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23-715: The NDR Chor was founded in Hamburg on 1 May 1946, then as choir of the Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR) and took its present name in 1956 when the broadcaster was split in NDR and WDR. Its first director was Max Thurn who accepted 55 singers from more than 2,000 applications by professional singers. During the first years it was focused on broadcasts in collaboration with the symphony orchestra, NDR Sinfonieorchester (now NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester), in programs that were usually also performed in concerts. In 1948,

46-509: A Doppelspitze (double lead) of Robin Gritton and Michael Gläser . Leon Schidlowsky composed his Laudate for the choir in 1996. From 1999 to 2004, Hans-Christoph Rademann became choir director. He achieved more transparency in the sound, following historically informed performance of Baroque music, but conducting works by Reger and Bruckner with the same intention. From the 2008/09 season, Philipp Ahmann has been artistic director of

69-509: A festive program on 19 April 2010, of Bach's motets Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied , BWV 225 , and Der Geist hilft unsrer Schwachheit auf , BWV 226 , Fest- und Gedenksprüche and Warum ist das Licht gegeben by Johannes Brahms , Knut Nystedt 's Immortal Bach and Arvo Pärt's Sieben Magnificat-Antiphonen . The conductor and composer Eric Whitacre organized in 2012 a sing-along project, SINGING!, in Hamburg, which has become an annual institution, connecting hundreds of singers with

92-746: The British Zone. The army unit allocated to run the station was part of REME Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and its commander was Lt Col Paul Archibald Findlay. The forerunner organization of the Federal Intelligence Service, the Gehlen Organization , infiltrated several agents into the NWDR during the Cold War in order to keep alleged enemies of the state in the station under control. One of these agents

115-587: The NDR Chor. The 70th season in 2016/17, also the first season in the concert hall Elbphilharmonie , is marked by extra concerts, including Morton Feldman 's Rothko Chapel , Haydn's Die Schöpfung and Handel's Israel in Egypt . In the opening concert of the new concert hall on 11 January 2017, the NDR Chor performed in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony , conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock . In more than 70 years,

138-569: The NWDR had three radio stations: NWDR was also the most active participant in ARD's Das Erste , the joint German public television service. Sing-along Sing-along , also called community singing or group singing , is an event of singing together at gatherings or parties, less formally than choir singing. One can use a songbook . Common genres are folk songs, patriotic songs, kids' songs, spirituals, campfire songs, nonsense songs, humorous songs, hymns and drinking songs . Children around

161-481: The actual sound, for example, singing in unison or octaves , accompanied or a capella or singing in harmony (in different parts, like canon). Informal group singing can be accompanied by body movements, stomping, or clapping. Organized, regularly scheduled sing-along sessions are held in both cities and rural areas, often referred to as "song circles" and sometimes organized by formal groups or organizations. Sometimes individual musicians will share their own songs with

184-570: The choir had the following directors: Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk ( NWDR ; Northwest German Broadcasting ) was the organization responsible for public broadcasting in the German Federal States of Hamburg , Lower Saxony , Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine-Westphalia from 22 September 1945 to 31 December 1955. Until 1954, it was also responsible for broadcasting in West Berlin . NWDR

207-460: The choir in 1978. A more recent focus is a cappella music of all periods. The choir recorded all a cappella work by Johannes Brahms, conducted by Hamburg's Kirchenmusikdirektor Günter Jena , who studied the program from 1981 in around half a year of daily rehearsals. The recording gained the French award Orphée d’Or and became a trademark of the NDR Chor. In the 1990s, the choir was directed by

230-482: The choir participated in a recording of Beethoven's Fidelio conducted by Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt . From 1953 Thurn conducted a series of Bach cantatas with choir members and members of the NDR Sinfonieorchester . The choir took part in pioneering projects, such as the concert premiere of Arnold Schoenberg's opera Moses und Aron . Ferenc Fricsay conducted in 1959 Rossini's Stabat Mater . Thurn

253-489: The ensemble. He found an ensemble of only 28 singers and programmed chamber music to match the size. He created a new series four concerts per year focused on a theme. The choir collaborates with the other musical groups of the NDR, but also with other German radio choirs. It has promoted to make music more accessible, presenting a program Konzert statt Schule (concert instead of school), performing concerts for families, conducting workshops open for students of music academies of

