The first girls in Regensburg
NewsThe Cathedral in Regensburg, home of the last Pope, allowed girls into its choir for the first time this week.
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this week?
would be useful to know the source for this kind of “news” …
afaik, the first girls of the Regensburg choir started school in autumn of 2022 and had their first performances not long after.
e.g. this Facebook post from a year ago shows the second year girls performing in St Peter’s cathedral:
https://www.facebook.com/regensburgerdomspatzen/videos/m%C3%A4dchenchor-20-gut-ein-jahr-alt-ist-der-m%C3%A4dchenchor-der-regensburger-domspatzen-/283531704539514/
at the time, more than two years ago, the new girls choir was even mentioned on some classical music blog:
https://slippedisc.com/2022/04/regensburg-finally-gets-a-girl/
And yet the FB page of the Regensburger Domspatzen announced that on Sept. 30, 2024 girls sang in the Dom for the first time. It seems the gentlemen of the church leadership are still getting used to the idea girls being presented.
The real problem is that the girls choir suffers from the usual problem of separate-and-unequal segregation. They boys are still the most often presented and given the most esteem and most elite musical opportunities and education.
The sexism of the Catholic church and many other denominations has caused problems that have put a blight on the church–as we all know. It was exactly the sexual abuse of boys in Regensburg that led to the formation of the girls choir. The girls should not be in a secondary choir and should receive all the privilege’s and promotion as the boys.
the facebook entry you mention says:
“für unsere *NEUEN* Mädels” –
i.e. girls who started school this year sang for the first time in a cathedral service.
i.e. this has happened/will happen every year in September/October.
i.e. older girls have been singing there regularly since 2022.
(therefore, the facebook link from last year I posted above also talks about “NEUE” girls singing their first service)
The sentence can be read two ways, hence the confusion: “Ein großer Moment für unsere neuen Mädels der Regensburger Domspatzen! Am Sonntag haben sie zum ersten Mal im Dom gesungen und mit ihren Stimmen die Kathedrale erfüllt.”
The adjective “neue” describes individuals, members of the choir, who joined in autumn for the new school year.
Whereas the collective, the choir itself, is not new, but two years ‘old’.
(‘neue Mädels’ vs. ‘neuer Chor’)
admittedly, it might have been phrased differently – the fact remains, the cathedral has NOT allowed girls in the choir for the first time this week, but two years ago.
I live in Regensburg and have seen and heard them several times since then.
One hopes that with time/training, the Regensburg girls will be allowed equal footing with the boys. But considering there are cathedrals in this country where the girls’ choirs remain poor relations decades after their founding (and where attempts to correct that cause enormous rows) one should perhaps not hold one’s breath!
Happy faces! May they have a beautiful experience and great music making.
Regensburger Domspatz:innen?
Well, it’s October 5th and the world hasn’t come to an end yet, so…
What would Pope Benedict and his brother have said?
And where is Gloria von Thurn und Taxis in all this?
Billy: ‘Wellcome, girls!’