The Thomanerchor (English: St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig) is a boys' choir in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

, Germany. The choir was founded in 1212. The choir comprises about 90 boys from 9 to 18 years of age. The members, called ''Thomaner'', reside in a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

, the ''Thomasalumnat'' and attend the St. Thomas School, Leipzig, a Gymnasium school with a linguistic profile and a focus on musical education. The younger members attend the primary school ''Grundschule

Forum Thomanum The Forum Thomanum (styled forum thomanum) is a music educational campus developed from 2002 in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany, as the new home of the Thomanerchor which was founded in 1212. It was conceived in 2002 by Georg Christoph Biller, then Thoma ...

'' or ''Anna-Magdalena-Bach-Schule''.

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

served as

Thomaskantor (Cantor at St. Thomas) is the common name for the musical director of the , now an internationally known boys' choir founded in Leipzig in 1212. The official historic title of the Thomaskantor in Latin, ', describes the two functions of Cantor ( ...

, director of the choir and church music in Leipzig, from 1723 to 1750.

The choir

Although the choir's main musical field traditionally consists of the vocal works of

, the repertoire comprises pieces from different eras, from the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

to contemporary music. Andreas Reize is the 18th Thomaskantor since Bach. The

is the campus of the choir in the Bach quarter of Leipzig. It was inaugurated in 2012 and includes the ''Thomasalumnat'' (boarding school), kindergarten, primary school, high school, choir rehearsal space, Luther Church, youth hostel, administration buildings, gym, a rehearsal hall and more amenities. Some critics contend that the Forum Thomanum project will change the way that the ''Thomaner'' are instructed and recruited. Most of the members of the live in the on Hiller Street. The boys are separated into so-called rather than school classes. Each is not only a sleeping room, but also an administrative entity with a closed hierarchy and a clear assignment of tasks. One or more older choir boys live with the younger ones in each in order to create a hierarchy and didactic relationship. Hence, the upbringing in the Thomanerchor is provided primarily by the older members, and the educators play a smaller role. Therefore, it is possible to have 90 boys living under one roof, supervised by only five educators. The are redistributed every year in order to maintain the age groupings and also to influence the social order in the . The have only lockable wardrobes () and one table for each boy. The rooms also have other furnishings, namely shelves for books, newspapers and satchels, radios, plants and chairs. Televisions and computers are not allowed. Each ''Stube'' consists of at least four rooms and a washroom with two showers, and each room has two to three beds. The also has a gym, a rehearsal hall, and a dining hall where all boys eat together three times a day, a shop where the tailor sews the boys' suits for the concerts, an archive, a wing of the building for the teachers who live there, a room for the band, a model railway room, a fitness room, a living room for the older boys, a "press room" for the school's newspaper, a sauna, a library with computers and internet, an infirmary, and a television room. Communal restrooms are located on the hallway of each . The Thomanerchor gives concerts across Germany (at least two major tours a year) and abroad. The choir also sings three times a week in the

Thomaskirche The St. Thomas Church () is a Lutheran church in Leipzig, Germany, located at the western part of the inner city ring road in Leipzig's central district. Martin Luther preached in the church in 1539. It is associated with several well-known ...

, "Motette" every Friday evening at 6 and every Saturday afternoon at 3, service on Sundays at 9 o'clock. The choir also sings at Protestant festivities. The children have vacations during the summer school vacations. The tour of 2012, the choir's 800th year, presented a program of Alessandro Scarlatti's , Kyrie and Gloria from Palestrina's ', Bruckner's motets and , and Bach's motet . It was performed, for example, on 6 July in the

Eberbach Abbey Eberbach Abbey (German: Kloster Eberbach) is a former Cistercian monastery in Eltville in the Rheingau, Germany. On account of its Romanesque architecture, Romanesque and Gothic (architecture), early Gothic buildings it is considered one of the m ...

at the

Rheingau Musik Festival The (RMF) is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres. Concerts take place at culturally important locations, such as Eberbach Abbey and Schloss Johannisberg, ...

