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1. DefinitionCh. (von griech. chorós bzw. lat. chorus) bezeichnet im heutigen Sprachgebrauch eine »Gemeinschaft von Singenden«, in der die Einzelnen gleichermaßen Interpreten und Rezipienten von Chormusik (= Chm.) a cappella oder mit Instrumentalbegleitung sind [7]. Chorsingen vereint Stimmen, macht Stimmung und Abstimmung auch sozial erfahrbar und trägt in besonderer Weise zu Gemeinschaftsbildung, emotional verankerter sozialer Integration und Persönlichkeitsentfaltung bei [10. 11–13]. Daher wurde im Chorgesang auch der Anfang aller kultischen Musik gesehen [21…

1. Definition Choir (from Old French cuer, ‘choir [of a church]’, ‘chorus of singers’ and ultimately the Greek chorós and Latin  chorus) today means a “group of singers”, in which the participants are at once interpreters and receivers of choral music performed  a cappella or with instrumental accompaniment [7]. Where the group of singers performs in a dramatic setting (e.g. in opera), the choir is called a chorus. Choral singing reconciles voices, creates atmosphere and accord that can be experien…

[German Version] 1. Mendelssohn, Moses (Sep 6, 1729, Dessau – Jan 4, 1786, Berlin), youngest of the three children of Mendel Heymann and his wife Bela Rachel Sara. The father was a synagogue attendant and scribe of the Jewish community. The boy, who was deformed and had a weak constitution, was supported by the Dessau rabbi David Fränkel, and, as he said himself, reading M. Maimonides's More Nevukhim (ET: Guide for the Perplexed) made a lasting impression on him. In 1743 Mendelssohn followed Fränkel to Berlin, where he lived in ve…

[German Version] From the Middle Ages onward, the word Kantorei denoted groups of professional singers and instrumental musicians attached to churches and royal courts, led by a cantor; after the Reformation, after the model of the institution established in 1525 by Johann Walter, Kantorei denoted a group of volunteers from the pupils of the local Latin school ( chorus symphoniacus) together with residents of the town as singers ( adiuvantes) and instrumentalists ( collegium musicum) for the performance of polyphonic vocal and instrumental music ( Musica figuralis). From the time…

[German Version] from Greek ῥάπτειν/ rháptein and ᾠδή/ ōdḗ, “stitched song.” In classical Greece, a rhapsodist sang fragments of the Homeric epics in improvised sequence. The word appeared in English c. 1540 in the sense of “epic poem.” In the literature of German-speaking Europe, Rhapsodie was first used by C. Celtis in 1505 as a term for a sequence of literary compositions without a fixed form or mandatory constraints; it was used in that sense by Luther in 1530, then in the 18th century by Christian Ewald v. Kleist (1765) and I. Kant (“Rhapsodie von Wahrnehmungen,” …

[German Version] (Matthew; c. 1494, Aichach – Dec 20, 1550, Strasbourg), clergyman, hymn writer, cantor, and composer. After attending Latin school and studying in Freiburg im Breisgau (1510) this composer of songs worked from 1522 as a monk and cantor in the cathedral. As J. Walter in Torgau did for Luther, Greiter built the musical foundation for the new orders of ¶ …

[German Version] (before April, 1619, Niederdorla – Feb 24, 1674, Hamburg) studied with H. Schütz in Dresden and J. Praetorius in Hamburg. After working in Dresden and Nykøbing, in 1655 he became organist at St. Jacobi in Hamburg, where he founded a Collegium Musicum in 1660. A traditionalist in his instrumental works, in his vocal compositions he employed the emotional techniques of “theatrical” composition.…

[German Version] (Jul 18, 1849, Grossmehlra, Thuringia – Jul 10, 1919, Leipzig). After the Franco-German war of 1870/1871, Riemann studied music and musicology in Leipzig. His dissertation “On musical hearing” (1873) was rejected there but accepted in Göttingen. In Leipzig he gained his Habilitation with a dissertation on the history of musical notation (1878). After working as conductor, music educ…

