Responsories (Reger)
Sacred choral music by Max Reger
The Responsories by the German composer Max Reger are 20 short settings of mostly biblical texts in English, to be used as responsories in Lutheran church services. Composed in 1911, they were first published in Philadelphia in 1914 as The Responsories.
History
Reger composed the responsories in 1911 to English texts for Luther D. Reed, a professor of liturgy who wanted to use contemporary music in services of the American Lutheran Church. Reed was interested in a return to older forms of services such as vespers which call for responsorial singing. In the summer of 1911, the organist Harry G. Archer travelled to Germany and requested a setting by Reger of the texts on Reed's behalf. Reger, who spoke no English, is reported to have asked Archer for a detailed translation, explaining the meaning of single words and marking stressed syllables. Reger wrote the music and apparently had the manuscript checked, as later changes show. The compositions were completed in September 1911. Reger's settings are intended to be sung by lay performers. They are set mainly in homophony, ensuring clear understanding of the texts.
“Responsories (Reger)” enters the record as sacred choral music by Max Reger. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Responsories, Reger and Sacred can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 15, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q57960471. VIAF identifies the subject as 174580498. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1911 and 1914.
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This entry incorporates text from “Responsories (Reger)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.