INTERVIEW: Vienna Boys Choir honors diversity in new Christmas concerts
Photo: The Vienna Boys Choir brings their Christmas tour to North America. Photo courtesy of Lukas Beck.
The Vienna Boys Choir has been singing choral music for centuries, and as each year passes, the globally respected group of young male singers adds another bullet point to their long, long résumé. The choristers are bringing that history, plus some flavors of the contemporary era, around the United States this holiday season with their annual Christmas tour.
They make stops Wednesday, Dec. 12 at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey; Thursday, Dec. 13 at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey; and Sunday, Dec. 16 at Carnegie Hall in New York City, among other dates and locations.
When the boys arrive in town, they will be singing well-rehearsed carols and holiday music that originate in many different cultures from around the world. Some of the selections for the concerts include John V. Mochnick’s “Ave Maria,” three pieces from Benjamin Britten’s “A Ceremony of Carols,” Mykola Leontovich’s ever-popular “Carol of the Bells” and even Joseph Carleton Beal and James Ross Boothe’s “Jingle Bell Rock.”
When the choristers take the stage, it will be obvious to the audience that the boys are not simply singing the notes; they are truly absorbing the music and displaying their understanding of the composers and the compositions. Helping them fill these historical gaps is Dr. Tina Breckwoldt, the in-house historian/dramaturg and press spokesperson for the Vienna Boys Choir.
“I do any kind of research that they want,” she said in a recent phone interview. “I suppose you’d call me the in-house historian. I deal with anything that concerns the choir’s history, back to the roots and through the ages as it were. … And if somebody says, ‘Oh, we’re going to Armenia. Could you find us an Armenian song,’ I will do that or at least try to do that. Same if it’s Uzbekistan or whatever; it doesn’t really matter. Or if they say, ‘We’d like more repertoire in the 16th century. Can you find us some?’ I’ll go out and try to do that. I also try and find connecting narrative to the programs that we do. Let’s say they want to do a program about water or animals or whatever, then I just try to find something that brings it together.”
After Breckwoldt has researched particular pieces and composers, she typically talks to the conductors of the various touring groups. Oliver Stech will be the conductor for the United States engagement of the Christmas tour.
“First and foremost, I do talk to the conductors because it’s usually they or our artistic director who wants the research done, but then when something is selected, when we all decide and agree that this would be a good piece to do, then I do sometimes come in and talk to the boys about it,” she said. “If it’s something in a foreign language, I will usually translate it. Sometimes if I do know the language, then sometimes I’m asked to help them enunciate whatever it is. The boys are quite interested. Everybody seems to be quite interested in knowing more about the pieces that they do because sometimes it’s a bit of background about the composer. You find something, a piece of the puzzle that tells you why somebody wrote a certain piece or what the circumstances were when they wrote it. That may inform the performance on any given piece.”
As an example, Breckwoldt pointed out that this year marks the 200th anniversary of the composition “Silent Night,” a well-known song around the world and especially in Austria. It has been part of the Vienna Boys Choir repertoire for many years.
“I think it’s one of the most sung Christmas carols,” she said. “We did some research on that and found out that this was actually written in the time of more or less continuous warfare, and there is part of that song that is actually a prayer for peace. It makes a lot of more sense when you see it in its context.”
Breckwoldt, who in university studied the history and culture of the land that is now Iraq, Iran and Syria, finds the research into the musical background of these carols and compositions fascinating and endlessly interesting. Of course, her work also extends beyond the history of what the boys sing and includes the choir itself.
“It’s quite wonderful because the history of the choir is so tied to the history of the development of western music,” Breckwoldt said. “There’s a lot to learn. It’s quite nice because I have this great luxury that I can go out and do research, which I think is a humongous privilege, and I can do it in a city that has a wealth of libraries and resources where you can actually go into a lot of detail. It helps to put one’s [heritage] more into perspective, where we stand and how all of the European states developed and what kind of role did music play in all of this. It’s very, very privileged to be a part of something that brings music to people. … We see ourselves very much as an educational institution, so I think that’s a rare privilege to teach and at the same time learn. There’s a lot that you can learn from the kids really, from their approach to life and questions that they have. That’s quite an eye opener.”
The choir’s history is impressive and unparalleled on the world music stage. Some of its earliest days are a bit blurry, Breckwoldt admitted, but there were definitely boys singing in Vienna’s Imperial Chapel as early as 1296. In 1498, Maximilian I moved his court to Vienna, and the choir officially began in 1498. Since then, the group has attracted the talents of a long list of musicians, a real who’s who of greats: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn and Franz Schubert, among countless others.
