Hertford College Choir in Leipzig

18 December 2012

The Hertford College Chapel Choir made its annual winter tour to Leipzig this year, at the end of Michaelmas term. The former East German city, the largest in Saxony, is a powerhouse of European music history. It has been home to Johann Sebastian Bach, Richard Wagner, Felix Mendelssohn, Clara and Robert Schumann, and Gustav Mahler. The organ scholars, Ed Whitehead and Nick Graham, prepared, rehearsed and conducted the choir, with the chaplain organising the practicalities.

The highlight of the tour was an invitation by the town hall of Leipzig to sing on stage in the middle of the Christmas Market. The choir performed an hour-long set of Christmas song, mostly drawn from the repertoire used at carol services in the chapel (recordings here), and being a mix of well known carols and more adventurous choir pieces. The choir performed to an appreciative crowd, and the singing was relayed by loudspeaker throughout the extensive market area. The choir was particularly pleased by the applause given for singing Bach’s Wachet auf in German.

The choir also had the privilege of meeting and singing for the members of the Catholic Student Chaplaincy in Leipzig. Other stops on the tour itinerary were visiting Bach’s St Thomas’ Church for the sung evening service, and George Frideric Handel’s birthplace in Halle an der Saale.

Hertford College Chapel Choir is a student-led mixed choir of high standard, which sings for the weekly choral evensong and tours every summer and winter.