Gabriel Dessauer
Encyclopedia
Gabriel Dessauer is a German cantor
, concert organist and academic. He has been responsible for the church music at St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden
, since 1981. He is an internationally known organ recitalist and an organ teacher on the faculty of the Gutenberg University of Mainz. In 1985, he founded the project choir Reger-Chor
.
at the Kolleg St. Blasien
in 1974. He then studied church music at the Richard-Strauss-Konservatorium in Munich for a year, studying organ with Elmar Schloter. From 1975 to 1980, he studied church music and concert organ at the Musikhochschule München with Diethard Hellmann
and Klemens Schnorr. He continued his studies with Franz Lehrndorfer and received the Meisterklassendiplom (master class diploma) in 1982. He was a member of Karl Richter's Münchener Bach-Chor
.
Dessauer was the organist at services at the Kolleg St. Blasien 1971–1974, then at the Akademie Tutzing for one year and conductor of the choir of the Protestant parish Tutzing
, 1975–1981 cantor of St. Andreas, Munich.
in Wiesbaden, the central Catholic
church in the capital of Hesse
. He is the conductor of the 120-member Chor von St. Bonifatius, founded in 1862; the children's choir Kinderchor von St. Bonifatius, and of the Schola for Gregorian chant
. The church choir sings at services, including regular orchestral mass
es of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert for Christmas and Easter, accompanied by members of the orchestra of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden
, with soloists from the Hochschule für Musik Mainz such as Andreas Karasiak
and students. On Dessauers initiative, the organ built in 1954 was improved by Hugo Mayer Orgelbau in 1985.
Every year, typically on 3 October, German Unity Day
, Dessauers has conducted a choral concert of such works as Mendelssohn's Elias
, Ein deutsches Requiem
of Brahms, and Verdi's Messa da Requiem. Both Chor and Kinderchor appeared in performances of Hermann Suter
's Le Laudi (1998 and 2007) and in 2004 in the German premiere of John Rutter's Mass of the Children
. In 2006, Dessauer conducted Karl Jenkins' Requiem
, composed in 2004. In 2010, he chose works of Bach, his Mass in G minor
and choral movements from cantata
s BWV 140, BWV 12, BWV 120 and Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir, BWV 29. In 2011 he conducted Haydn's Die Schöpfung
. The children's choir sang along with the soprano. Dessauer commissioned Colin Mawby
to compose a Mass for choir, children's choir, oboe and organ, to be performed on 3 October 2012 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the choir.
Dessauer first continued the tradition of a monthly concert Stunde der Kirchenmusik ("hour of church music"), and then instead began a series Boni-Musikwochen, grouping choral and organ concerts around a theme within a week or two. The Musikwochen 2010, Reger und mehr ("Reger and more"), presented concerts of Kent Tritle
and Ignace Michiels
, among others.
Dessauer appeared with the Chor von St. Bonifatius in Azkoitia
and San Sebastián
, in both churches at a Cavaillé-Coll-organ (1986), at the Limburg Cathedral
(1987), in St. Jakobus, Görlitz
(1990) and in Memphis, Tennessee
(1996). They appeared in Rome
in 2008, when they performed Vivaldi's Gloria
and Haydn's Nelson Mass in San Paolo entro le mura in concert and sang during mass
at St. Peter's
.
and St. Patrick's Cathedral
in New York City
. He played the Kotzschmar Organ at the Merrill Auditorium
in Portland, Maine
, and in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
in Los Angeles
. In 2004, he lectured at the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists
in Los Angeles on the choral music of Max Reger
, who was a member of the parish of St. Bonifatius while he studied and lived in Wiesbaden. In 2005, Dessauer played at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in San Diego. In 2010, he gave a recital at St. Ignatius Loyola, New York
.
Since 1992, he has conducted events for the Rheingau Musik Festival
called "Orgeltour" (organ tour), visiting historic organs in the region. The first tours covered historic organs of the Rheingau
, later ones extended to the cathedrals of Worms
and Speyer
, Würzburg
and Fulda
.