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[German Version] (Rafflenbol; Aug 10, 1556, Mengeringhausen – Oct 26, 1608, Hamburg). Philipp Nicolai belonged to the same Westphalian-Waldeckian family as the hymnodist Jeremias Nicolai (1558–1632). His education included study under L. Helmbold in Mühlhausen, Thuringia, and in Erfurt (1575) and Wittenberg (1574, 1576–1579). After private studies at the Volkhardinghausen monastery, he was appointed to pastorates in Herdecke (1583), Cologne (1587, serving the clandestine Protestant congregation), …

[German Version] From the 4th century, the term cantor (Lat.) refers to a singer, chanter, or leader of church music; from the 10th century it refers also to an office held by a member of the cathedral chapter. In the traditional, pre-reformation understanding, the cantor was distinguished from the trained musicus; this distinction survived well into the 18th century. The Protestant image of the leader of a city Kantorei following the model of Johann Walter in Torgau (1525) combined this post with the duties of an ac…

[German Version] I. Literature – II. Music – III. Orthodox Liturgy I. Literature Historically, the term ode (Gk ᾠδή/ ōdḗ, “song”; cf. the derivative lit. forms of the palinode, “poetic retraction,” and parody, “mock song/poem”) was increasingly reserved for a formal song or poem of exalted emotion ( carmen). Pindar (apart from four books of epinicia [victory songs], only frgms. extant) was the poetic muse of Horace (IV 2), whose four books of carmina ( odae), though little read in the Latin Middle Ages, …

[German Version] (Apr 30, 1903, Berlin – Oct 19, 1960, Herford). After studying music in Berlin (1922–1925), and supported by A. Mendelssohn and K. Straube, Raphael taught theory of music and composition from 1926 to 1934 at the Leipzig Conservatory, until he was compelled by racist persecution to withdraw to Meiningen (Thuringia) and in 1945 to Laubach (Hesse). After…

[German Version] (Jul 31, 1903, Emleben – Mar 10, 1986, Schlüchtern). During the study of Protestant theology and musicology in Rostock, Tübingen, Göttingen, Freiburg, and Berlin, Blankenburg was an active participant in the Singbewegung (singing movement). As pastor in Vaake (1933–1947), director of the school of church music in Schlüchtern (until 1968), regional church music director of Kurhessen-Waldeck (until 197…

[German Version] (Rain; c. 1475 – before Dec 3, 1522, Copenhagen?), composer. Rein, who came from Arnstadt, served from 1502 to 1515 as rector of the Holy Spirit hospice school in Nuremberg, where he was ordained to the priesthood in 1507. Later he was a singer and probably the first director of the Danish court singers in Copenhagen (Denmark). With his compositions, of which more than 20 survive, he made a distinct contribution to the development of mass and motet composition in the early 16th century.…

[German Version] I. Music – II. Architecture I. Music 1. In modern usage, choir or chorus (from Gk χορός/ chorós, Lat. chorus) denotes a company of singers in which the individual both interprets and listens to ¶ “choral music” a cappella or with instrumental accompaniment (Chant and song; Music and musical instruments). Since the early Middle Ages, as the forms of choral music have changed for diverse purposes and functions, choral groups have come together as monophonic or polypho…

[German Version] (Giovanni Rosenmiller; 1619, Ölsnitz, Vogtland – before Sep 12, 1684, Wolfenbüttel). After beginning theological studies at Leipzig in 1640, in 1642 he was appointed to a lay position in the Thomasschule and became organist of the Nikolaikirche (1651). As a student of Tobias Michael (1592–1657), in 1653 he was given to expect appointment as master of the Thomasschule choir but was imprisoned in 1655; he escaped from prison…

[English Version] (Rosenmiller), Johann (Giovanni; 1619 Ölsnitz, Vogtland – vor 12.9.1684 Wolfenbüttel). Nach Aufnahme des Theologiestudiums in Leipzig (1640) wurde er Collaborator (1642) an der Thomasschule sowie Nicolai-Organist (1651). Als Schüler von Tobias Michael (1592–1657) erhielt er 1653 eine Exspektanz auf das Thomaskantorat, mußte jedoch 1655 fliehen. Ab 1658 ist er in Venedig nachweisbar, wo er erst an S. Marco und später als erster Ausländer und Nichtkleriker unter den Maestri di coro …

