400 years of the St. Gallen Oratorio Choir
On January 2, 1620, eight music-loving high school students founded the collegium musicum civitatis sangallensis. This marks the beginning of the 400-year history of Switzerland's oldest concert choir.
"On the second of January 1620, a wild snowstorm raged in the high valley of the city of St. Gallen." So begins the report on the founding of the choir in an anniversary publication celebrating its 300th anniversary. The romantic and dramatic observation of nature by the chronicler of the time, J. Heim, leads us into the heated parlor of Zacharias Büngier, who receives his seven friends. They tune their instruments and begin with a chorale, "which brings great joy to the maids and householders listening in the hallway, makes their hearts beat faster and chases away the gloomy thoughts of winter ...". The eight young men decide to meet daily to make music and give themselves "leges", which roughly corresponds to today's statutes. Since then, the choir has been in existence for more than 15 generations of male and later female singers.
The anniversary year will be celebrated with various events:
On January 20, the 204-page book exceptional - alive - anchored. 400 years of the St. Gallen Oratorio Choir which places the history of the choir in the context of the development of music and changes in the city. The book launch took place in St. Laurenzenkirche, where the traditional Palm Sunday concerts have been held for more than 160 years.
The concerts on April 4 and 5 will feature the German Requiem The St. Gallen composer Alfons Karl Zwicker was commissioned by the oratorio choir to set two poems by Nelly Sachs, the 50th anniversary of whose death was celebrated in 2020, to music. The work is entitled: Ear of mankind, would you listen?
From September 7 to October 2, an exhibition in the Vadiana building will showcase a rich collection of archival documents and objects accumulated over four centuries. As part of the exhibition, musicologist Emanuel Signer will speak on September 18 about the significance of the St. Gallen Oratorio Choir in the history of music.
