Carl Witzel Choir Association
The Carl Witzel Choir Association, a merger of the three church choirs Herz Jesu and St. Marien from Biebrich and St. Ferrutius from Taunusstein-Bleidenstadt, was founded in 1958 in order to be able to perform larger works of church music together. In 1973, the young voices of the upper school choir of the Gymnasium am Mosbacher Berg were added and supported by vocal soloists from the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden during performances. From the very beginning, the choir worked closely with the Wiesbaden Chamber Orchestra, which was founded in 1958. Performances of orchestral masses by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Bruckner became the norm on high feast days. The Christmas concerts of the Carl Witzel Choir Association in the Great Hall of the Wiesbaden Kurhaus were a musical highlight every year. Compositions by Carl Witzel for choir and orchestra were often premiered at these concerts. The instrumental soloists at these concerts were usually winners of the "Jugend musiziert" competition. From 1970, the annual program was expanded to include Sunday concerts at Eberbach Monastery in the Rheingau. In 1974, Witzel's Rhenish Te Deum, composed for the 1100th anniversary of Biebrich, was premiered in the Wiesbaden Kurhaus. Together with the Wiesbaden Chamber Orchestra, concerts were held in Biebrich Palace Park (with fireworks and music by Handel).
In 1970, the choir sang in the German National Church "Santa Maria dell'Anima" in Lateran and at a papal audience in Castell Gandolfo and in 1973 in St. Mark's Square, St. Mark's Basilica and the Basilica "San Giorgio" in Venice. In 1976, the choir and orchestra gave concerts in the Palazzo Vecchio, the Chiesa Santa Croce and in Florence Cathedral, where the "Missa Sanctae Mariae ad flores" by Carl Witzel was premiered. In 1980, the choir sang in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It was the first time that a foreign choir had performed an orchestral mass in a Sunday pontifical mass. In 1983, the choir gave concerts in Padua and Chioggia. The Carl Witzel Choir Association was dissolved in 2008.