Dessauer has played a regular concert on New Year's Eve at the Walcker organ
of the Marktkirche in Wiesbaden
, together with its organist Hans Uwe Hielscher
. To celebrate Liszt
in 2011, he played three major organ works of the composer on the instruments which was built around the time of the compositions, Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H
, Variations on Bach's "Weinen, Klagen" (1863), and Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale Ad nos ad salutarem undam
.
of Max Reger
in the organ version of the Munich organist and composer Max Beckschäfer
. The name Reger-Chor was chosen in 1988, when the next project was dedicated to the German premiere of Joseph Jongen
's Missa op. 111. Later projects included one of the first performances in Germany of Rutter's Requiem
, recorded on the first CD
of the Reger-Chor in 1990. In 2001 an international collaboration began with the organist Ignace Michiels
, bringing together an almost equal number of singers from Flanders
and the Rhein-Main Region to perform an annual concert both in Germany and Belgium. In 2003 he conducted the premiere of the organ version of Reger's Der 100. Psalm of François Callebout.
In addition to works of Reger, Dessauer chose rarely performed church music of composers such as Herbert Howells
, Benjamin Britten
, Herbert Sumsion
, Maurice Duruflé
, Edward Elgar
, Frederick Delius
, William Lloyd Webber
, Jules Van Nuffel
, Joseph Ryelandt
, Andrew Carter
, Kurt Hessenberg
, Rupert Lang, Morten Lauridsen
and Eric Whitacre
.
, organist of St. Salvator's Cathedral in Bruges
, in a project to bring to a close together a century of violence. Both in Bruges and in Wiesbaden a concert was performed by the choirs Cantores and Chor von St. Bonifatius, Michiels playing the organ and Dessauer conducting. The concert in Bruges on 23 October 1999 was named Eeuw van zinloos Geweld (Era of meaningless violence) and expressed it in Maurice Duruflé
's Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d'Alain, Jules Van Nuffel
's In convertendo Dominus
, Jehan Alain
's Litanies, Rudolf Mauersberger
's Wie liegt die Stadt so wüst, Gerald Hendrie's Exsultate from the sonata In praise of reconciliation, and Duruflé's Requiem
. The concert in Wiesbaden was called Versöhnungskonzert zum Ende des Jahrhunderts (concert of reconciliation at the end of the century).
In 2005 Dessauer prepared the choir for a memorial concert for the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, a joint concerts of the Schiersteiner Kantorei, Wiesbaden, a choir from England and one from Macon, Georgia
, conducted by Martin Lutz, performing Britten's War Requiem
. A year later they took part in a performance of the work in Macon.
In November 2009 he performed again Duruflé's Requiem, this time with a choir of volunteers who wanted to remind of the Holocaust, in a Gedenkkonzert gegen Antisemitismus, a concert against Antisemitism. Janina Moeller sang the mezzo-soprano solo, Petra Morath-Pusinelli was the organist.
Cantor (church)
A cantor is the chief singer employed in a church with responsibilities for the ecclesiastical choir; also called the precentor....
, concert organist and academic. He has been responsible for the church music at St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden
St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden
St. Bonifatius in Wiesbaden, Germany, is the central Catholic parish and church in the capital of Hesse. The present building was designed by architect Philipp Hoffmann in Gothic Revival style and built from 1844 to 1849. Twin steeples of 68 m dominate the Luisenplatz. The parish is part of the...
, since 1981. He is an internationally known organ recitalist and an organ teacher on the faculty of the Gutenberg University of Mainz. In 1985, he founded the project choir Reger-Chor
Reger-Chor
The Reger-Chor is a project choir founded in 1985 and conducted by Gabriel Dessauer in Wiesbaden. Since 2001 it has grown to Reger-Chor-International in a collaboration with the organist Ignace Michiels of the St. Salvator's Cathedral of Bruges, performing an annual concert both in Germany and...
.
