A Choralschola, known simply as schola, is a choir for singing Gregorian chant or plainsong. It consists traditionally of only men, but more recent groups sometimes also include female voices. A schola often performs in uniform. The group may perform in the liturgy of church services, but some specialized ensembles also perform concerts and recordings, such as the Choralschola der Wiener Hofburgkapelle and the Schola Gregoriana Pragensis.
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe during the 9th and 10th centuries, with later additions and redactions. Although popular legend credits Pope Gregory I with inventing Gregorian chant, scholars believe that it arose from a later Carolingian synthesis of Roman chant and Gallican chant.
Plainsong is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. Though the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox churches did not split until long after the origin of plainsong, Byzantine chants are generally not classified as plainsong.
Schola Gregoriana Pragensis is an a cappella male voice choir from the Czech Republic, founded in 1987 by David Eben. Their core repertoire consists of Gregorian chant, Bohemian plainchant, and early polyphony, but they also perform modern works including some composed for them.
Chant singing is usually responsorial, responses being sung by cantor. the congregation or by groups within the schola. Parts of the liturgy sung by the schola include the ordinary, and the changing parts Introit, Psalms, Sequence, Tract, calls to the gospel and the offertory, and Gradual.
A responsory or respond is a type of chant in western Christian liturgies.
The ordinary, in Roman Catholic and other Western Christian liturgies, refers to the part of the Eucharist or of the canonical hours that is reasonably constant without regard to the date on which the service is performed. It is contrasted to the proper, which is that part of these liturgies that varies according to the date, either representing an observance within the liturgical year, or of a particular saint or significant event, and to the common, which contains those parts that are common to an entire category of saints, such as apostles or martyrs.
The Introit is part of the opening of the liturgical celebration of the Eucharist for many Christian denominations. In its most complete version, it consists of an antiphon, psalm verse and Gloria Patri, which are spoken or sung at the beginning of the celebration. It is part of the Proper of the liturgy: that is, the part that changes over the liturgical year.
Traditionally the schola performs without accompaniment. After the Second Vatican Council, the frequency of Latin liturgy was reduced and is less known. Therefore organ accompaniment has been used to support the singing.
The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the Second Vatican Council or Vatican II, addressed relations between the Catholic Church and the modern world. The council, through the Holy See, was formally opened under the pontificate of Pope John XXIII on 11 October 1962 and was closed under Pope Paul VI on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December 1965.
A Choralschola is one of singing groups in the oratorio Laudato si' , composed in 2016 by Peter Reulein on a libretto by Helmut Schlegel and aimed at showing the diversity of church music, the others being soloists, a children's choir and a mixed choir. [1]
An oratorio is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is musical theatre, while oratorio is strictly a concert piece – though oratorios are sometimes staged as operas, and operas are sometimes presented in concert form. In an oratorio the choir often plays a central role, and there is generally little or no interaction between the characters, and no props or elaborate costumes. A particularly important difference is in the typical subject matter of the text. Opera tends to deal with history and mythology, including age-old devices of romance, deception, and murder, whereas the plot of an oratorio often deals with sacred topics, making it appropriate for performance in the church. Protestant composers took their stories from the Bible, while Catholic composers looked to the lives of saints, as well as to Biblical topics. Oratorios became extremely popular in early 17th-century Italy partly because of the success of opera and the Catholic Church's prohibition of spectacles during Lent. Oratorios became the main choice of music during that period for opera audiences.
Laudato si' is an oratorio composed in 2016 by Peter Reulein on a libretto by Helmut Schlegel. Subtitled Ein franziskanisches Magnificat, it includes the full Latin text of the Magnificat, expanded by writings of Clare of Assisi, Francis of Assisi and Pope Francis. The composer set it for five soloists, children's choir, Choralschola, mixed choir, symphony orchestra and organ. It was published in 2016 by the Dehm Verlag, and was premiered on 6 November 2016 at the Limburg Cathedral, conducted by the composer.
Peter Reulein is a German composer, organ improviser, academic teacher and church musician, from 2000 at the church Liebfrauen in Frankfurt am Main. In 2016 he composed for the Catholic Diocese of Limburg the Franciscan oratorio Laudato si'.
