2016年11月14日 ,巴黎木十字男童合唱团音乐会在 武汉琴台大剧院 精彩上演。
2016.11.14
武汉琴台大剧院
以演出现场为准
以场馆规定为准
巴黎男童合唱团
一九O六年夏天,两个在法国萨伏伊省塔米修道院度假的年青学生,突然想出一个天马行空的念头:何不成立一间儿童合唱团学校,游走于教堂、城市间演出,成为真正宗教音乐的见证。
次年梦想果然成真:在满腔热忱却缺乏资金的情况下,这两个年轻人搬到巴黎近郊一间残破的老房子,并开始招收第一批学童,巴黎木十字男童合唱团由此诞生。一九 O七年一月十日合唱团第一次彩排,同年十月在罗浮宫圣日尔曼奥塞尔教堂首演,一鸣惊人,大受欢迎。
刚开始时,合唱团仅在巴黎走红,但很快便受到全国触目。相较于当时流行的音乐风格,他们歌声的音质纯净,使听者惊叹不已,也深深被吸引。而团员身穿白麻布圣职衣、颈系小小木十字架的庄严形像,也成了音乐复兴的象征。巴黎木十字男童合唱团学校的传奇亦由此诞生。
第一次大战期间,团员难免受到战乱之苦,但没有动摇他们的信念。大战一结束,合唱团学校推行理想之志更坚。一九二四年,年青教士马耶被任命为合唱团学校监督。马耶是杰出人才,加上天生的不屈不扩精神,使他个人的鲜明性格,对合唱团影响良多。马耶接任之前,合唱团专门演唱宗教歌曲,基本上是雷果圣歌及十五、六世纪的复曲调音乐。马耶的新猷是为合唱团加入新曲目,包括法国通俗歌曲、外国歌曲、以及优秀音乐家的作品。加入新曲目后,听众群亦随之扩澜。
马耶亦首创带团出国演出,刚开始时只限于造访邻近国家。一九三一年,马耶迈出在当时算是大胆的一步,率团至北美,在美加等地均获得热烈的欢迎。美加之旅可说是他们国际演出的第一步,迄今合唱团总计环游世界四次,外访八十个国家。入学儿童需接受训练相当时间,才可在众老师陪同下,参加国外巡回演出。老师会按行之有效的时间表,在练歌之余替他们上课每个学生都必须遵守一定程度的纪律。
学童可留在团中直至十五岁,然后到自己选择的中学继续学业。他们离团时,或许会有点伤感但凭着非比寻常的经历,当能以开阔的心胸,迎接新的学习生活。
今天的木十字男童合唱团在音乐总监劳拉·齐默尔曼带领下,继续担当"和平小歌者"角色。合唱团亦沿用创立时的架构组织,由学院派的学者领导。
The Little Singers of Paris
(Les Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois)
In the summer of 1906, two young students, Pierre Martin and Paul Berthier (Father of the composer Jacques Berthier and grandfather of France Gall), were on vacation in the abbey of Tamié in Savoy. They came up a "dream" which plans to start a ma?trise (choir school) for child choristers that would travel from church to church, town to town, to carry the living testimony of the authentic tradition of religious music.
Their dream came true in the next year. Despite the lack of money, their enthusiasm brought them to settle in an old dwelling in Paris suburb and they started to receive their first scholar.
This was the birth of Les Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois (The Little Singers of Paris). The first rehearsal took place on 10 January 1907 and the first concert was held in the Parish Church of the Kings of France, St-Germain l'Auxerrois in October in the same year. It was well-received by music lovers in Paris. Les Petits Chanteurs à la Croix de Bois were soon become popular throughout France. In contrast to the music style in vogue at the time, the quality of the choir's singing and the purity of the young voices aroused astonishment and enthusiasm in the audience.
The choristers were dressed in white albs and had a little wooden cross round their necks, which instilled a sobriety and were regarded as signs of the music revival. The legend of this choir school commenced.
Though the choir school was suffered from the ordeal of the First World War in 1914-1918, it did not hinder their faith. The school went on more determined than ever, once the war was over. In 1924, Abbé Maillet was appointed as the school's director. A young priest with outstanding stature and full of faith, he immediately stamped his personal imprint in the life of Les Petits Chanteurs. Before that, the choir's repertoire was exclusively religious works of the Gregorian and polyphonic music of the 15th and 16th centuries. He refreshed Les Petits Chanteurs by bringing a repertoire of popular songs in French or from foreign countries and other works by leading composers in time. Through expanding its repertoire, the Choir had reached a broader audience.
Abbé Maillet also brought Les Petits Chanteurs out of France, initially to neighboring countries, and then, in 1931, with an audacity unheard of in those days, to North America. Les Petits Chanteurs received a triumphant welcome in the United States and Canada. It was the beginning of the international and worldwide delegation covering today a total of 80 countries and four rounds of the world tours. The little choristers who take part in these trips have received only a period of training and preparation in school. Teachers who accompany the students teach them from time to time in the trip for a well-practiced routine and it requires the students a certain degree of discipline.
The "Little Singers" will leave the choir when they reach 15 years old and continue their education in secondary school. These "Little Singers" may have moments of nostalgia in the beginning of their new school life but with their wealth of experience and exceptional spirit of anticipation, they are open to face the future. Today as at the beginning, Les Petits Chanteurs are managed by collegial leadership, they continue their role of Little Singers of Peace, with Laura Zimmermann as the Music Director.