Professional career
Gabriel Dessauer received his AbiturAbitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
at the Kolleg St. Blasien
Kolleg St. Blasien
The Kolleg St. Blasien is a state-recognised private Gymnasium and Catholic school with boarding facilities for boys and girls. It is situated in the town of St. Blasien in the German Black Forest. The school has 850 students, 300 of whom are boarders, and is led by members of the Jesuit order...
in 1974. He then studied church music at the Richard-Strauss-Konservatorium in Munich for a year, studying organ with Elmar Schloter. From 1975 to 1980, he studied church music and concert organ at the Musikhochschule München with Diethard Hellmann
Diethard Hellmann
Diethard Hellmann was a German Kantor and an academic in Leipzig, Mainz and Munich.-Professional career:...
and Klemens Schnorr. He continued his studies with Franz Lehrndorfer and received the Meisterklassendiplom (master class diploma) in 1982. He was a member of Karl Richter's Münchener Bach-Chor
Münchener Bach-Chor
Münchener Bach-Chor is a mixed choir for concert and oratorio in Munich. Performances, international tours and recordings with Karl Richter and the Münchener Bach-Orchester made the choir internationally known.- Heinrich-Schütz-Kreis :...
.
Dessauer was the organist at services at the Kolleg St. Blasien 1971–1974, then at the Akademie Tutzing for one year and conductor of the choir of the Protestant parish Tutzing
Tutzing
Tutzing is a municipality in the district of Starnberg in Bavaria, Germany and is situated on the west bank of the Starnberger See south of Munich...
, 1975–1981 cantor of St. Andreas, Munich.
Church music at St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden
Since 1981, he has been the cantor at St. BonifatiusSt. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden
St. Bonifatius in Wiesbaden, Germany, is the central Catholic parish and church in the capital of Hesse. The present building was designed by architect Philipp Hoffmann in Gothic Revival style and built from 1844 to 1849. Twin steeples of 68 m dominate the Luisenplatz. The parish is part of the...
in Wiesbaden, the central Catholic
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
church in the capital of Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...
. He is the conductor of the 120-member Chor von St. Bonifatius, founded in 1862; the children's choir Kinderchor von St. Bonifatius, and of the Schola for Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...
. The church choir sings at services, including regular orchestral mass
Mass (music)
The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...
es of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert for Christmas and Easter, accompanied by members of the orchestra of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden
Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden
The Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden is the State Theatre of the German state Hesse in the capital Wiesbaden, producing operas, plays, ballets, musicals and concerts on four stages. It is also known as Staatstheater Wiesbaden or Theater Wiesbaden...
, with soloists from the Hochschule für Musik Mainz such as Andreas Karasiak
Andreas Karasiak
- Biography :Andreas Karasiak studied voice at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz with Claudia Eder. He studied Baroque music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with René Jacobs in Basel....
and students. On Dessauers initiative, the organ built in 1954 was improved by Hugo Mayer Orgelbau in 1985.
Every year, typically on 3 October, German Unity Day
German Unity Day
The Day of German Unity is the national day of Germany, celebrated on 3 October as a public holiday. It commemorates the anniversary of German reunification in 1990, when the goal of a unity of Germany that originated in the middle of the 19th century, was fulfilled. Therefore, the name addresses...
, Dessauers has conducted a choral concert of such works as Mendelssohn's Elias
Elijah (oratorio)
Elijah, in German: Elias, is an oratorio written by Felix Mendelssohn in 1846 for the Birmingham Festival. It depicts various events in the life of the Biblical prophet Elijah, taken from the books 1 Kings and 2 Kings in the Old Testament....
, Ein deutsches Requiem
Ein deutsches Requiem
A German Requiem, To Words of the Holy Scriptures, Op. 45 by Johannes Brahms, is a large-scale work for chorus, orchestra, and a soprano and a baritone soloist, composed between 1865 and 1868. It comprises seven movements, which together last 65 to 80 minutes, making this work Brahms's longest...
of Brahms, and Verdi's Messa da Requiem. Both Chor and Kinderchor appeared in performances of Hermann Suter
Hermann Suter
Hermann Suter , was a Swiss composer and conductor.Born in Kaiserstuhl, Aargau, Suter studied in the conservatories at Basel, Stuttgart and Leipzig, under Hans Huber and Carl Reinecke. He was an organist and conductor in Zurich from 1892 to 1902, after which he moved to Basel, where he lived to his...
's Le Laudi (1998 and 2007) and in 2004 in the German premiere of John Rutter's Mass of the Children
Mass of the Children
Mass of the Children is a major work of English composer John Rutter. It is a non-liturgical Missa Brevis, with the traditional Latin and Greek Mass text interwoven with several English poems.Mass of the Children consists of five movements:#Kyrie...