“There are very few references [to] 1498, which is usually given as the foundation date for the choir, or the starting date for the choir,” Breckwoldt said. “Can’t really call it a foundation because it existed before in different guises, and there are lots of blanks that one could still pull in. … You see this was the choir that was attached to the Imperial Austrian Court.”
In order to fill in those blanks, one would have to look back at documents that were not specifically about the choir. For example, the financial books of the court hold references to the boys choir, and Breckwoldt has seen some of these historical footnotes that offer a quick glance at a particular place and time.
“You have to sift through lots of material that has nothing to do with the choir until you may find one expenditure that pertains to the boys getting new uniforms,” she said. “You have a little nugget that tells you about ladies who had to come three times a week to basically delouse the boys because people had a lot of problems with head lice. That seems such a mundane thing, but at the same time it brings history much closer to us. The approach to historical research has changed a lot over the last 30-odd years maybe, in that people are much more interested in the history of what you might call the common man or whatever, of simple people’s lives, not just the history of kings and queens, but the history of everyday folk.”
This history can be daunting to comprehend, especially for a 10-year-old who has recently begun his tenure with the choir. Breckwoldt said the full realization of the heritage comes later in a boy’s career with the group — a painfully short career that usually lasts only a few years.
“I do think that they all take away an awful lot,” she said. “And we do make a point of telling them, actually taking them to the chapel and saying, ‘Look, this is where 200 years before Franz Schubert would have stood as a kid, and he would have done the same thing that you’re doing now. Or Joseph Haydn, he would have been here 250 years ago.’ That’s something that sometimes only hits home when they actually start performing pieces by these people. … Haydn or Schubert or Mozart, those are names that are revered, and they are spoken with a certain reverence. We know these are the greats, so when you’re told as a 10-year-old or 12-year-old 200 years ago at your age this is where Franz Schubert stood, I think that does mean something to them. It brings it home. I do think they realize that this is something, and that we’re all part of history in some way shape or form.”
For further inspiration in her own work, Breckwoldt makes a point to attend as many concerts as possible. She called a performance from the Vienna Boys Choir “a beautiful thing” because of the exchange of energy between the crowd and the choristers. The boys belong to the audience members, and the audience members belong to the boys.
“There’s an incredible exchange going on,” she said. “The boys throw themselves into it, and they give it all they got. If you’ve got an audience that is receptive, then there’s something coming back. Something develops out of that, and you will find that no two performances are ever alike. That’s quite stunning. I think that is the moving part. This is like timeout. You have a two-hour vacation from your own life when you go to a concert like that, and you listen. I think that’s why people go. You want to be not just entertained, but you want to be taken away.”
Breckwoldt was especially excited for this year’s touring Christmas program. She remarked that the opening motet by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy is a definite highlight (it’s formally called “Veni, Domine,” or “Come, o Lord”). The selection was originally written for a couple of nuns in Rome because the composer thought they needed more literature to suit their voices. It’s a beautiful piece that requires high voices, so it’s a natural fit for boys’ choirs and women’s choirs.
“Gaudete,” or “Rejoice,” will follow, and this one is a traditional 16th-century Christmas carol from Finland that mixes Latin with the vernacular. Breckwoldt finds the composition quite peaceful, and it leads into the German “Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen,” or “A Great and Mighty Wonder,” with arrangements by Michael Praetorius and transcription by Gerald Wirth.
Max Reger’s “Mariä Wiegenlied,” or “Mary’s Lullaby,” is the work of a late 19th century-early 20th century composer who was quite skilled on the organ. In his time he was accused of being too complicated with his compositions and improvisations, and “Mary’s Lullaby” stands as an example of him trying to simplify his creative output. The lullaby is sung by Mary to the infant Jesus, and the lyrics use a lot of Medieval imagery.
“We like to mix and match because you need to have an interesting program that will be as diverse as possible,” Breckwoldt said. “There’s something in it for everybody. … There’s a narrative there, and people will be taken from one piece to the other. Sometimes Oliver will actually address the audience and explain something. He may introduce some of the choristers; that can also be very interesting because the choristers come from very different backgrounds and nowadays from many different countries as well.”
In other words, the diverse songs are equally matched by the diverse singers.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Vienna Boys Choir is currently touring the United States with their annual Christmas program. They make stops Wednesday, Dec. 12 at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, New Jersey; Thursday, Dec. 13 at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey; and Sunday, Dec. 16 at Carnegie Hall in New York City, among other dates and locations. Click here for more information and tickets.
