Now thank you

September 10, 2 p.m., Tessmar Recording Studio

We begin our anniversary program with sacred chants and motets. Their texts are all biblical and, for Catholic composers Scarlatti, Bruckner, and Gallus, have their original place in the celebration of Holy Mass. Felix Mendelssohn came from a Jewish family, but was raised Christian and baptized as a Protestant in 1816, along with his siblings. From his baptism onward, he also adopted the middle name Bartholdy. Brahms, born in Protestant Hamburg, is the only composer in our first part to use a Luther chorale in his motet "Why is the light given to the weary?" Alongside

What all composers of the first part have in common, across this vast period, is that they found their textual starting points in the Psalms. From the Psalms, the foundation of the Jewish-Christian prayer tradition, you will hear Psalm 80 (Exultate Deo), Psalm 103 (Praise the Lord), Psalm 51 (Create in me God), Psalm 90 (O Lord God, you are our refuge), Psalm 100 (Make a joyful noise to the Lord), and Psalm 37 (Os justi). The first Brahms motet sets the verses Job 3:20–26, Lamentations 3:41, and James 5:11 to music. We conclude the first part with the Lord's Prayer by Jacobus Gallus.

In the second part of the program, we sing secular songs, including seven pieces for male choir and two for female choir. This may not seem balanced, but there are very few original compositions for female choir. The imbalance is due to the fact that male choir singing, which emerged in the 19th century, became very popular and incorporated many folk motifs: musically, the folk song; in terms of content, motifs such as patriotism, homeland, wine, women, and conviviality; and in the Romantic era, the forest as a place of longing. This was accompanied by the emergence of a choral life with a club structure: the "Liedertafel Concordia," the "mother club" of Acûstico, also owes its origins to this tradition.

So that we do not lose ourselves completely in this world, a spiritual piece has also been included in the second part: Beati mortui in Domino morientes deinceps– English: How blessed are the dead who sleep in the Lord.

We conclude our concert with "Do you know how many little stars are there?", arranged for four-part choir by Friedemann Winklhofer. Along with Helmut Duffe and Emanuel Vogt, Winklhofer is one of the composers whose many wonderful pieces have been sung by both the Windsbach Boys' Choir and Acûstico. By the end of the concert, the little stars won't yet shine, but that's not the point. We hope that our concert will inspire your hearts and minds—just as ours did.

We thank you, dear audience, for your loyalty and support during these first ten years of our existence!

Dr. Bärbel Husmann