December 2002 - Nr. 13
Christmas Traditions
Choral Concerts
Choral concerts have been a staple of the Christmas season
for hundreds of years. And all cultures celebrating this high Christian
holiday have added to it. Within the German speaking local community we can
distinguish the German and the Austrian traditions. Even though we do share
some of them, they are at times different.
Willi Platzer’s Austrian Advent celebration has been for a
few years something to look forward to. And after an absence last year, a
restructuring period it appears, he came back with his newly build up Alpine
Choir and an interesting mix of choral and instrumental music, as well as
the trusted musings of Gunther Kunzelmann of Deutsches Theater Toronto fame,
who turns up at all the Austrian festivities with interesting stories and
ditties about history.
Guest choir was the much longer existing Austrian
Edelweiss Choir conducted by Elizabeth Kuehn, standing in for George Zaduban.
Her
sister Caroline was performing as a soprano soloist. Definitely a highlight
of the evening! With a B.A. from U of T and other training under her vocal
cords she is looking to continue her training in Europe early next year. Her
voice has bloomed into a crystal clear soprano the likes we have not heard
in a long time. Her pianissimos are pianissimo and her fortes are
marvellously present, and always no vibrato! What control! She and her
sister the conductor have so much talent, we predict long and prosperous
careers in the future, and we will help as much as we can. What else would
we do but support youth!
This year’s offering was different for its division of
instrumental music. Willi Platzer and his Hackbrett joined a string section
with clarinet by Joe Schick for some seasonal Stubenmusi, and on the other
side there were members of the Harmonie Brass Band playing classical pieces.
They even brought their famous Alphorns and astounded us with Christmas
music! Willi Platzer ran back and forth between the choirs and music
sections, never standing still, contributing to everything somehow: in a
duet, a quartet, as conductor or Hackbrett player.
Everything
offered was of very good quality and quite polished, one could even say very
professional, well decorated and adorned. The packed St Patrick’s Church in
Toronto resounded with the applause of an impressed audience.
An
even spread of well-known traditional folk tunes and classical choices of a
sometimes less known variety, as well as audience participation made for a
well-balanced afternoon, which ended, as usual with coffee and cake in the
churches community hall next door.
Two weeks later the church saw another Christmas concert,
this time originating with the well-established German Canadian Male Choir
Harfentöne under the direction of Horst Hartmann and Linda Marcinkus on the
piano. This all male choir boasts some very nice voices and I have always
been partial to their excellent bass voices. Over the years though all
sections gained in expertise and because of the great quality this choir has
a very good following. Their singing is confident, with clean starts and
crisp finishes; and when a song is well loved and has been part of the
repertoire for a while, then we know it. Passion enters into the singing,
the kind of stuff that makes your skin prickle. The program relies with old
favourites and classical pieces, as well as some gospel strictly on its joy
of singing, no added effects. Only the greenery with red bows on the pews
added something to the whole story that was not already there.
There were two guest choirs both conducted by George Zaduban. The Harmonie Choirs and again the Austrian Choir Edelweiss added with popular songs to the wide spread of Christmas music.
A
poem was read by a young girl, Chantal Weiss, to much applause. Perhaps this
was an indication of what the audience likes?
There is quite a difference in quality between all the
choirs our community has to offer. Some are quite excellent and others are
not even half as professional. I found out that only a few choir members in
some of the choirs read music. So much more praise has to go to the
conductor who undertakes the task of teaching people what they cannot read,
but can only learn by hearing.
The atmosphere in each concert varies as much as the program and the participants. Sometimes it is warmer; sometimes it is just very well done. Some people prefer professional atmosphere only, I do like that too, but prefer a bit of homespun character in a community atmosphere.
That does not have to be less professional, as was proven out at the Christmas Party of the Austrian Society.
At the annual affair the
"Forget-me not" family, or Szauter family, entertained. So divers are their
talents it is not necessary to hire different musicians for folklore or
choir or string quartet or whatever. They have so much talent between the
nearly thirty members of this clan, that it is fast being called the
Canadian version of the von Trapp family.
