Mendelssohn Lieder im Freien zu singen
R. Larry Todd

Mendelssohn: Songs, to be performed outdoors

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Mendelssohn tried to put the romantic idea of letting choral songs sound outdoors into practice more than once. In a letter dated July 3, 1839, he described how he had sung with a choir deep in the forest. “How lovely the song sounded, how clearly the sopranos trilled in the air, and what a glow and charm enveloped all the pitches, everything so quiet and furtive and yet so clear – that I couldn’t have imagined … it was magical in the forest solitude, so that tears almost came to my eyes. It sounded like pure poetry.” Learn more about the still little known choral songs of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in this article by Mendelssohn expert R. Larry Todd.

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Haydn Oratorien
Ernst Herttrich

Editorial work on Haydn’s oratorio “Die Jahreszeiten” (The Seasons)

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What is an Urtext edition based on if there is no surviving autograph? Which discoveries does a comparison of different sources allow – whether these are copies or printed editions, parts or scores? Where are mistakes always found? The musicologist Ernst Herttrich has edited works including Beethoven’s masses in Urtext editions for Carus. In his new edition of Haydn’s oratorio “Die Jahreszeiten”, he reveals what can be deduced from studying the different sources and why this edition is based on several sources.

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Banner Digitale Chorprobe
Michael Reif

Choral singing during Corona

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Singing together, even during Corona – that is the declared objective of choral director Michael Reif. In his first contribution to the CARUS blog he explains how he has achieved this, and which challenges he has had to deal with under these special circumstances.

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Martin Dücker

Freiburg Choral Collection for mixed choir

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Martin Dücker is unable to choose just a single “Favorite piece”, but he looked in the “Freiburger Chorbuch” for inspiration, a book which is dear to him (in the sense of valuable, worthy – the Latin word is carus). It is also suitable for that desert island … Piece no. 95 in the collection, “O Jesu, all mein Leben bist du” by Anton Heiller (1923–1979), lingers on the mind for a long time.

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