It is not one of the famous Berlin choirs, but it is one of the most traditional in the city. Because it is the oldest non-denominational as well as mixed children’s and youth choir far and wide – at least in Germany, maybe even in all of Europe, as Sabine Fenske suspects in the commemorative publication on the 100th anniversary of its founding (From Weißensee to Wilmersdorf. 100 Years of Berlin Mozart -Chor”, edited by Sabine Fenske, VBB Berlin 2022, 256 pages, 25 euros).
In 1963, on the occasion of the 2000th concert of the Berlin Mozart Choir, the Tagesspiegel explained to its readers why this ensemble “remained unknown to many Berliners”. From the very beginning, founder Erich Steffen attached importance to traveling as much as possible: “The boys and girls – they are between ten and 21 years old – sang in big cities at home and abroad, but also got up creaking stages of village inns. Because “getting to know the country and its people” was always just as important as the musical experience.
The 22-year-old teacher Ernst Steffen was not only motivated by musical considerations, but also by socio-pedagogical considerations when he held the first rehearsal of the Mozart Choir at his school in Weißensee in 1922. He would like to get the young people, who are often left to their own devices after the lost World War because their parents have existential worries, off the streets and offer them a meaningful leisure activity.
Word got around quickly, on the first concert tour to Mecklenburg and Pomerania in the summer of 1923 the Mozart Choir already had 120 voices. The members spend the night with families at each guest performance location. This should also help them to mature into independent, responsible personalities. The concert repertoire consists primarily of folk songs, but more demanding choral settings from the 16th to 20th centuries are also sung, always by heart, so that all eyes can be on the choir director and his expressive gestures.
Newspapers throughout the country rave about “The Sound of Bells from a Child’s Breast”, about the warm tone of the ensemble, the soulful naturalness of the performance, and the tender pianissimo. In fact, Steffen repeatedly emphasizes that he does not want to “breed young artists”, as is the case with the famous boys’ choirs in Leipzig or Dresden.
After 1933, however, the good reputation of the Mozart Choir aroused the interest of the Nazi youth organizations. Steffen wanted to dissolve the ensemble so as not to be co-opted, but the children did not want to separate and preferred to join the Hitler Youth as a whole. And they soon became radio stars as the “Rundfunkspielschar Deutschlandsender” and were able to travel long distances, all the way to Italy, where they performed in Florence in 1942 at the “Cultural Rally of European Youth”.
As the bombing of Berlin increases, the choir is collectively evacuated to Küstrin an der Oder as part of the Kinderlandverschickung. Ulla Köhler takes care of the children there – and in January 1945 is able to get back to Berlin with them by train before the Russian troops conquer Küstrin.
Erich Steffen is taken prisoner, initially manages to escape and after the end of the war tries to bring the choir back together. But then he is denounced as a collaborator and interned in a Russian prison camp. In 1950 he was free, returned to teaching, now in Wilmersdorf, at the elementary school on Nikolsburger Platz, and rebuilt the choir. The rehearsal location was first the Marie Curie High School on Weimarische Strasse, and later the Birger Forell School around the corner.
At the first post-war concert in the Grunewald hunting lodge, the soloist was a baritone who had joined the Mozart Choir as a boy in 1940: Hermann Prey, who would soon be one of the great German opera stars. The following year, 65 boys and girls went on tour again as “singing emissaries” in Berlin, initially in Germany, and from 1958 also abroad. The highlight is a trip to the USA in 1967 with 34 performances in 27 cities. And the Mozartians are also successful on the record market: their Christmas carol album has sold more than a million copies.
In 1973, after 52 years, Ernst Steffen had to give up the choir direction for health reasons, and he died the following year. His successor will be a former member, Reinhard Stollreiter, who joined the Mozart Choir in 1955, later studied trombone, then worked as a music dramaturge, became a sound engineer at the SFB and finally a professor at the University of Education in Berlin. He ensures a new artistic quality, so that the choir can perform regularly in the newly opened chamber music hall of the Philharmonie from 1987. The Christmas concert there on December 25 becomes a fixed date for all members and their families.
In 1996 Stollreiter says goodbye, since then Sabine Fenske has been in charge of the choir. She has now also published the chronicle, with many historical documents and personal reminiscences of former members. “From the age of five to the age of thirty, they all come to me for the funniest children’s songs to the most serious motet,” she writes in the anniversary book, “and I love it!” Angela Merkel was also very impressed when she introduced the Mozart Kids to a Christmas party in 2010 experienced by the CDU/CSU parliamentary group. In 2018, at her request, the choir was invited again – and again the chancellor joined in with the lyrics of many a song.
