EKD Press Releases

 


 

"The churches are alive with the sound of music"

As the New Year begins, so does the EKD music project "366+1 - Kirche klingt 2012," in Augsburg.

December 29, 2011

On New Year's Day the musical series "366+1 - Kirche klingt 2012" will kick off with a cantata service of worship at Augsburg's St. Annakirche. During the 11 a.m. service on January 1, Johann Sebastian Bach's cantata "Nun danket alle Gott" (Now thank we all our God" - BWV 192) will be performed. Singing and music will be provided by the Madrigalchor and the Capella St. Anna conducted by Michael Nonnenmacher; the sermon will be given by city deaconess Susanne Kasch.

"366+1 - Kirche klingt 2012" is the lighthouse project of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) for the theme year "Reformation and Music" within the Luther Decade. It gets under way in the Bavarian regional church and will remain there until January 21, with performances every day. Then it moves on to the Württemberg regional church and from there through all EKD member church regions. The series of musical events will end during the Advent and Christmas season, with the last event at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saxony on December 31, 2012 in Zittau. So the 2012 leap year will witness a succession of 366 concerts and musical worship services throughout all of Germany. Exceptionally, the final date was called "plus 1." This is because of the musical Easter service that will begin late evening April 7 in the Hessian town of Fritzlar.

The individual concerts will be linked content-wise by theme hymns specifically chosen for the theme year. In each concert, the theme hymn of the week will be performed, whether as a congregation hymn, a brass choir piece or cantata, a "groove" rendition, an organ improvisation or a children's choral arrangement.

In order that the theme hymns have an impact beyond the 366+1 venues, practice materials related to all theme hymns are being made available on the EKD-sponsored homepage www.reformation-und-musik.de for the benefit of congregations. These include inserted text explaining the verses, tips for integration in the liturgy, suggestions for other melodies and dancing instructions. The page also offers further materials for implementing the musical year locally, for example, a presentation about the hymnal, a "super-universal choir" and much more.

Two books have been published to accompany the series "366+1 - Kirche klingt 2012." In collaboration with Bärenreiter Verlag, publishers, the EKD has published the "Chorbuch Reformation." The work contains traditional and extra, newly composed choral arrangements for all 77 theme hymns of the series ("Frau Musica spricht . Chorbuch Reformation," ISMN 979-0-006-54129-4). In collaboration with Lutherisches Verlagshaus (LVH), in the series "Gemeinsam Gottesdienst Gestalten," the volume "Kirche klingt - 77 Lieder für das Kirchenjahr" has been published (ISBN 978-3-7859-1065-8). The book gives an outline of the history of the theme hymns, as well as brief portraits of hymn writers and composers and practical suggestions for church music and liturgics.

December 29, 2011




 


 

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