An Encounter with Franz Biebl
"Chanticleer is currently on tour in Germany, and last night we sang for the first time in Munich, the current home town of Franz Biebl. We had extended an invitation to the concert to him through our German agent, but we weren't sure if he would actually make it. He is after all, 90 years old. Well, he's pretty spry for 90, and he came (all by himself!) to hear us sing. You can imagine how exciting it was to meet this legendary figure."Unfortunately , we hadn't programmed his "Ave Maria" for this tour, but when we found out he was in the audience, we decided to sing it as an encore.
"After we sang the piece and acknowledged him in the audience, he slowly made his way to the stage of the Herkulessaal (in Munich's historic Residenz) and personally offered thanks and shook the hand of each member of the group.
"After the concert, we were able to visit a bit and take some photos (watch for them in our spring newsletter, if they come out!). As many of you know, Biebl was in the United States only briefly, about 50 years ago, as a prisoner of war, so his English isn't very good. But we were able to communicate a bit. When asked if the "Ave Maria" is performed a lot in Germany, he said no, because German choirs tend to be less expert than American ones. But he is aware of the enormous popularity of the piece in the US, and he's grateful for all of the attention it receives. Though it's immodest to say so, he told us that after hearing us sing it, he had heard perfection. What a wonderful experience it was to finally get to meet Biebl and thank him personally for his music. Auf wiedersehen."
As posted to choralist@lists.colorado.edu. Reproduced by permission of Frank Albinder. Back to biography