"Von Herzen, möge es wieder, zu Herzen gehn!"
From the Heart, may it return to the Heart again!
Beethoven's inscription at the opening of the Kyrie of Missa Solemnis, Op. 123
[español]
Welcome to the 2020 Season of the Schiller Institute NYC Chorus. This is the Beethoven 250th Year, which will be filled with year-long celebrations throughout the world for the greatest composer of Classical Music.
You are invited to join us in the challenge of celebrating the Beethoven sestercentennial year. We’ll be working on two of the greatest compositions ever written, the Missa Solemnis, Opus 123, and the Ninth Symphony with the choral section in the final movement, which some of us did on the 249th birthday date, December 16th, 2019 at Carnegie Hall. We’ll also continue our work on the Spirituals by introducing three more this year, beginning with Nathaniel Dett’s "Listen to the Lambs".
The Schiller Institute Chorus is an amateur chorus in the true original meaning of amateur; we sing because we love singing and participating in a great art which benefits others and brings together all parts of society as a whole. This passion, combined with the commitment to the Italian bel canto method at the natural Verdi tuning, has allowed the chorus to achieve what many have described as a professional quality. As Ferdinand Ries, a student and secretary of Beethoven said, “When I left out something in a passage… or struck a wrong key, he seldom said anything; yet when I was at fault with regard to the expression, the crescendo or matters of that kind, or in the character of the piece, he would grow angry. Mistakes of the other kind, he said were due to chance; but these last resulted from want of knowledge, feeling or attention.”
No auditions required. Singers of all levels and experience are welcome, including hard-working beginners.