the Evangelical Church, Nikolaus Schneider, has demanded "special efforts" in order to preserve church music. Schneider told the epd (Evangelical Press Service) that they are necessary in order to maintain the widest possible range of church music for the future. In spite of dwindling financial supplies, music has to be cherished as a "precious good". During a festive service held in Augsburg on New Year's Day, the Evangelical Church in Germany has opened a nation-wide music series.
The project "366+1 – the church resounds" is part of the church music year on the occasion of the Luther anniversary in 2017. On every day during 2012, a concert or musical church service will be held in a different Protestant church all over Germany. At the beginning, Johann Sebastian Bach's cantata "Nun danket alle Gott" ("Now thank we all our God") was performed.
"Rich musical treasure of Protestantism"
The former Bavarian Bishop Johannes Friedrich, who also is a member of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, said during the opening service in the church of St. Anna that a ribbon of music will run all the way through Germany. The music project will connect people and make visible the "rich musical treasure of Protestantism", which lies not in a bank account but in the talents of the organists and the members of choirs and music ensembles. City Dean Susanne Kasch emphasised in her sermon that songs can "pull people into faith" and express emotions.
The project will cost 930,000 Euro and is stated to be financed by the state as well as by the active parishes, a donation rally, and the Evangelical Church in Germany. The concert series will also include the city of Strasbourg in France and will end on New Year's Eve with a concert in Zittau, Saxony. The "+1" in the title is due to an additional concert in the Easter Night.
Music as a bridge to the people
The Chairman of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany told the epd that music is a bridge to many people who "are not automatically socialised in the church today". Through church music, many people find their first, or their new, contact with the church. Schneider said that making music, or listening to music, "can make happy". "But music in praise of God is also important for one's personal faith".
Schneider, who is also the Praeses of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland, regretted the decline of the number of church music students. "Unfortunately, there is a shortage of young, qualified church musicians". Schneider said that he hopes for more regional churches to increase the salaries of their cantors, as some of them have already done. The Association of Evangelical Church Musicians has been deploring the low pay for a long time.
Appreciation of what "resounds in our church, year in, year out"
Regional Church Music Director Gunter Kennel from Berlin expects the theme year to strengthen church music. The Chairman of the Standing Conference for Church Music in the Evangelical Church in Germany told the epd in Berlin that he hopes for an "increased perception and appreciation of what resounds in our church, year in, year out".
Kennel said that church music is not appreciated enough everywhere in the regional churches. "Unfortunately, not everything that has recently been offered as public presentations of the theme year "Reformation and Music" can be understood as strengthening the profession", Kennel said. This was "a symbol of a perception deficit within the church".