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276-574: The headquarters of the German army, OKW , over local cable radio and announced the death of Adolf Hitler to the German people on 1 May 1945. All radio broadcasting ceased at the end of World War II and implementation of the Allied occupation of Germany . In the British Zone of occupation, the military authorities quickly established a station known as "Radio Hamburg" to provide information to

299-662: The morale of the civilian population of the United Kingdom. Its most famous wartime broadcaster in English was William Joyce (popularly known, from his accent and speaking-manner, as " Lord Haw-Haw "). The Reichssender Hamburg was the last short-wave station to remain on the air in wartime Germany. Its substation in Flensburg , known as the Reichssender Flensburg, broadcast the last announcements from

322-557: The national broadcasting organization RRG – now controlled by Joseph Goebbels 's Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda and known from 1 January 1939 as Großdeutscher Rundfunk. Externally , the Reichssender Hamburg transmitted propaganda material to listeners overseas – in particular to those living in the British Isles – and, during World War II , broadcast regular programming aimed at sapping

345-566: The population of the area. On 4 May 1945, transmission started with the announcement: "This is Radio Hamburg, a station of the Allied Military Government". The British Control Commission appointed Hugh Carleton Greene , on secondment from the BBC , to manage the creation of public service broadcasting in their Zone. On 22 September 1945, Radio Hamburg became Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR), the single broadcasting organisation of

368-499: The region ( Musikhochschule ), and regular concerts at locations of the region served by the NDR. In April 2010, the NDR Chor was awarded the Johannes Brahms Medal of the city of Hamburg, given for special merits for musical life in Hamburg and preservation of the cultural heritage of Brahms ("für besondere Verdienste um das Hamburgische Musikleben und die Pflege des Kulturerbes von Johannes Brahms"). Ahman conducted

391-523: The regulation of broadcasting. North Rhine-Westphalia decided to establish its own broadcaster, whilst Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein continued with the existing system. To this end, the NWDR was split into two broadcasters - Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) in the north and Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR) in North Rhine-Westphalia. NDR continued to operate out of Hamburg, whilst the WDR

414-518: The tropics. Singing in groups is one of the universal features of human musical cultures, and group singing has been often suggested as the primary form of the early human musical activity. It has been suggested that human group singing was primarily promoting the cohesiveness within human groups, and was possibly used to defend human groups from predators and competitors. In human societies, group singing can be limited to certain sexes , ages, and social groups . Group singing can be also different in

437-544: The world usually sing together. Sing-along can be based on unison singing, or on singing in harmony (different parts). Group vocalizing is known in several animal species. For example, a lion pride and a pack of wolves are known to vocalize together (supposedly to defend their territory), although some scholars do not characterize their vocalizations as " singing ". Gibbons sing in family groups (couples sing together, sometimes with their offspring). Various species of birds also sing in duets and choruses, particularly in

460-528: Was August Hoppe , editor from 1948 and later deputy editor-in-chief. According to documents from the BND archive, the NWDR was classified as a “threat to the development of a healthy Western democracy” at the time. Half of the top management is very open to Moscow, especially the general director Adolf Grimme and the reporter Peter von Zahn . In February 1955, the Länder of the NWDR's area decided to look again at

483-565: Was a founder member of the consortium of public-law broadcasting institutions of the Federal Republic of Germany, the ARD . On 1 January 1956, NWDR was succeeded by Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) and Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). Broadcasting in what was to become NWDR's post-war transmission area was initiated in the early 1920s: From 1934 the north German station operated, under the name of Reichssender Hamburg, as an integral part of

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506-469: Was director until his retirement in 1965. Contemporary music was more frequently performed when Helmut Franz became director. He conducted in 1967 the premiere of Ligetis Lux aeterna for a cappella choir in a series das neue werk (the new work). Premieres included Pendereckis Utrenja , Henze's oratorio Floß der Medusa which caused a scandal, and Stockhausen's Atmen gibt das Leben . Franz chose Bach's Mass in B minor for his final concert with

529-494: Was established in Cologne . The split was effective from 1 January 1956, although the station NWDR1 remained a joint operation with regional opt-outs. The NWDR television service also remained a joint operation, from 1 April 1956 under the name Nord- und Westdeutscher Rundfunkverband (North and West German Broadcasting Federation - NWRV). The NDR and the WDR launched separate television services for their area in 1961. In 1955,

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