Word: bach
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...many pious German devotees of Johann Sebastian Bach, the singing of the St. Thomas Church Choir in Leipzig, East Germany, is the voice of Holy Writ. The choir school, attached to Leipzig's famed Evangelical Lutheran Thomaskirche, proudly points to J. S. Bach's service as its cantor for 27 years (1723 to 1750), has long constituted itself chief guardian of his music. Last week the 80-boy choir made a sortie from behind the Iron Curtain. Occasion: the Bach Festival at Ansbach, West Germany. Critical verdict: St. Thomas' parade-drilled ten-to-18-year olds...
...Thomas Choir soared through three Bach motets, developing the counterpoint with the honed accuracy of an efficient cable-weaving machine. Under the conducting of Kurt Thomas, 53, who made his debut as the group's cantor (i.e., choirmaster) only four months ago, the tone was rich and powerful, the movement of sound clear and regular. An audience of 2,000 Bach lovers gave Thomas and his singers an ovation...
Prosperity & Poverty. The St. Thomas Choir bears roughly the musical relationship to the more widely publicized Vienna Boys Choir that the Boston Symphony does to the Boston Pops. St. Thomas was founded in 1212 by local decree (signed by one Dietrich the Oppressed), and long before Bach took it over, the choir was known throughout Europe. Bach, the 15th St. Thomas cantor, persistently complained about his teaching chores, fought a running battle with the school administration, nevertheless managed to compose enough church cantatas for one to be sung every Sunday for five years without repeating. Few St. Thomas cantors have...
...East zone Communists have showered the choir with state prizes and given its directors a free musical hand. Every year 2,000 or so applicants stream into Leipzig for tryouts. Choir members still rehearse five hours a day, learn a new Bach cantata each week, give three public concerts every weekend. State-supported now, the school has at various times been so poor that it was kept going only by flying squads of choristers who wandered through the city singing for alms...
...have received from such squares as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff. Frédéric FrançoisChopin, Giuseppe Verdi, e.g., Get Me to the Church on Time as a victory march from a Verdi opera. One of the cleverest parodies since Alex Templeton took Johann Sebastian Bach to town...