[English Version] Weckmann, Matthias (vor April 1619 Niederdorla – 24.2.1674 Hamburg). Der Schüler von H. Schütz in Dresden und J. Prätorius in Hamburg wurde nach Tätigkeiten in Dresden und Nykøbing 1655 Organist an St. Jacobi in Hamburg. Dort gründete er 1660 ein Collegium Musicum. In seinen Instrumentalwerken eher traditionsgebunden, setzte er in seinen Vokalwerken die affektvollen Mittel der »theatralen« Komposition ein.…

[English Version] (Rain, Reyn), Conrad (ca.1475 – vor 3.12.1522 Kopenhagen?). Der aus Arnstadt stammende Komponist wirkte von 1502 bis 1515 als Rektor am Hl.-Geist-Spital in Nürnberg (Priesterweihe 1507), danach als Sänger und mutmaßlicher erster Leiter der dänischen Hofkantorei in Kopenhagen (Dänemark). Mit seinen über 20 erhaltenen Werken liefe…

[English Version] I. Literarisch Ode, griech. ῳ᾿δη´/ōdē´, davon fortgebildet die lit. Formen der Palinodie, »Widerruf«, und Parodie, »Nebengesang«, bleibt literaturgesch. zunehmend dem feierlichen Gesang einer hohen Stimmung und Gesinnung (carmen) reserviert. Pindar (nur frgm., vier Bücher Epinikien [Siegeslieder]) ist der poetische Priester des Horaz (IV 2); dessen vier Bücher Carmina (odae) werden, nur spärlich für das lat. MA, bestimmendes Modell für die lat.-volkssprachige strophische Lyrik der…

[English Version] (Blankenmüller), Johann (1496 Kahla – vor 24.4.1570 Torgau). Nach seinem Studium in Leipzig wurde er Bassist (1520) und Komponist (1525) der kursächsischen Hofkapelle in Altenburg bzw. Torgau. Mit seinem mehrstimmigen »Geystliche gesangk Buchleyn« (1524) steht der musikalische Berater Luthers (Mitarbeit an der Dt. Messe, 1525) und Melodienschöpfer am Beginn der Gesch. der ev. Kirchenmusik (: IV.,3.). Nach Auflösung der Hofkapelle gründete er 1525/26 in Torgau die erste von einem K…

[English Version] Raphael, Günter Albert Rudolf (30.4.1903 Berlin – 19.10.1960 Herford). Nach Musikstudium in Berlin (1922–1925) und gefördert durch A. Mendelssohn und K. Straube lehrte er von 1926 bis 1934 Musiktheorie und Komposition am Leipziger Konservatorium, bis sich der aus rassistischen Gründen Verfolgte nach Meiningen (Thüringen) und 1945 nach Laubach (Hessen) zurückziehen mußte. Nach dem Kriege wirkt…

[English Version] Riemann, Karl Wilhelm Julius Hugo (18.7.1849 Großmehlra, Thüringen – 10.7.1919 Leipzig). Nach dem dt.-franz. Krieg 1870/71 studierte er in Leipzig Musik und Musikwiss. Seine daselbst abgelehnte Diss. »Über das musikalische Hören« (1873) wurde in Göttingen angenommen. In Leipzig habilitierte er sich mit »Studien zur Gesch. der Notenschrift« (1878). …

[English Version] (Rafflenbol), Philipp (10.8.1556 Mengeringhausen – 26.10.1608 Hamburg). Mitglied jener westfälisch-waldeckischen Pfarrerfamilie, der auch der Kirchenlieddichter Jeremias N. (1558–1632) angehörte, ausgebildet u.a. von L. Helmbold in Mühlhausen, Thüringen, sowie an den Universitäten Erfurt (1575) und Wittenberg (1574, 1576–1579). Nach Privatstudium im Kloster Volkhardinghausen Pfarrer in Herdecke (1583), bei der heimlichen ev. Gemeinde in Köln (1587), in Unna (1596) und in Hamburg (…

[English Version] Rhapsodie, von griech. ρ῾α´πτειn̆/rháptein und ῳ᾿δη´/ōdē´, »gen…