History

Fotothek df roe-neg 0006398 005 Thomanerchor

The

Margrave of Meissen This article lists the margraves of Margraviate of Meissen, Meissen, a March (territorial entity), march and territorial state on the eastern border of the Holy Roman Empire. History King Henry the Fowler, on his 928–29 campaign against the S ...

founded St. Thomas' priory for Augustinian Canons (''Augustiner-Chorherrenstift zu St. Thomas'') in 1212. A school was annexed to the monastery, the intended purpose of which was to develop future priests. Since the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

in 1539, the school and the choir have belonged to the city of Leipzig; it is also influenced by the Protestant Church of

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

. This makes the Thomanerchor the oldest cultural entity in the city and one of the oldest in Europe; the

Regensburger Domspatzen The Regensburger Domspatzen (literally: Regensburg Cathedral Sparrows) is the cathedral choir at the Regensburg Cathedral in Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany. The boys' choir dates back to 975, and consists of boys and young men only. They perform in ...

is the oldest known choir on record. When

served as director, the choir consisted of about 50 singers, of which the best 16 were used for performance of cantatas. After Bach's death, other famous musicians served as director, among them Doles, Hiller and Moritz Hauptmann. By the end of the 19th century, the Thomasschule next to the Thomaskirche was demolished and the choir moved to the Hiller street, now the Leipziger "Music Quarter". During the

Nazi era Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

, the choir was incorporated into the

Hitler Jugend The Hitler Youth ( , often abbreviated as HJ, ) was the youth wing of the German Nazi Party. Its origins date back to 1922 and it received the name ("Hitler Youth, League of German Worker Youth") in July 1926. From 1936 until 1945, it was th ...

in 1937. But the Nazi government did not succeed in infiltrating their ideology into the choir's repertoire because the then director Ramin concentrated on religious works. He also tried to prevent the boys from being enlisted as long as possible.

Georg Christoph Biller Georg Christoph Biller (20 September 1955 – 27 January 2022) was a German choral conductor. He conducted the Thomanerchor as the sixteenth Thomaskantor since Johann Sebastian Bach from 1992 to 2015. He was also a baritone, an academic teacher, ...

, who was a Thomaner himself in his youth, directed the choir from 1992 to 2015. After retiring for health reasons, he was succeeded by Gotthold Schwarz as interim cantor, the latter being officially appointed as the new Thomaskantor in June 2016. The 18th Thomaskantor after Bach is Andreas Reize. He resumed the traditional summer tours with a program called ''Salmo!'', after the opening piece '' Salmo 150''. It was presented at the Thomaskirche, and in Merseburg Cathedral among other places in Thuringia, and at the Lutherkirche in Wiesbaden as part of the Rheingau Musik Festival.

Cantors

Cantors of the Thomanerchor, called Thomaskantor in German, have included (in brackets their time in the office): *

Georg Rhau Georg Rhau (Rhaw) (1488 – 6 August 1548) was a German publisher and composer. He was one of the most significant music printers in Germany in the first half of the 16th century, during the early period of the Protestant Reformation. He was pri ...

(1518–1520) * Johannes Galliculus (1520–1525) * Sethus Calvisius (1594–1615) *

Johann Hermann Schein Johann Hermann Schein (20 January 1586 – 19 November 1630) was a German composer of the early Baroque era. He was Thomaskantor in Leipzig from 1615 to 1630. He was one of the first to import the early Italian stylistic innovations into German ...

(1615–1630) * Tobias Michael (1631–1657) * Sebastian Knüpfer (1657–1676) *

Johann Schelle Johann Schelle (6 September 1648 – 10 March 1701) was a German Baroque composer. Biography Schnelle was born on 6 September 1648 in Geising, Saxony. From 1655 to 1657 he was a choirboy in Dresden and pupil of Heinrich Schütz. From 1657 to 1664 ...