. In 2006, Dessauer conducted Karl Jenkins' Requiem
Requiem (Karl Jenkins)
Requiem is a classical work by Karl Jenkins, first recorded and performed in 2005. It was premièred at Southwark Cathedral on June 2, 2005, by the West Kazakhstan Philharmonic Orchestra and Adiemus percussion and brass, conducted by the composer...
, composed in 2004. In 2010, he chose works of Bach, his Mass in G minor
Missa (Bach)
A Missa of Johann Sebastian Bach is in general a composition of the Latin Mass by the German Baroque composer.More specifically, Missa refers to one of his four short masses in F major, A major, G minor and G major, BWV 233 to 236...
and choral movements from cantata
Bach cantata
Bach cantata became a term for a cantata of the German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach who was a prolific writer of the genre. Although many of his works are lost, around 200 cantatas survived....
s BWV 140, BWV 12, BWV 120 and Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir, BWV 29. In 2011 he conducted Haydn's Die Schöpfung
The Creation structure
The Creation, the oratorio by Joseph Haydn, is structured in three parts. He composed it in 1796–1798 on German text as Die Schöpfung. The work is set for soloists, chorus and orchestra. Its movements are listed in tables for their form, voice, key, tempo marking, time signature and...
. The children's choir sang along with the soprano. Dessauer commissioned Colin Mawby
Colin Mawby
Colin Mawby is an English organist, choral conductor and composer.-Career:Mawby received his earliest musical education at Westminster Cathedral choir school, where he acted as assistant to George Malcolm at the organ from the age of 12. The boys performed 14 or 15 services a week and had 10 hours...
to compose a Mass for choir, children's choir, oboe and organ, to be performed on 3 October 2012 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the choir.
Dessauer first continued the tradition of a monthly concert Stunde der Kirchenmusik ("hour of church music"), and then instead began a series Boni-Musikwochen, grouping choral and organ concerts around a theme within a week or two. The Musikwochen 2010, Reger und mehr ("Reger and more"), presented concerts of Kent Tritle
Kent Tritle
Kent Tritle is a choral conductor and organist in New York City, United States. He is the current director of the professional chorus Musica Sacra and of the Oratorio Society of New York, and director of cathedral music and organist at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine...
and Ignace Michiels
Ignace Michiels
Ignace Michiels is a Belgian organist at the St. Salvator's Cathedral of Bruges, a choral conductor and an organ teacher. He is internationally known as a concert organist.- Professional career :...
, among others.
Dessauer appeared with the Chor von St. Bonifatius in Azkoitia
Azkoitia
Azkoitia is a town located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country, in the northern Spain...
and San Sebastián
San Sebastián
Donostia-San Sebastián is a city and municipality located in the north of Spain, in the coast of the Bay of Biscay and 20 km away from the French border. The city is the capital of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. The municipality’s population is 186,122 , and its...
, in both churches at a Cavaillé-Coll-organ (1986), at the Limburg Cathedral
Limburg Cathedral
The Catholic Cathedral of Limburg, also known as Georgsdom or Limburger Dom in German after its dedication to Saint George, is located above the old town of Limburg in Hesse, Germany. Its high location on a rock above the Lahn provides its visibility from far away...
(1987), in St. Jakobus, Görlitz
Görlitz
Görlitz is a town in Germany. It is the easternmost town in the country, located on the Lusatian Neisse River in the Bundesland of Saxony. It is opposite the Polish town of Zgorzelec, which was a part of Görlitz until 1945. Historically, Görlitz was in the region of Upper Lusatia...
(1990) and in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
(1996). They appeared in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
in 2008, when they performed Vivaldi's Gloria
Gloria (Vivaldi)
Antonio Vivaldi wrote several settings of the Gloria. RV 589 is the most familiar and popular piece of sacred music by Vivaldi; however, he was known to have written at least three Gloria settings. Only two survive whilst the other is presumably lost and is only mentioned in the Kreuzherren...
and Haydn's Nelson Mass in San Paolo entro le mura in concert and sang during mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
at St. Peter's
St. Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as ' and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within the Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world...
.
