13 October 2026

Dear Singers,

I must begin this week with a huge ‘thank you’ and shout out to Elke (alto) who is very kindly supplying support sheets for pronunciation of the words. Attached you will find helpful transliterations for movements 1, 3, 4, 6 & 7. The remaining two will follow when we start work on them. This week, we warmed up (our brains and mouths) by chanting/repeating the text for movt 3, p38, bars 173 to the end – this was a useful start. Elke's notes are HERE.

We had a good rehearsal, discovering some more corners with surprising key changes and awkward phrases which were navigated pretty well. I can’t emphasise enough the importance of you consolidating the learning we achieve each week, by any means possible! The online practice resources are very useful, and it’s also helpful to read and chant the words in rhythm.
As we approach half term I am expecting full attendance where possible please. I understand that you can't always meet this expectation, and I appreciate the work you do between rehearsals, however I can’t train and prepare singers that are not in the room!

There were a couple of impressive ‘stand out’ moments this week. Despite not always singing the right notes (yet!), the tuning was very good, and grasp of the German is improving slowly with more consistency, bravo. Remember: Take every opportunity to open your mouth when the vowels allow – the sound is stronger.

NOVEMBER WORKSHOP Please consider this if you haven’t signed up, and do invite fellow singers from elsewhere. We will have quality time with Ghislaine Morgan to explore your voice and support what it expected of it.

WHAT WE DID ON 13.10.26
Warmed up by chanting the text of movt 3 bars 173-5 then music sectionals from here to the end. Good progress all round. We identified the tricky moments – page 41! Spending longer than planned was useful.

Movt 7 – The main focus here was achieving that sustained legato sound again – good supporting breath and ‘glueing’ the notes together. It’s crucial to OPEN YOUR MOUTH on the long vowels to share your wonderful noise with the world. In the words Selig (pronounced z (as in Zoo) – eh – lich and sterben(pronounced sh – t – e (as in gEt) – r (soft guttural) – ben) the long first vowel needs to be modified to allow the sound out giving more tone, so we have to think Z-air-lig and ht-air-ben. It was encouraging that we were able to focus on how we are going to sing this convincingly and musically rather than still looking for the notes.

WHAT WE WILL DO ON 20.10.26
Movement 6, bar 82 (p65) and linking with Herr du bist on p73
Movement 4
Movement 3 p38 Der Gerechten (if time)

Good work, thank you and well done.
Peter