200 years of choral music in Chemnitz

Singakademie Chemnitz

The Singakademie Chemnitz is celebrating its 200th anniversary. It invites you to a festive concert in St Mark's Church tomorrow, commemorating a tradition that has been going on since 1817. Choir members Margitta Scheffler and Sylvia Richter have worked together with Bernd Richter and Prof. Werner Kaden on a commemorative publication and compiled the eventful history of the Singakademie. The two singers told us about their musical hobby.

How did you approach the history of the Singakademie?
Sylvia Richter: We started our research almost two years ago. We rummaged through our private archives and collected a lot of material. We soon had the past 15 years together. We found older material in the city archives. One major problem was obtaining the image sources and their rights for the publication of the images.
Margitta Scheffler: For the 200th anniversary, we wanted to record everything we have performed, where we have been and how the choir has developed. It's nice to pass something like this on for posterity.

Today's Singakademie Chemnitz first appeared in public on 31 October 1817 as the "Musikverein". At the beginning, the choir was purely a male choir, later women's voices were added. First as the Singacademie, then from 1860 as the Singakademie, they were part of a middle-class musical life in the city until the Second World War put an end to this development. During the war years, the Singakademie was even completely closed. In 1945, the clubhouse on Moritzstraße was bombed and the music archive destroyed. After the war, the singers continued as the Volkschor Chemnitz. They relaunched as the Singakademie in 1966, on the initiative and under the direction of Franzpeter Müller-Sybel. Maja Sequeira took over as director of the Singakademie in 2003, and Andreas Pabst has been in charge of the 80-strong concert choir since 2012.

What impressed you during your research?
Sylvia Richter: In the city archives, we learnt that we are one of the few associations that can provide an almost complete list of association events. For example, we discovered that the work "Die Heilige Elisabeth", which we rehearsed, was performed by members of the association as early as 1867. Franz List was asked to conduct this piece at the time. We have a letter from him thanking us for the request, but he had to cancel due to time constraints. It was the same with the work "King David", which we performed last year, but which was already in our repertoire in 1928. These are beautiful testimonies from that time.

How important is singing to you?
Margitta Scheffler: I have been singing in the Singakademie for nine years. I was already passionate about singing as a child. Singing is therapy for me. I can free my soul by singing. The everyday problems you have become very small. I leave rehearsals with a very happy feeling.
Sylvia Richter: I've also been singing since I was a child. I joined the children's choir in 1970 and have been part of the Singakademie ever since. Even as a child, I was very impressed by the great choral symphonic works. I have grown close to this music.

How do you work through the pieces?
Sylvia Richter: Monday rehearsals are important. But the repertoire is also often on my mind, even during my work. The texts and music are always running through your head, you can't always switch off and that has caused me many sleepless nights.
Margitta Scheffler: Our choirmaster, for example, insists on using the original languages. This requires full concentration, but is also good training for the mind. It really lives up to the name Academy.

Is there a work that has particularly touched you?
Margitta Scheffler: There are many. St Elisabeth and Magnificat by Rutter. I still like to sing them today, just at home.
Sylvia Richter: I can also think of many spontaneously: Carmina Burana by Orff, Peer Gynt by Grieg or Chichester Psalms by Bernstein.

For the anniversary, the Singakademie will be performing a "best of" as well as the German premiere of Howard Goodall's work "Every purpose under the heaven". It refers to the New and Old Testaments and was performed for the first time in England in 2011.

What do you do in Chemnitz when you're not in rehearsal or on stage?
Sylvia Richter: Good music goes hand in hand with good food. I love to cook. But I also enjoy being spoilt at the table. Another hobby is our garden.
Margitta Scheffler: I love going to the opera house or symphony concerts in the Stadthalle.

What wishes do you have for the Singakademie in 2025?
Sylva Richter: I would like to see more support and interest in our choral work, more publicity from the press, especially before our concerts. And not just for 2025. And I also hope that we can find enough young musicians to continue the tradition of the Singakademie.