Organ recitals
Dessauer has appeared in recitals in Europe and the U.S., at the Washington National CathedralWashington National Cathedral
The Washington National Cathedral, officially named the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, is a cathedral of the Episcopal Church located in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. Of neogothic design, it is the sixth-largest cathedral in the world, the second-largest in...
and St. Patrick's Cathedral
St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York
The Cathedral of St. Patrick is a decorated Neo-Gothic-style Roman Catholic cathedral church in the United States...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He played the Kotzschmar Organ at the Merrill Auditorium
Merrill Auditorium
Merrill Auditorium is a 1,900-seat auditorium located in Portland, Maine, United States. Originally known as Portland City Hall Auditorium, it is located in the eastern section of Portland City Hall. Organizations such as Portland Ovations and the Portland Symphony Orchestra use the auditorium as a...
in Portland, Maine
Portland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
, and in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, also called "COLA" and the Los Angeles Cathedral, is a cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church in Los Angeles, California, United States...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. In 2004, he lectured at the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists
American Guild of Organists
The American Guild of Organists, or AGO, is a national organization of academic, church, and concert organists in the U.S., headquartered in The Interchurch Center in New York City. It was founded in 1896 as both an educational and service organization...
in Los Angeles on the choral music of Max Reger
Max Reger
Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher.-Life:...
, who was a member of the parish of St. Bonifatius while he studied and lived in Wiesbaden. In 2005, Dessauer played at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in San Diego. In 2010, he gave a recital at St. Ignatius Loyola, New York
Church of St. Ignatius Loyola (New York City)
The Church of St. Ignatius of Loyola is a Roman Catholic parish located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City, administered by the Society of Jesus . The parish is under the authority of the Archdiocese of New York and was established in 1851 as St. Lawrence O’Toole’s Church....
.
Since 1992, he has conducted events for the Rheingau Musik Festival
Rheingau Musik Festival
The Rheingau Musik Festival is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres...
called "Orgeltour" (organ tour), visiting historic organs in the region. The first tours covered historic organs of the Rheingau
Rheingau
The Rheingau is the hill country on the north side of the Rhine River between Wiesbaden and Lorch near Frankfurt, reaching from the western Taunus to the Rhine. It lies in the state of Hesse and is part of the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis administrative district...
, later ones extended to the cathedrals of Worms
Worms Cathedral
Cathedral of St Peter is a church in Worms, southern Germany. It was the seat of the Catholic Prince-Bishopric of Worms until its extinction in 1800.It is a basilica with four round towers, two large domes, and a choir at each end...
and Speyer
Speyer Cathedral
The Speyer Cathedral, officially the Imperial Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption and St Stephen, in Latin: Domus sanctae Mariae Spirae in Speyer, Germany, is the seat of the Roman Catholic Bishop of Speyer and is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Bamberg. The cathedral, which is dedicated to St...
, Würzburg
Würzburg Cathedral
Würzburg Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, dedicated to Saint Kilian. It is the seat of the Bishop of Würzburg...
and Fulda
Fulda Cathedral
Fulda Cathedral is the former abbey church of Fulda Abbey and the burial place of Saint Boniface. Since 1752 it has also been the cathedral of the Diocese of Fulda, of which the Prince-Abbots of Fulda were created bishops. The abbey was dissolved in 1802 but the diocese and its cathedral have...
.
Dessauer has played a regular concert on New Year's Eve at the Walcker organ
Walcker Orgelbau
Walcker Orgelbau of Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, is a builder of pipe organs. It was founded in Cannstatt, a suburb of Stuttgart in 1780 by Johann Eberhard Walcker...
of the Marktkirche in Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden
Wiesbaden is a city in southwest Germany and the capital of the federal state of Hesse. It has about 275,400 inhabitants, plus approximately 10,000 United States citizens...
, together with its organist Hans Uwe Hielscher
Hans Uwe Hielscher
Hans Uwe Hielscher is a German organist and composer.Hielscher studied church music at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold , and carillon in Utrecht. From 1969 - 1973 he was church musician in Juist and from 1973 - 1979 in Bielefeld. He has been the organist and carilloneur at the Marktkirche in...
. To celebrate Liszt
Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...
in 2011, he played three major organ works of the composer on the instruments which was built around the time of the compositions, Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H
Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H
Fantasie und Fuge über das Thema B-A-C-H Fantasie und Fuge über das Thema B-A-C-H (also in the first version known as Präludium und Fuge über das Motiv B-A-C-H, title in English: Fantasy and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H) Fantasie und Fuge über das Thema B-A-C-H (also in the first version known as...
