Gospel and Spiritual Singing in St Katharinen-Kirche

This huge church, which was severely damaged in the last war, has been rebuilt, and although outwardly looking the same, most of the wonderful medieval interior has been replaced with modern glass windows, and none of the highly decorated walls it would have originally contained.  Nevertheless, it is a light and airy space in which to sit with friends and listen to music. The Braunschweiger Spiritualchor  consists of 60 singers, and was founded in 1968.  It practises once a week, and gives regular concerts.  This concert was to celebrate its 300th performance, and very lively it was too.  With spirituals sung in English, I had an easy time, and during the evening, there were several solos for soprano and piano, bass and piano and  some pieces played on a jazz saxophone, with piano and organ accompaniment.

The audience was invited to join in, which we did with gusto, as it is no easy to sit still when this kind of music is ringing around a church.   During the early part of the evening, a resounding crash echoed around the building, and the poor conductor had fallen through a metal vent in the stone floor.   He was quickly rescued, and continued  to conduct as if nothing had happened!    He was a bouncy, energetic man, but after his fall, he kept watch on his position on the stone floor, making certain he did not jump up and down on the vents again!

 The choir at the end of the nave, with the ladies wearing blue scarves.

A pianist sits out of sight to the right, under the raised pulpit, and the conductor is nowhere to be seen!  He's there somewhere, unless the floor has consumed him again! He was lucky not to  have broken an ankle. 

The notice board outside the church, with the concert poster.

It was a nice evening, and I managed to co-ordinate the transport back, so that my tram arrived in Donaustraße with only five minutes to wait for the bus to Timmerlah.  It is still very cold here, just as it was in the UK, when the cold wind blew from the north for weeks on end.  Many parts of Germany are threatened with serious flooding, and some of the small surrounding villages here are under water, with many houses and cellars full of water.  Not very nice!