Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-11-18
GERMAN LUTHERANS
BAN MENDELSSOHN

BAN MENDELSSOHN
What with stories emanat-
ing from Europe regarding
the use of pop" music and
jazz to lure youngsters into
attending church services, it
is startling to discover that
MendelsSohn's famous We'd
ding March, the Bridal Cho-
rus from Wagners Lobengrin,
Schubert's Ave Maria, and
other popular favorites will no
longer be heard in Lutheran
churches in Bavaria.
Under a new ruling by the
Lutheran Church of Bavaria,
only proper Church hymns
may be performed in connec-
ton with church ceremonies.
The ruling is aimed at end
ing what that Church says is
a growing trend to have Ger
tain secular pieces of music
(because Of the solemnity of
their tunes or because of
lyrics having a pseudo
religious character) per-
formed during baptisms, mar
riageS and funeral services.
Officials of the Evangelical
Church of Hesse and Nassau,
in a similar decree, urged all
parishes under their jurisdic-
ton to discontinue the wide
spread practice of having
church rites accompanied by
soft music. They declared that
the use of background music
was improper" and served
only to create "a misunder-
stood solemnity harmful both
to the essence of the rites
and to the music"
They stressed that organ
music used during services in
this manner was preventing
the congregation from giving
full and exclusive attention
to the Word of God pro-
claimed by the officiating
pastor"
y 4 n
NEWS FROM HERE-This
afternoon at 8 the Washing
ton Cathedral will have a
dedication of the newly COM
pleted South Transept, and
for the occasion Richard
Dirksen, associate organist
and choirmaster of the Cath
edral, has written an ex-
tended composition for three
choruSeS with instrumental
accompaniment, The Fiery
Furnace. The text, from the
Book of Daniel dealing with
Shadrach, M e S h ach and
Abednego, was selected
because the thirty-one boss
es" of the South Transept
depict the thirty-one verses of
the canticle sung by the three
men in King Nebuchadnez-
Ears furnace.
For this premiere perform
ance there will be musicians
all over the lot, utilizing the
acQuStical properties of dis
lance and reverberation in a
way that joins the two tran
SeptS and the apse of the
Cathedral into a single in
Strument, under the general
direction of the composer.
In the Great Choir the two
hundred voices of the Wash
ingtOn and Cathedral Choral
Societies will sing; from the
balcony of the North Tran
sept the ninety voices of the
combined glee clubs of the
Cathedral schools will be I'M
der the direction of Norman
Scribner; Paul Galloway will
direct the fifty voices of the
Cathedral Choir of Men and
Boys from the balcony of the
South Transept. Ronald Rice
will man the console of the
Cathedral's great organ, Can
on Anterior will serve as mar
rator from the pulpit, and
there will be a chamber or
chestra of winds, plus four
tympani, cymbal, and three
fanfare trumpets.
Across town in Brookland,
the Free Concerts FOunda-
ton Of Chicago sponsors its
second concert of the season
in Washington at 4 pm, pre-
senting the Orfeon Choir Of
COimbra. Portugal. in con-
cert at the National Shrine
of the Immaculate Concep-
ton on the campus of Cath
ole University, Manuel RapO-