, Variations on Bach's "Weinen, Klagen" (1863), and Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale Ad nos ad salutarem undam
Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale Ad nos ad salutarem undam
The Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", S.259, is a piece of organ music composed by Franz Liszt in the winter of 1850 when he was in Weimar...
.
Teaching
Since 1995, Dessauer has been teaching organ at the Hochschule für Musik Mainz, part of the Gutenberg University in Mainz.Reger-Chor
In 1985, Dessauer invited singers to form a choir in order to perform a single work, the Hebbel-RequiemRequiem (Reger)
The Requiem, Op. 144b, is a late Romantic composition of Max Reger, also called Hebbel Requiem, a setting of Friedrich Hebbel's poem Requiem. Reger wrote it in 1915 for alto solo, chorus and orchestra...
of Max Reger
Max Reger
Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher.-Life:...
in the organ version of the Munich organist and composer Max Beckschäfer
Max Beckschäfer
Max Beckschäfer is a German organist, composer and academic.- Professional career :Beckschäfer took classes at the Richard-Strauss-Konservatorium in Munich in organ, piano, violin and choral conducting. He studied church music at the Musikhochschule München and continued studying composition with...
. The name Reger-Chor was chosen in 1988, when the next project was dedicated to the German premiere of Joseph Jongen
Joseph Jongen
Marie-Alphonse-Nicolas-Joseph Jongen was a Belgian organist, composer, and music educator.-Biography:Jongen was born in Liège. On the strength of an amazing precocity for music, he was admitted to the Liège Conservatoire at the extraordinarily young age of seven, and spent the next sixteen years...
's Missa op. 111. Later projects included one of the first performances in Germany of Rutter's Requiem
Requiem (Rutter)
The Requiem by John Rutter is a musical setting of an adaptation of the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass, completed in 1985. The setting utilises a choir with an orchestral accompaniment, along with a soprano soloist. The Requiem was first performed on 13 October 1985 at Lovers' Lane United Methodist...
, recorded on the first CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
of the Reger-Chor in 1990. In 2001 an international collaboration began with the organist Ignace Michiels
Ignace Michiels
Ignace Michiels is a Belgian organist at the St. Salvator's Cathedral of Bruges, a choral conductor and an organ teacher. He is internationally known as a concert organist.- Professional career :...
, bringing together an almost equal number of singers from Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
and the Rhein-Main Region to perform an annual concert both in Germany and Belgium. In 2003 he conducted the premiere of the organ version of Reger's Der 100. Psalm of François Callebout.
In addition to works of Reger, Dessauer chose rarely performed church music of composers such as Herbert Howells
Herbert Howells
Herbert Norman Howells CH was an English composer, organist, and teacher, most famous for his large output of Anglican church music.-Life:...
, Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
, Herbert Sumsion
Herbert Sumsion
Herbert Whitton Sumsion was an English musician who was organist of Gloucester Cathedral from 1928 to 1967...
, Maurice Duruflé
Maurice Duruflé
Maurice Duruflé was a French composer, organist, and pedagogue.Duruflé was born in Louviers, Eure. In 1912, he became chorister at the Rouen Cathedral Choir School, where he studied piano and organ with Jules Haelling...
, Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
, Frederick Delius
Frederick Delius
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
, William Lloyd Webber
William Lloyd Webber
William Southcombe Lloyd Webber was an English organist and composer.-Life and career:Lloyd Webber was born in London...
, Jules Van Nuffel
Jules Van Nuffel
Jules Van Nuffel , was a musicologist, composer, and a renowned expert on religious music.-Biography:...
, Joseph Ryelandt
Joseph Ryelandt
Joseph Ryelandt was a Belgian classical composer.-Life:Joseph Victor Marie Ryelandt was born in Bruges, into a wealthy bourgeois family, for whom culture, tradition, and the Roman Catholic religion mattered. So did music, which the family practiced a lot...
, Andrew Carter
Andrew Carter (composer)
Andrew Carter is an English composer, conductor and arranger.-Biography:Born in Wigston Magna, Leicestershire, Carter studied music at the University of Leeds, before moving to York and joining the choir at the Minster as a bass...