(1677–1701) *

Johann Kuhnau Johann Kuhnau (; 6 April 16605 June 1722) was a German polymath, known primarily as a composer today. He was also active as a novelist, translator, lawyer, and music theorist, and was able to combine these activities with his duties in his offici ...

(1701–1722) *

(1723–1750) * Johann Friedrich Doles (1756–1789) *

Johann Adam Hiller Johann Adam Hiller (25 December 1728 – 16 June 1804) was a German composer, conducting, conductor and writer on music, regarded as the creator of the Singspiel, an early form of German opera. In many of these operas he collaborated with the poet ...

(1789–1801) * Johann Gottfried Schicht (1810–1823) * Christian Theodor Weinlig (1823–1842) * Moritz Hauptmann (1842–1868) * Ernst Friedrich Richter (1868–1879) * Wilhelm Rust (1880–1892) * Gustav Schreck (1893–1918) *

Karl Straube Montgomery Rufus Karl Siegfried Straube (6 January 1873 – 27 April 1950) was a German church musician, organist, and choral conductor, famous above all for championing the abundant organ music of Max Reger. Career Born in Berlin, Straube stu ...

(1918–1939) * Günther Ramin (1939–1956) * Kurt Thomas (1957–1960) * Erhard Mauersberger (1961–1972) * Hans-Joachim Rotzsch (1972–1991) *

(1992–2015) * Gotthold Schwarz (2016–2021) (acting cantor 2015–2016) * Andreas Reize (2021–)

Notable members

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German composer and musician of the Baroque and Classical period. He was the fifth ch ...

* Günther Ramin * Diethard Hellmann * Jörg-Peter Weigle *

Die Prinzen Die Prinzen ("The Princes") is a German pop rock band, consisting of former members of the Thomanerchor, and a former member of the Dresdner Kreuzchor. Overview Early albums consist of a cappella music. The band's first name was ''Die Herz ...

* *

* * Reiner Süß * Erhard Mauersberger * Martin Christian Vogel *

ensemble amarcord Amarcord is a German male classical vocal ensemble based in Leipzig, founded in 1992 by five former members of the Thomanerchor. They primarily perform Medieval music and Renaissance music, as well as collaborating with Contemporary classical mus ...

* Christoph Genz * Hanns-Martin Schneidt * Matthias Weichert *

David Timm David Timm (born 24 April 1969) is a German pianist, organist, Conducting, choral conductor and jazz musician. Since February 2005 he has been (University Music Director) of the Leipzig University, and thus also director of the Leipziger Univers ...

* Martin Petzold

Films

* '. Literal adaptation of

Erich Kästner Emil Erich Kästner (; 23 February 1899 – 29 July 1974) was a German writer, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known primarily for his humorous, socially astute poems and for children's books including ''Emil and the Detectives'' and '' Lisa an ...

's novel ''

The Flying Classroom ''The Flying Classroom'' () is a 1933 novel for children written by the German writer Erich Kästner. In the book Kästner took up the predominantly United Kingdom, British genre of the school story, taking place in a boarding school, and tr ...

''. Germany 2003. Director: Tomy Wigand. *
800 Years of Thomanerchor.
' Germany March 25, 2012, MDR Television (YouTube) * ''Die Thomaner'' Documentary film. Germany March 2012. Directors: Paul Smaczny, Günter Atteln.

Awards and recognition

Awards: * 2023 Bach Medal * 2014 Preis der Europäischen Kirchenmusik * 2012 ECHO Classic Award, Special award * 2011 Bach Prize of the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

(London) * 2002 Brahms Prize of the Brahms Society of

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

(German: ''Brahms Preis'') * Europäischer Kulturpreis für Chormusik State decorations: * Fatherland's Order of Merit in Gold, of

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

(German: ''Vaterländischer Verdienstorden'') Eponyms: * 1924 The asteroid 1023 Thomana discovered by Karl Wilhelm Reinmuth was named after the boys' choir