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Only Gunther Kunzelmann was at
hand to relieve the Szauters from duty to read some of his collected
Austrian stories, chosen especially for the season. Christine Meyer,
president of the society, also introduced after the brake featuring
delicious Goulash soup, the Canadian representative of SOS Kinderdorf,
founded after WWII by Dr. Hermann Gmeiner, an Austrian humanitarian. The 439
Children’s villages in 131 countries are as needed as ever.
Mrs Meyer donated $300 on behalf of the society. The evening concluded with a communal singing of traditional songs by all. This festive evening is a highlight of the pre-Christmas season, mostly because of the friendly Austrian ambiance.
Christmas Markets
This European custom is not yet firmly established in North America, but on the best way to carve out a place for itself. In Chicago the market, after German models, has become quite successful with initial hardships. Kitchener made a success with the help of all German-Canadian groups who always execute these things together in cooperative style.
This
model is not as apparent in Toronto where too many different interests
cannot be brought together under one umbrella. If some parties play, others
will not. The field is vastly divided and thus the whole affair, no matter
what it is, suffers. From thousands of German-Canadians in the area one
could expect a lot of support, especially when it concerns their so much
neglected customs of the past. But this is not necessarily so. Instead we
seek the flaw elsewhere: Toronto is too diverse, has too much other ethnic
stuff going on, does not understand the importan
ce or charm…and so on…. This
year the market allied itself with the Bildzeitung-like The European, a
paper reporting largely on paparazzi style items. The idea was probably to
attract other European interests. How did it work? Last we heard the
exhibitors complained that no one knows that the market was there. Not even
on the weekend, when the St. Lawrence market is traditionally packed.
We can only hope that this new beginning in its 3rd year takes roots quickly and gathers the support it deserves. It is truly a wonderful idea and should be supported in a big way. We cannot help but think that the promotion is not what it should be. The neighbourhood is big and strong and engaged. The location should be ideal. It is a lot more intimate than the open and windy space in front of City Hall, and has a lot more atmosphere.
And by the way, the Szauter family sang there too.
In Kitchener the market has lost nothing of its original charm. But weather plays a part in the number of visitors too. As in Toronto, it was quite cold, which does not help at all. Inside the City Hall it was a lot busier than outside, where mainly the food and drink vendors were located and the stage for various performances stands.
We
arrived just in time to hear the Concordia Choirs sing. As a matter of fact,
we always time it so that we will not miss them. Under the direction of Dr.
Alfred Kunz, this is still one of the best choirs around.
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This
year it did not snow magically, as it did in the first year, and the beauty
of it all drove tears into the eyes of all present, but the performance was
intense in the icy cold, and fervent, as it should be.
Inside the City Hall abounded with everything we like and
need for Christmas. We spotted a huge hand carved Pyramid, which took over
300 man-hours to make, fantastic hand-woven blankets from the Weavers Cabin
in Waterloo (519-746-1198),
Regina’s fabulous Dirndls and fashions, ceramics
and hand painted items, candles and candies, cookies and, of course,
sausages and such.
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Toys of any description, such as hand puppets designed to fire up the imagination of children, and Christmas decorations.
Of course,
there are the German Canadian organisations having a booth too. The German
Canadian Congress had Reiner Reimke’s beautiful animal prints for sale, and
a Spiegel Special on how the Germans fled their homeland and died
needlessly, a subject long not discussed. This overdue account is
fascinating history and in the wake of Guenther Grass’s newest novel only
timely. The young now generation wants to know what happened before history
has forgotten it all, and all that would remain is the victor’s side, which
is usually an incomplete account.
The trip to Kitchener was well worth it. We just have to ask if as many folks from Kitchener travel to Toronto as the other way around.
Our Elizabeth Kuehn is giving a concert just before Christmas. Check it out in her column and I hope to see you there!
Have a very Merry Christmas one and all
Sybille Forster-Rentmeister
Comments to: sfr@echoworld.com