, Kurt Hessenberg
Kurt Hessenberg
Kurt Hessenberg was a German composer and professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main.- Life :...
, Rupert Lang, Morten Lauridsen
Morten Lauridsen
Morten Johannes Lauridsen is an American composer. He was composer-in-residence of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and has been a professor of composition at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music for more than 30 years.-Biography:Lauridsen was born February 27, 1943, in...
and Eric Whitacre
Eric Whitacre
Eric Whitacre is an American composer, conductor and lecturer. He is one of the most popular and performed composers of his generation. In 2008, the all-Whitacre choral CD Cloudburst became an international best-seller, topping the classical charts and earning a Grammy nomination...
.
Choral projects
In 1999 he collaborated with Ignace MichielsIgnace Michiels
Ignace Michiels is a Belgian organist at the St. Salvator's Cathedral of Bruges, a choral conductor and an organ teacher. He is internationally known as a concert organist.- Professional career :...
, organist of St. Salvator's Cathedral in Bruges
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....
, in a project to bring to a close together a century of violence. Both in Bruges and in Wiesbaden a concert was performed by the choirs Cantores and Chor von St. Bonifatius, Michiels playing the organ and Dessauer conducting. The concert in Bruges on 23 October 1999 was named Eeuw van zinloos Geweld (Era of meaningless violence) and expressed it in Maurice Duruflé
Maurice Duruflé
Maurice Duruflé was a French composer, organist, and pedagogue.Duruflé was born in Louviers, Eure. In 1912, he became chorister at the Rouen Cathedral Choir School, where he studied piano and organ with Jules Haelling...
's Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d'Alain, Jules Van Nuffel
Jules Van Nuffel
Jules Van Nuffel , was a musicologist, composer, and a renowned expert on religious music.-Biography:...
's In convertendo Dominus
In convertendo Dominus
In convertendo Dominus , op. 32, is the musical setting of a Latin psalm, written in 1926 by Jules Van Nuffel for a mixed choir and organ.-History:...
, Jehan Alain
Jehan Alain
Jehan Ariste Alain was a French organist and composer.-Biography:Alain was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye in the western suburbs of Paris, into a family of musicians. His father, Albert Alain was an enthusiastic organist, composer and organ-builder who had studied with Alexandre Guilmant and Louis...
's Litanies, Rudolf Mauersberger
Rudolf Mauersberger
Rudolf Mauersberger was a German choral conductor and composer.-Professional career:...
's Wie liegt die Stadt so wüst, Gerald Hendrie's Exsultate from the sonata In praise of reconciliation, and Duruflé's Requiem
Requiem (Duruflé)
The Requiem, op. 9, by Maurice Duruflé was commissioned in 1947 by the French music publisher Durand and is written in memory of the composer's father. The work is for SATB choir with mezzo-soprano and baritone soloists...
. The concert in Wiesbaden was called Versöhnungskonzert zum Ende des Jahrhunderts (concert of reconciliation at the end of the century).
In 2005 Dessauer prepared the choir for a memorial concert for the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, a joint concerts of the Schiersteiner Kantorei, Wiesbaden, a choir from England and one from Macon, Georgia
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
, conducted by Martin Lutz, performing Britten's War Requiem
War Requiem
The War Requiem, Op. 66 is a large-scale, non-liturgical setting of the Requiem Mass composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed January 1962. Interspersed with the traditional Latin texts, in telling juxtaposition, are settings of Wilfred Owen poems...
. A year later they took part in a performance of the work in Macon.
In November 2009 he performed again Duruflé's Requiem, this time with a choir of volunteers who wanted to remind of the Holocaust, in a Gedenkkonzert gegen Antisemitismus, a concert against Antisemitism. Janina Moeller sang the mezzo-soprano solo, Petra Morath-Pusinelli was the organist.
Selected recordings
- Kontraste (Contrast), Gabriel Dessauer at the Mayer organ of St. Bonifatius http://www.ohscatalog.org/contrast.html
- Orgel-Feuerwerk I – V (Organ Fireworks) http://www.ohscatalog.org/orfromwies.html
- Just for Fun Organ Historical Society Catalog
- John RutterJohn RutterJohn Milford Rutter CBE is a British composer, conductor, editor, arranger and record producer, mainly of choral music.-Biography:Born in London, Rutter was educated at Highgate School, where a fellow pupil was John Tavener. He read music at Clare College, Cambridge, where he was a member of the...
