For the love of song
Cornelius Hauptmann, the initiator of the LIEDERPROJEKT, looks back on an unexpected success story
The LIEDERPROJEKT – a charity project for singing with children – is celebrating its tenth anniversary in 2019/2020. Ten years in which much has been achieved to establish singing in society: a total of 11 songbooks were published, 23 CD editions, 14 choral collections and countless radio podcasts. Moreover the LIEDERPROJEKT is financially supporting projects devoted to singing with children.
How it all began
In the summer of 2007, a friend of mine who was a senior music teacher at a high school in Stuttgart told me dejectedly that when he asked his class of 12-year-olds which of them knew the German song Der Mond ist aufgegangen, they all either shrugged their shoulders or shook their heads in mystification. I couldn’t believe this reaction, but encountered similar circumstances when I talked to other music teachers. I was simply speechless. Friends and colleagues shared my opinion that something would have to be done about this situation and so after three months of further research, I decided on a plan of action.
The idea
In discussions with friends and relatives, the idea developed of producing a recording featuring 52 evening songs and lullabies – one for each week of the year. The special approach was that each piece should be sung by someone who was particularly fond of the individual songs which would be performed in a classical style, e.g., with piano or instrumental accompaniment. There should be a balance between male, female and child vocalists and perhaps even the inclusion of families, ensembles and choirs. The selection would contain the most popular evening songs and lullabies in the German language which have been sung in families throughout the centuries, interspersed with a number of unknown songs.
Lullabies
The most beautiful songs
The song book contains over 160 songs with melodies, texts, and chord symbols. The singalong CD (mp3 format) contains one or two verses of all the songs recorded on different instruments.
Children’s songs
Children’s songs from Germany and Europe
Folk songs
Initial steps
I received initial support from a prominent source: Professor Dr. Gerald Hüther, neurobiologist and brain researcher, was especially helpful. Armed with his statement and the encouragement of other academics, I approached my circle of colleagues. I already had a list of around 100 songs which I presented to selected singers. The first candidate to be asked was Christoph Prégardien who immediately agreed to participate and expressed the wish to perform Der Mond ist aufgegangen. A few days later, I told Birgid Steinberger about my idea and she spontaneously suggested Kindlein mein which she had just recorded with her own guitar accompaniment. This was already an encouraging start. And then a miracle took place during the next few months of 2008: all those requested to participate gave their consent and nobody asked about a fee. At this time, I still had no idea where and how a production of these dimensions could actually be realized. I already had almost 30 musicians on my list when my tenor colleague Andreas Weller and his pianist Götz Payer advised me to approach Carus-Verlag.
Dr. Johannes Graulich, managing director of the publishing house, displayed great enthusiasm for the concept while expressing doubts concerning the organizational and financial challenges, but three days later, I received the awaited call: the Carus-Verlag would take on the production. Further participant firms became involved: regional broadcaster SWR – in cooperation with the other ARD radio broadcasters – as the major partner for the numerous individual productions, the book publisher Reclam which would market the accompanying songbook and the German newspaper ZEIT Online as a media partner. After a year of preparatory work, all doors appeared to open and it became progressively easier to enlist additional colleagues and prominent singers such as Angelika Kirchschlager, Jonas Kaufmann, Kurt Moll, Peter Schreier and Christian Gerhaher among others: everyone suddenly wanted to take part.
Participants
Cornelius Hauptmann
Angelika Kirchschlager
Jonas Kaufmann
Recordings
The recordings were made at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 in the studios of SWR and other radio broadcasters. Carus-Verlag decided to issue a songbook with wonderful illustrations by Frank Walka containing the music and the texts, accompanied by a CD for singing along which was musically realized by the violinist Christine Busch. What is more, a patron was found for the lullabies, the starting point of the LIEDERPROJEKT: Dr. Angela Merkel. The partners involved additionally agreed that two Euros from the sale of each CD and book sold would be donated to projects to encourage singing by and with children. The editorial staff at SWR also devoted themselves intensively to these songs, above all Dagmar Munck who collected interviews and statements about the songs which were broadcast weekly during the ARD night concerts. An additional foundation stone was laid in the form of a digital song archive liederprojekt.org which made available the content of the songbooks, CDs and podcasts free of charge.
Lullabies
Vol. 1–3 (Deluxe box)
Carus 83.025
Reactions
Two CDs featuring 52 evening songs and lullabies accompanied by a songbook and a piano volume were released in the autumn of 2009. The press response was overwhelming. We received many very personal letters full of enthusiasm and moving stories of children singing with their grandparents. We were sent an amazing note from Iceland reporting that the children in the largest nursery school in Reykjavik refused to take their midday nap if they weren’t first played a song from our CDs. A remarkable story came from Peru where German lullabies were being sung to homeless children on the street. An additional success story: the “baby-friendly” initiative run by WHO and UNICEF have been distributing a special edition of the lullabies on a large scale in the maternity wards of the participating hospitals for some years now.
Additional projects
The success of the lullabies – awarded a number of different prizes – prompted the editors to pursue additional projects: folk songs, children’s songs, Christmas carols and love songs in both German and international versions, each accompanied by a CD production, illustrated songbooks with CDs to sing along to and collections with piano accompaniments and choral versions. The number of participants has now increased to several hundred and the attained sum of donations from this charity project in support of singing with children has reached almost half a million Euros. This has benefitted organizations such as “Herzenssache,” “Stiftung Singen mit Kindern” and “GanzOhr,” all of which pursue the same objective as the LIEDERPROJEKT: the encouragement of singing with children! This is a magnificent development which fills me with amazement and gratitude.
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