Albert Schweitzer is widely known as a jungle doctor, theologian and philosopher, but he was also a passionate musician and music theorist. His specialties were above all Johann Sebastian Bach and organs.
On January 15, 1923, he played an organ concert at the invitation of the Evangelical Church in the Christ Church in Bodenbach-Tetschen and reported on his work in Lambarene in Africa, where he was building a hospital.
100 years later the concert will be performed again on Saturday 16 September 2023 at the same location. At the start at 4 p.m., the Protestant pastor of Děčín, Tomáš Matějovský, will welcome the guests. The series of further greetings and speeches will be broken up by the “Violet Harmony” choir and soloists from the Kamenická elementary school.
Afterwards, Dresden church music director Sandro Weigert will play works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Handel and Charles-Marie Widor on the organ of the Christuskirche.
Afterwards, a carved bench by Czech artist Ivo Švejnoha will be unveiled and invited to social gatherings. Light refreshments will be served throughout the event.
The concert should also serve to collect donations for the renovation of the organ in the Christ Church.
background
Albert Schweitzer's invitation goes back to the German-speaking Protestant community, which consisted primarily of Reich German and Saxon railway and customs officials, the border gendarmerie and family members. Employees of the Bodenbach branch of the Dresden chocolate factory Jordan and Timäus - supplier to the Imperial and Royal Saxon court - also belonged to the community. In 1883/84 they had a church built in the neo-Gothic style, which was consecrated in 1884 as the Church of Christ.