: RequiemRequiem (Rutter)The Requiem by John Rutter is a musical setting of an adaptation of the Roman Catholic Requiem Mass, completed in 1985. The setting utilises a choir with an orchestral accompaniment, along with a soprano soloist. The Requiem was first performed on 13 October 1985 at Lovers' Lane United Methodist...
, motets of Reger, Reubke's Sonata on the 94th PsalmSonata on the 94th PsalmThe Sonata on the 94th Psalm in C minor is a sonata for solo organ by Julius Reubke, based on the text of Psalm 94. It is considered one of the pinnacles of the Romantic repertoire.It is in three movements:*I. Grave - Larghetto - Allegro con fuoco - Grave...
, Reger-Chor, Monika Fuhrmann (soprano), instrumentalists, organist (Rutter): Petra Morath, organist (Reubke) and conductor Gabriel Dessauer (1990, recorded live in St. Bonifatius Wiesbaden) - Romantische Orgelkonzerte, Marco Enrico BossiMarco Enrico BossiMarco Enrico Bossi was an Italian organist, composer, improviser and pedagogue.-Life:Bossi was born in Salò, a town in the province of Brescia, Lombardy, into a family of musicians. His father, Pietro, was organist at Salò Cathedral, which has a one-manual organ built by Fratelli Serassi from 1865...
: Organ concerto A minor op. 100, Josef Gabriel Rheinberger: Organ concerto G minor op. 177, Léon BoëllmannLéon BoëllmannLéon Boëllmann was a French composer of Alsatian origin, known for a small number of compositions for organ. His best-known composition is Suite Gothique , still very much a staple of the organ repertoire, especially its dramatic concluding Toccata.-Biography:The son of a pharmacist, Boëllmann was...
: Suite Gothique op. 25, Kammerphilharmonie Rhein-Main, conductor: Jürgen Bruns (1997) - Hermann SuterHermann SuterHermann Suter , was a Swiss composer and conductor.Born in Kaiserstuhl, Aargau, Suter studied in the conservatories at Basel, Stuttgart and Leipzig, under Hans Huber and Carl Reinecke. He was an organist and conductor in Zurich from 1892 to 1902, after which he moved to Basel, where he lived to his...
: Le Laudi, Zofia Kilanowicz, Pamela Pantos, Andreas KarasiakAndreas Karasiak- Biography :Andreas Karasiak studied voice at the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz with Claudia Eder. He studied Baroque music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with René Jacobs in Basel....
, Johann Werner Prein, Chor von St. Bonifatius Wiesbaden, Kinderchor von St. Bonifatius, Witold Lutoslawski Philharmonic Wroclaw, 1999 http://www.worldcat.org/title/le-laudi-der-sonnengesang-des-hl-franziskus-von-assisi-mitschnitt-des-konzertes-vom-3-oktober-1998/oclc/174599733&referer=brief_results - Max RegerMax RegerJohann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher.-Life:...
: Hebbel-RequiemRequiem (Reger)The Requiem, Op. 144b, is a late Romantic composition of Max Reger, also called Hebbel Requiem, a setting of Friedrich Hebbel's poem Requiem. Reger wrote it in 1915 for alto solo, chorus and orchestra...
, organ works, Reger-Chor-International, conductor Gabriel Dessauer (2001, recorded live in St. Bonifatius Wiesbaden) - Max RegerMax RegerJohann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher.-Life:...
: Der 100. Psalm, Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue in E minor op. 127, Reger-Chor-International, conductor Gabriel Dessauer (2003, recorded live in St. Bonifatius Wiesbaden) http://www.ohscatalog.org/regerpsalm100.html
External links
- Kirchenmusik in St. Bonifatius Wiesbaden (in German)
- Chor Chor von St. Bonifatius
- Kinderchor
- Schola
- Reger-Chor
- Konzerte Concerts, latest reviews
- Kantor Gabriel Dessauer
- Orgel Mayer Organ
- Romfahrt Trip to Rome
- CDs CDs, music samples
- Entries for Gabriel Dessauer on WorldCatWorldCatWorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative...