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Church music in the Corona shutdown: "Three meters distance in the direction of blowing"

2021-01-26T14:58:30.808Z


In a church in the Harz Mountains, people sang in service despite the shutdown - wind instruments are also used. Everything according to regulations, say those responsible. For real?


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As few wind instruments as possible: Not all believers find church music appropriate in the corona crisis

Photo: miguelangelortega / Getty Images

Three cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed live - that would be a small party for some culture-starved people in the second shutdown.

In the Nicolaikirche in Herzberg, Lower Saxony, this was the way of celebrating on Sunday: Members of the baroque orchestra "Camerata Allegra" and the local chamber choir had gathered on the gallery to accompany the service with music.

Five singers, five strings, an organist and three wind instruments performed - the lyrics seemed made for the corona crisis.

"Oh God, how many a heartache / Meet me at this time! / The narrow path is full of sadness / That I should walk to heaven / Only patience, patience, my heart / It is a bad time! / But the walk to bliss / Leads to joy after pain. "

Johann Sebastian Bach, BWV 58

But not everyone liked making aerosol-rich music in times of high infection rates and mutated coronaviruses.

"I have no idea how you can approve something like this," wrote a worried SPIEGEL reader who is himself a church member.

The behavior of the Protestant Church has very little to do with current social requirements, not even "with the constant moral standards for citizens from the pulpit".

The chairwoman of the church council, Elke Peters, reacted in astonishment to the criticism.

"We strictly adhere to the guidelines of the regional church of Hanover," she says.

You don't give concerts, it's a church service with musical accompaniment.

In its recommendations for action of January 22, 2021, the regional church of Hanover prohibits congregational singing.

However, a maximum of eight wind players and singers are allowed to make music if they are three meters away from each other and at least six meters from the community.

If more than ten people take part in a service, the local public order office must be informed.

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Herzberg am Harz: A small festival for those who are hungry for culture

Photo: Swen Pförtner / picture alliance / dpa

"That's exactly how we handled it," says district cantor Jörg Ehrenfeuchter.

Between 55 and 60 believers attended the Sunday service with music.

"The Nicolaikirche is big, so are the distances, the aerosols are distributed." The church normally offers space for 900 people;

Even in the debate about Christmas services, representatives of the Protestant regional churches had emphasized that thanks to sophisticated hygiene concepts, services had not become mass spreading events.

In fact, believers are still forbidden to sing, strict rules of distance apply, and in many places you have to register in advance for every worship service.

Since January 19th, medical mouth and nose covers for adults have also been compulsory in churches.

But just as there are differences in the fight against corona between the federal states, the regional churches often choose slightly different approaches, even if they generally coordinate closely with the crisis teams and the health authorities.

Schleswig-Holstein only lets professionals make music

In the Protestant Northern Church, for example, church music may only be practiced with the consent of the parish council.

Solo instruments, including wind instruments, are allowed here as in Lower Saxony - but three meters from the community and two and a half meters from one another are sufficient.

"The number of musicians should be kept deliberately small in the sense of the contact restrictions," it says in the recommendations for action.

Hamburg recommends limiting the number of musicians to eight;

In general, the size of the ensemble is defined by the spacing rules, depending on the size of the church.

Choirs are not allowed to perform in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, only one person is allowed to sing in closed church rooms.

In Schleswig-Holstein, "solo or professional" music making is allowed in the churches.

Music falls silent around Berlin

The Evangelical Church Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia (EKBO) forbids congregational and choir singing indoors - actually.

If, however, liturgical chant is intended "to support or replace parish chant, then an upper limit of 5 to 6 participants should never be exceeded," says the current recommendations for action.

Instrumentalists should therefore keep a distance of at least two meters to the next person - "with wind players, the distance in the direction of blowing is three meters to the next person".

"These regulations are hardly ever used," says EKBO spokeswoman Ulrike Mattern.

"Musically, not much is going on in the communities at the moment - they want to keep the risk of infection as low as possible."

Bavaria relies on fewer wind instruments

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria allows a liturgist or a small ensemble to sing.

A maximum of ten musicians may come together, if possible only one wind player.

"This also applies to very large churches," says a spokesman.

Choirs are not allowed to perform.

A distance of two meters in all directions must be maintained.

"Ultimately, the size of the ensemble depends on the local conditions in the communities," says EKD spokesman Carsten Splitt.

“We are happy that we can give some musicians the opportunity to perform at all and earn a little money in these busy times.

Wherever it is possible. "

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Source: spiegel

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