In Harmonium

Posted By Marc on June 10, 2009

Well, phase 1 of the tour is over and in the past: Leipzig.  This was our third time singing at the Thomaskirche, and the time just flew; it seemed to be over almost as soon as it started.  Too bad.

The Thomaskirche has been in continuous operation for just under 800 years (the 800th anniversary will be in 2012).  It is a truly amazing place to sing, as I mentioned in my last post.

As with our previous visits, we were doing a series with two moteten (a concert in a service “wrapper”) and the Sunday morning service.  Personally, I think the one on Saturday was the best, but that is just a feeling since I haven’t heard the archive recording yet.

The first time we came here, we only sang from up in the choir loft at the back of the church.  The second time, we sang from both the loft and the front, and this time, from both and the nave as well.  It is fascinating to feel (again) how the sound changes with each location; certainly, singing in the nave was a visceral experience – you could literally feel the music vibrating in your body!

One of the nice things about the Thomaskirche is that they actually are a working parish church, and they take that responsibility very seriously.  This might sound strange, but many of the “grand churches” are now de facto if not de jure tourist attractions rather than “working churches”.  In keeping with this tradition, the Thomaskirche has a coffee hour after the Sunday service, which I have always tried to go to.  This time was no different, although they were also serving wine (it was a special occassion since their organist was leaving to take up a new appointment elsewhere).

I’ve used the term “choir loft” and, while that is technically accurate, it doesn’t really convey the actual size of the place – you could easily fit 100 people into it, or a decent size orchestra.  It is also equipped with an organ console and a full recording set-up: with only 20 of us, it sometimes felt like we were peas rattling around in a large pod.

After the Sunday service, it was just time for a strudel, collect our luggage and bus to Berlin for the flight to London – there to wait for an hour while our bus showed up, delivering us to our hotel just in time for everything to be closed. Monday saw us as St. Paul’s Cathedral singing Evensong at 5pm.

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