1050 – 1050 years Regensburger Domspatzen

REGENSBURGER DOMSPATZEN
CHRISTIAN HEISS

The Regensburger Domspatzen celebrate their unique anniversary with a fascinating kaleidoscope of choral works, familiar and new. The oldest boy’s choir in the world, together with his current conductor Christian Heiß, offer up a sweeping and all-embracing world of sound that combines a fabulous tradition with a future full of promise and optimism. The simple title sums it up well: 1050 years!

Release: April 2025

Album Details

CD-Content

01 CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI: CANTATE DOMINO
02 BLASIUS AMON: DA PACEM, DOMINE
GIOVANNI PERLUIGI PALESTRINA:
03 INCIPIT LAMENTATIO
04 HAEC DIES
05 GIOVANNI CROCE: BUCCINATE
06 HEINRICH SCHÜTZ: SINGET DEM HERRN EIN NEUES LIED
07 CHARLES GOUNOD: DA PACEM, DOMINE
08 JOSEPH GABRIEL RHEINBERGER: ANIMA NOSTRA
09 GREGORIANISCHE COMMUNIO: PASSER INVENIT
10 WOLFRAM BUCHENBERG: PASSER INVENIT
11 FELIX MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY: JAUCHZET DEM HERRN ALLE WELT
12 ANTON BRUCKNER: AVE MARIA
13 JOSEF RENNER: VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS
14 CHRISTIAN MATTHIAS HEIß: LAUDATE DOMINUM
15 FELIX MENDELSSOHN BARTHOLDY: DENN ER HAT SEINEN ENGELN
16 GIOVANNI GASTOLDI: AMOR IM NACHEN
(Percussion: Helmut C. Kaiser)
17 JOHN DOWLAND: COME AGAIN
18 FRANZ SCHUBERT / ARR. FRIEDRICH SILCHER: AM BRUNNEN VOR DEM TORE
19 FRANZ LEHRNDORFER: EIN JÄGER LÄNGS DEM WEIHER GING
20 JOHANNES BRAHMS: ALL MEINE HERZGEDANKEN
21 ANDREAS ROMBERG: HOLDER FRIEDE
22 CHRISTIAN MATTHIAS HEIß: ZU REGENSBURG AUF DER KIRCHTURSPITZ
23 CARL BRESGEN / ARR. BERND ENGLBRECHT:
O DU STILLE ZEIT
24 JOSEF GABRIEL RHEINBERGER: ABENDLIED

Artists

Regensburger Domspatzen

In the year 975, Bishop Wolfgang founded his own cathedral school in Regensburg. This, then, was when the Regensburger Domspatzen came into being. Today, thousand fifty years later, the boy’s choir ranks as one of the oldest and most famous in the world. Right from the beginning, the school boys were assigned the task of singing the liturgical music in the bishop’s church. Even today, this function remains the principle task of the Regensburger Domspatzen. They still provide the music for the worship services at the Regensburg Cathedral, and can be heard every Sunday during the school year as well as on the main feast days in the church calendar.
They are noted for their clear and warm choral tone, unmistakable features that have made them famous over the decades. Their choral sound is also notable for its versatility and dynamic range, and their singing is able to move the hearts of the listeners in a very special way. The clear sound of a boy’s choir is able to bring an extra degree of radiant power and impressive depth to a wide range of choral music. Along with the Domspatzen, there are also two other choirs that are under the charge of the music director. The extraordinarily wide musical repertoire of the Regensburger Domspatzen ranges from the oldest church music, the Gregorian chants, through to the vocal poly-phony of the sixteenth century with Palestrina, Lassus, and Hassler, and on to Baroque and Roman-tic music as well as folk songs and contemporary composers. The Domspatzen regularly take part in major oratorio productions with well-known orchestras and soloists.
The Domspatzen are also part of a larger establishment in Regensburg which also includes a regu-lar school, a high school (gymnasium) with classes all day, and a boarding school. In 2022, for the first time in 1047 years, the Domspatzen in the gymnasium and boarding school has begun to also include girls. There is also an independent girl’s choir as well.

Christian Heiss

Christian Heiss (born 1967) has been the music director in Regensburg since September 2019, and, as part of this position, he is the chief director of the Regensburg Domspatzen. He himself was a Domspatz. After finishing his abitur (secondary schooling), he completed a degree in church music majoring in organ at the Music University in Munich, where his professors included Franz Lehrn-dorfer. He finished his training with a Church Music A-diploma and a Masterclass diploma in or-gan. In 1999 he was appointed organist at the cathedral in Eichstätt. In 2002 he changed positions, succeeding Wolfram Menschick as the cathedral music director in Eichstätt. In this role, he led the choirs in Eichstätt (the cathedral choir, the Schola Gregoriana, and the youth choir). In addition, he assumed the responsibilities of diocese music director and leader of the governing body for church music for the entire Eichstätt diocese.
Christian Heiss is also active as a successful composer. Many of his works have been printed by noted publishers. On behalf of the German Conference of Bishops, he set Pope Benedict XVI’s First Mass to music as an official gift to the German Bishops on the occasion of the Pope’s German visit in the summer of 2011. Christian Heiss is married and is the father of two daughters and one son.

Gesamtspielzeit / Total time 76:56

Deutscher Text (36 Seiten)
Texts in english (36 pages)

P + C 2025 Spektral, LC 15543
Best.-Nr. SRL4-25213
EAN: 4260130382131