CD 48

The Church Singers of Mühlbach

One of the few enclaves where the traditional rural form of singing in church succeeded in being handed down through the ages without interruption was  found  to  be  Mühlbach in  the Tauferer  valley. The choir consists of two women, Elisabeth Wolfsgruber (soprano/Vorstimm),RosaForer (alto/Sekund) and three men, Johann Niederbacher (tenor/ Gråder), Walter Niederbacher (baritone/ Tiefer Sekund) and Max  Niederbacher  (bass, until 1977). The singers are unable to read music but they know most of the melodies of approximately 300 song texts preserved in two manuscripts, even   though   the   usable traditional song repertoire has by now been severely limited by order of the Church. The selection   presented   here provides a representative cross- section of the sacred songs of the Mühlbacher Kirchensinger. The fact that this unique hymn collection could be preserved to this day is due especially to the efforts of the choir director Max Niederbacher (1921-1997).

Track 10, 1:00
Dich soll das Weltall preisen

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