The Arion Maennerchor keeps alive its 100 year old tradition by gathering for community singing concerts. Photo by Phil Houseal
Details:
HerbstFest (which means harvest or autumn festival) is Sunday, Nov 4, at St. Joseph's Halle, 216 W. San Antonio Street in Fredericksburg. The Hermann Son's Mixed Choir and Arion Men's Choir will perform an evening of singing beginning at 7 p.m. Social time starts at 6:30 with beer, wine, soda, and snacks. Mark Hierholzer directs. Admission is free, with donations welcomed. For more information on attending or joining, call 669-2104 or 997-9371.
| Do you have a musical artist, event, or topic you would like featured in this column? I love to hear from readers. Send comments to: phil@ fullhouseproductions.net. To be included in the free listing of live music events, send details to: Articles published weekly in the Permission granted to reproduce articles and photos with credit to: |
Arion Maennerchor: Timeless Tradition
by Phil Houseal
Oct 31, 2007
Most music groups are proud to trace their heritage back a decade or two.
This Sunday you can listen to a choir that was founded in 1908, and is still singing. Of course the singers are not the same ones that started it, but the 14 men who make up the Arion Maennerchor are keeping the tradition of Leider (European classical music songs) alive.
The concept of community choirs is so closely tied to Germany, that presidents of both the Arion Maennerchor and the Hermann Sons Mixed Choir (a relative recent musical addition, having started in 1934) happen to be native Germans.
Dieter Kemper is president of the Arion Maennerchor, and Heinrich Boenig heads up the 35-member Mixed Choir.
According to both, the tradition of community bands and choirs runs through towns of all sizes in Germany.
"Almost every German town has a community choir and a band," Kemper said. "Even the littlest town - one that had only 400 people - had their own brass band. You find that almost in every town in Germany."
These choirs perform traditional German music, "from Schubert to Beethoven." They also work in native folk songs, some that linger from childhood.
"If you were a little child growing up in Germany, you learned these songs," Kemper said. "I remember raising my kids, and if driving in a car, or walking in the forest, and the mood was right, we would just sing folk songs."
Folks at the concert will have a chance to join in that tradition. After the intermission, the choirs hand out song sheets and invite the entire audience to sing along. Knowledge of the language is not a requirement.
"Oh no... you really don't need to speak German," said Kemper. "If you listen to how others pronounce the words, it works."
That childlike joy of singing is what brings these singers together, even though childhood is but a memory for most. Boenig noted that members have generally been older folks ("when you are 60 in this group you are young"), but undiminished in their love for singing.
"The men have an interest in singing German songs, and do it just for the joy in singing," Boenig explained.
They are always looking for new and younger Fredericksburg residents to get involved with these venerable choirs. There is also interest in starting a frauenchor, or ladies choir. The commitment is small; the reward is great.
"We are not really professional," Boenig said. "We practice just 45 minutes a week. But the thing you will see during our concerts are people having fun when they are singing."
Boenig hopes that is enough to pull townspeople into this concert.
"People should come to hear traditional German songs, and to keep German culture going in this town."
The heritage of these German choirs may be old. But the tradition is timeless.
XXX