Please use this schedule to help you to prepare for rehearsals. If you do not have a practice CD, try this link http://www.cyberbass.com/Major_Works/Beethoven_L_v/beethoven_mass_in_C.htm , which will enable you to listen to and learn your own part for free!

German Pronunciation – a guide for singers

A good choir like ours should be able to sing confidently in a variety of languages. As the choral section of the Choral Fantasia consists of only a few lines of text sung repeatedly, it will provide us with a good opportunity to try singing in German.  Most German pronunciation is phonetic (there are no equivalents of ‘bough’, ‘cough’, ‘dough’, etc in English), consistent and, once a few unfamiliar sounds have been mastered, not difficult. We shall fine-tune our pronunciation (especially our vowels) during rehearsals with the help of Ingrid and Jenny Mc Cubbin, but I hope you will find the pointers below helpful.

Großes, das ins Herz gedrungen, blüht dann neu und schön empor

Großes: ‘ß’ is pronounced like ‘ss’

Herz: ‘e’ a bit like ‘ai’ in English ‘air’; ‘z’ like ‘ts’

Blüht: ‘ü’ has no real English equivalent; a bit like ‘rue’ in French. We will practise this!

‘neu’: ‘eu’ like ‘English ‘oy’

schön:  ‘sch’ like English ‘sh’;‘ö’ like ‘ir’ in English ‘girl’- ‘shirn’

Hat ein Geist sich aufgeschwungen, hallt ihm stets ein Geisterchor

Ein, Geist(erchor): ‘ei’ like English ‘eye’

sich: (i) ‘s’ like English ‘z’; (ii) ‘ch’: think J.S. Bach or Scottish ‘loch’

aufgeschwungen: ‘au’ like English ‘ow’; ‘w’ like English ‘v’ – ‘owfgeshvungen’, roughly.

‘ihm: ‘i’ like English ‘ee’

‘stets’: ‘s’ before the consonant like English ‘sh’

‘-chor’: like English ‘cor’

Nehmt denn hin, ihr schönen Seelen, froh die Gaben schöner Kunst

‘hin’, ‘ihr’: ‘i’ like English ‘ee’:

Seelen: no exact English equivalent of the German ‘ee’ sound; a bit like French é, perhaps

Gaben: ‘aa’ like English ‘ah’;

Kunst: more like English ’oo’ than ‘uh’. We’ll practise it!

Wenn sich Lieb’ und Kraft vermählen, lohnt dem Menschen Göttergunst

Wenn: ‘venn’; ‘sich’ – see above; ‘Lieb’: ‘ie’ like English ‘ee’; final ‘b’ in German is pronounced as a ‘p’ – ‘leep’.

vermählen:  ‘v’ like English ‘f’; ‘ä’: no exact English equivalent; a bit like ‘eh’ – but we’ll practise this one too!

Göttergunst: ‘ö’ = ‘ir’ as before.