As of: March 25, 2024, 11:00 a.m
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We examined some of the city band members: (from left) Mayor Ingo Mehner and music school director Harald Roßberger in conversation with board member Martin Schnitzer, Judith Rinshofer, Michael Disl, Toni Singer, Josef Niedermaier, Michael Lindmair and conductor Josef Kronwitter.
© Krinner
In the “Akademie am Schloßplatz” the members of the Tölzer Stadtkapelle gave an insight into the work in their ensemble, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
Bad Tölz – This is how we know the Tölz town band today: large ensemble, extensive repertoire, excellent skills.
But what is behind this formation, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year?
How did the chapel become what it is today?
There were many questions and many answers during an entertaining discussion in the “Akademie am Schloßplatz”.
The questions were asked by Harald Roßberger, head of the Tölz music school, and mayor Ingo Mehner, and the answers were provided by several musicians, including bandmaster Josef Kronwitter and Toni Singer, a long-time activist and now passive comrade-in-arms.
What was most noticeable to the listeners during this exchange was that the players, regardless of age group and profession, had one thing in common: their passion for music.
Difficult phase in the Corona period
The Corona period was a tough turning point.
Horn player Judith Rinshofer and Kronwitter described every opportunity that the changing measures had permitted.
There were rehearsals with a lot of organizational effort outdoors and in shifts and then also meetings via video link, “in order to simply revive personal contacts,” as District Administrator Josef Niedermaier, a clarinetist in the chapel for 46 years, added.
The screen, which was set up in the bedroom for reasons of circumstance, was not necessarily ideally placed, as he said with a smile, looking at his wife sitting in the audience.
“We didn’t know who would come back after the pandemic was over,” noted trumpeter Michael Lindmair.
But fortunately they survived this misery unscathed.
Good relationships with the music school and church musicians
But how does the city band get so many young musicians?
At the beginning he involved his own music students, said professional musician Kronwitter, who is in his 36th year leading the ensemble and, with his attested “good hand”, also the young youth band.
A big advantage in this regard is the close cooperation with the Tölzer Music School, because interested and talented young people always come from there.
This was also the case with Martin Schnitzer, 28 years old and currently the director of the band.
He started playing violin and viola in music school.
He now plays trombone in the ensemble.
Schnitzer, like Niedermaier, emphasized that making music together has educational value.
The good connection between the town band and the music school and the local church musicians is exemplary and beneficial.
“The excellent training attracts people.
And sitting in the orchestra, concentrating and being challenged, that is often so valuable, I draw on it every day,” said Niedermaier, also President of the Music Association of Upper and Lower Bavaria.
Almost half of the musicians are women
The competition-tested city band is now almost half female.
Michael Disl, horn player and currently the longest-serving member with 54 years of service, sees this as an enrichment.
Mehner asked whether the proportion of women had a noticeable impact.
Niedermaier replied that it wasn't just the discipline and tone that had improved.
Women are often quicker to implement what is given, and they often have a lot of fun together, said Kronwitter humorously.
“And our ladies take turns having children perfectly, so there are always enough.”
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Yes, and when it comes to earlier times and the not always easy years of building up the city band, Toni Singer is the right person to contact.
He started as a young boy in 1955, worked as a grade supervisor and several times as a board member.
So he could only tell a fraction of his experiences: about an unpopular conductor whom he complimented, about comrades whose eyes closed during rehearsals, tired from work, about big performances and concert tours.
And how do you characterize the city's sonorous figurehead?
Mayor Mehner's version: "Culture-creating, self-confident, conscious of tradition, open to new things, close to home, grounded." (Rosi Bauer)