References

Bibliography

* Horst List: ''Aus der Geschichte des Thomanerchores.'' Thomanerchor, Leipzig 1953. * Lenka von Koerber: ''Wir singen Bach. Der Thomanerchor und seine Kantoren.'' Urania-Verlag, Berlin 1954. * Horst List: ''Auf Konzertreise. Ein Buch von den Reisen des Leipziger Thomanerchores.'' Reich, Hamburg-Bergstedt 1957. * Richard Petzoldt: ''Der Leipziger Thomanerchor.'' Edition Leipzig, Leipzig 1962. * Bernhard Knick: ''St. Thomas zu Leipzig. Schule und Chor. Stätte des Wirkens von Johann Sebastian Bach. Bilder und Dokumente zur Geschichte der Thomasschule und des Thomanerchores mit ihren zeitgeschichtlichen Beziehungen. Mit einer Einführung von Manfred Mezger.'' Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 1963. * Hans-Jochim Rothe: ''Thomanerchor zu Leipzig, Deutsche Demokratische Republik.'' Thomanerchor, Leipzig 1968. * Horst List: ''Der Thomanerchor zu Leipzig.'' Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1975. * Armin Schneiderheinze: ''Der Thomanerchor zu Leipzig.'' Thomanerchor, Leipzig 1982. * Wolfgang Hanke: ''Die Thomaner.'' Union-Verlag, Berlin 1985. * Stefan Altner, Roland Weise: ''Thomanerchor Leipzig. Almanach 1.'' 1996. * Gunter Hempel: ''Episoden um die Thomaskirche und die Thomaner.'' Tauchaer Verlag, Taucha 1997. * Michael Fuchs: ''Methoden der Frühdiagnostik des Eintrittszeitpunktes der Mutation bei Knabenstimmen. Untersuchungen bei Sängern des Thomanerchores Leipzig.'' 1997 * Stefan Altner: ''Thomanerchor und Thomaskirche. Historisches und Gegenwärtiges in Bildern.'' Tauchaer Verlag, Taucha 1998. *

, Stefan Altner: ''Thomaneralmanach 4. Beiträge zur Geschichte und Gegenwart des Thomanerchors.'' Passage-Verlag, Leipzig 2000. * Gert Mothes, Siegfried Stadler: ''Die Thomaner.'' Passage-Verlag, Leipzig 2004. * Stefan Altner: ''Das Thomaskantorat im 19. Jahrhundert. Bewerber und Kandidaten für das Leipziger Thomaskantorat in den Jahren 1842 bis 1918. Quellenstudien zur Entwicklung des Thomaskantorats und des Thomanerchors vom Wegfall der öffentlichen Singumgänge 1837 bis zur ersten Auslandsreise 1920.'' Passage-Verlag, Leipzig 2006. * Helga Mauersberger (ed.): ''Dresdner Kreuzchor und Thomanerchor Leipzig. Zwei Kantoren und ihre Zeit. Rudolf und Erhard Mauersberger.'' Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft Marienberg, Marienberg 2007. * Michael Maul, ''Dero berühmbter Chor – Die Leipziger Thomasschule und ihre Kantoren 1212–1804'' Lehmstedt Verlag, Leipzig 2012. * Corinna Wörner: ''Zwischen Anpassung und Resistenz. Der Thomanerchor Leipzig in zwei politischen Systemen.'' Studien und Materialien zur Musikwissenschaft, 123. Georg Olms Verlag,

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; or ; ) is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of t ...

, Baden Baden 2023,
(Abstract)

External links

*
Thomanerchor
on Leipzig Online * Johan van Veen

(CD review) musicweb-international.com November 2011 * * {{Authority control Organisations based in Leipzig Musical groups established in the 13th century Organizations established in the 1210s Music in Leipzig Boys' and men's choirs Bach choirs Choirs of children German choirs Winners of the Royal Academy of Music/ Kohn Foundation Bach Prize 1210s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1212 establishments in Europe German church music St. Thomas School, Leipzig