About Musik und Kirche

Musik und Kirche

Musik und Kirche is the German journal for church music — the Protestant specialist magazine with an ecumenical orientation for church musicians and Christian theologians, published bimonthly by the Bärenreiter-Verlag in Kassel. Founded in 1929 by Walter Blankenburg, Christhard Mahrenholz, and the publisher Karl Vötterle, it has appeared uninterrupted — with the exception of the 1945 and 1946 volumes — for nearly a century, making it one of the oldest continuously published music journals in the German-speaking world. With a sold circulation of around 2,500 copies (ISSN 0027-4771), six themed issues a year, and an editorial program spanning choir and organ music, liturgy, theology, organ building, and music history, the journal is the forum of German church music: the magazine where the hundreds of thousands of amateur singers in the choirs and the professional church musicians find their discipline's discourse. Since its founding it has also absorbed the Zeitschrift für evangelische Kirchenmusik (formerly Siona, founded 1876), extending its lineage into the 19th century.

Overview

The journal presents itself, in the publisher's description, as the traditional journal for today's church music — since 1929 one of the most important forums for church musicians, presenting itself today as a mirror of the lively church-musical life in the German-speaking world and beyond. Each of the six issues of a volume stands under a theme: questions of practice, of choir and organ music, of the intersections of music and theology, of liturgy, of education, or of organ building — historical themes as well as aesthetic or social ones — are presented with several articles. The magazine section documents, in reports, the field of musical life in which hundreds of thousands of amateur singers in the Kantoreien and choirs, guided by professional church musicians, take their part.

The readership is the German-speaking church-music world: the professional church musicians (Kirchenmusiker) — the organists, choir directors, and cantors; the theologians concerned with music and liturgy; the organ builders; and the committed amateurs in the choirs. The journal's authority rests on its longevity and its institutional position: nearly a century of continuous publication by Bärenreiter — the Kassel music publishing house founded by Karl Vötterle in 1923 — and its role as the leading forum of Protestant church music since its first volumes.

The bimonthly rhythm — six issues a year, also available as an e-paper — provides the regular specialist briefing; the annual subscription costs 58 euros (inland). The current editorial leadership: editors-in-chief Klaus Röhring and Johannes Mundry; publisher (Herausgeber) Jörg-Hannes Hahn; editorial office (Redaktion) Christoph Schluckwerder at the Bärenreiter-Verlag, Heinrich-Schütz-Allee 35, 34131 Kassel.

History

Musik und Kirche was founded in 1929 by Walter Blankenburg, Christhard Mahrenholz, and Karl Vötterle — the Bärenreiter publisher — and has appeared since then, with the exception of the 1945 and 1946 volumes, uninterrupted in the Bärenreiter-Verlag. Christhard Mahrenholz was its first Schriftleiter (managing editor). With its first volumes, the new journal became the leading forum for Protestant church music. Programmatically it was committed to the renewal movement of Protestant church music after 1920: the support of the Bach and Schütz renaissance, the organ movement, the singing movement in the congregations and youth work, and a distinct rejection of Romanticism.

In the era of the Nazi dictatorship, the editors steered a course that wavered between clear addresses of devotion and an unwavering adherence to the revelation of Jesus Christ. The end of the war brought no caesura at first. In the person of Walter Blankenburg, who held the journal's Schriftleitung from 1941 to 1981, a recognizable continuity emerged. Only gradually did signs of opening and distancing appear: the disdain for the Romantics yielded only slowly. In the perception of modernity, windows opened already in the 1950s, when works by Ernst Krenek, Wolfgang Fortner, and others were reported on. The diversity of positions and the renunciation of aesthetic prescriptions were now beyond doubt.

The journal's institutional history includes the merger with the Zeitschrift für evangelische Kirchenmusik — formerly Siona, founded 1876 — which extended the journal's lineage into the 19th-century church-music press. The Bärenreiter-Verlag's own history — founded 1923 in Augsburg by Karl Vötterle, moved to Kassel in 1927, built on the youth music movement, the Schütz rediscovery, and the scholarly-critical complete editions — forms the publishing context: the journal as the house organ of Germany's church-music publishing tradition.

Coverage and Content

The journal's coverage follows the church musician's world. Each issue's theme provides the depth: the practice questions — the choir direction, the organ playing, the liturgical music-making; the choir and organ music — the repertoire, the interpretation, the new publications; the intersections of music and theology — the liturgical theology, the hymnology, the spiritual dimensions of the music; the education — the training of church musicians, the C-examinations, the professional development; and the organ building — the instruments, the restorations, the organ landscape.

Historical, aesthetic, and social themes complement the practical coverage: the music history — the Bach and Schütz scholarship, the historical performance practice; the contemporary music — the new church-music compositions, the composers' portraits; and the social dimensions — the choirs' community life, the volunteer engagement, the church music's public role. The magazine section's reports document the musical life of the Kantoreien and choirs — the hundreds of thousands of amateur singers guided by the professional church musicians.

The journal's ecumenical orientation — the Protestant journal with an ecumenical outlook — opens the coverage to the Catholic church music (alongside Musica sacra, the Catholic journal published by the Allgemeiner Cäcilien-Verband) and to the international church-music scene. The e-paper edition extends the print journal into the digital reading, and the advertising possibilities connect the church-music institutions, the organ builders, and the music publishers with the journal's specialist readership.

Organization and Ownership

Musik und Kirche is published by the Bärenreiter-Verlag in Kassel — the music publishing house founded in 1923 by Karl Vötterle, based at Heinrich-Schütz-Allee 35, 34131 Kassel. The journal's leadership: editors-in-chief Klaus Röhring and Johannes Mundry; publisher (Herausgeber) Jörg-Hannes Hahn; editorial office (Redaktion) Christoph Schluckwerder ((0561) 3105-310). The sold circulation of around 2,500 copies documents the journal's specialist scale.

The commercial model is that of a specialist music journal: subscriptions (58 euros annual, inland) to the church musicians, theologians, organ builders, and institutions; advertising (Anzeigen möglich — advertising possible) from the music publishers, the organ builders, and the church-music institutions; and the Bärenreiter publishing house's integrated program — the journal alongside the sheet-music editions, the complete editions, and the books.

Digital Presence

The journal's digital home is musikundkirche.de, where the bimonthly print journal's program extends into the online presence. The e-paper edition provides the digital reading of the six annual issues; the Deutsches Musikinformationszentrum (miz.org) lists the journal as the institution "Musik und Kirche — Die Zeitschrift für Kirchenmusik" with its history, frequency, and contact.

The Bärenreiter-Verlag's digital infrastructure — the publishing house's online shop, the digital sheet-music editions, and the scholarly portals — forms the ecosystem in which the journal's content circulates. The church-music associations' networks — the choir federations, the organ societies, the theological faculties — extend the journal's reach into the profession's daily life. For nearly a century — from the 1929 founding by Blankenburg, Mahrenholz, and Vötterle to the present — Musik und Kirche has been the journal of German church music: the bimonthly forum of the organists, the choir directors, and the theologians, from Kassel — and, through the Siona lineage, the heir of a church-music press tradition reaching back to 1876.