puguumc /Veta THE DRESDNER KREUZCHOR Dresden, the famous “Florence of the Elbe ” situated in the south of Germany, is reputed to be a paragon of beauty and wealth of architecture, art and culture. Thousands of people from all over the world come here every year to become acquainted with and to enjoy the city located picturesquely in the Elbe valley and on its slopes. The Dresden Kreuzchor (Choir of the Church of the Cross) has contributed to the reputation the city enjoys. The boys’ choir emerged with the city, as it were, and has existed since Dresden came into being. No Dresdener can imagine the city without its choir. It is so deeply rooted here that even works of art aflec- tionately bear witness to it. Ralph Eschrig, from the Staatsoper Berlin The Kreuzchor ranks among the old est choirs that enjoy a world-wide repu tation. When the oldest church of the town was built at the beginning of the 13th Century the history of the Dresden Kreuzchor also began: choir boys had to be trained for chanting during the Serv ices. Thus it became necessary to teach these boys Latin and singing. In this teaching lies the origins of the Kreuzschule (the school where these boys are taught) and the Kreuzchor. After the early bourgeois revolution in the I6th Century the Kruezschule and the Kreuzchorwere directly encouraged by Luther and Melanchthon, rendering it possible to admit talented boys no mat ter what their social origins were. The 18th and 19th centuries brought the choir an extension of its duties that was decisive for its further development —it became an important representative of musical life in the town. The new tasks of the choir focussed on at that time determined its activities and develop ment up to the present time. During the time of fascism in Germany they re- Ute Selbig, from the Staatsoper Dresden mained the representatives and the up- holders of the best humanist traditions of musical life. Today, the Dresden Kreuzchor enjoys social recognition and prestige as never before in its centuries-old history. Musical director Professor Martin Flämig has been choirmaster of the Andreas Scheibner, from the Staatsoper Dresden Dresden Kreuzchor and cantor since 1971. His maxim, to delight people and give them new strength by cultivating the national cultural heritage as well as Contemporary works, guides him in his work with the choir. In this way he is continuing the best traditions of the Dresden Kreuzchor and its cantors, in-