{"id":14992,"date":"2022-06-16T10:42:34","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T09:42:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.limearchive.org.uk\/?p=14992"},"modified":"2022-07-04T19:50:18","modified_gmt":"2022-07-04T18:50:18","slug":"the-lubeck-choir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.limearchive.org.uk\/cy\/2022\/06\/16\/the-lubeck-choir\/","title":{"rendered":"(English) The L\u0171beck Choir"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mae\u2019n ddrwg gen i, mae'r cofnod hwn dim ond ar gael mewn English<\/a>.<\/p>

The founders of the Llangollen Eisteddfod dearly wanted to foster reconciliation among the recently warring nations of Europe, and no event in the history of the festival so marks the successful achievement of this aspiration as the first participation by German competitors in 1949. An Italian choir had come to the first Eisteddfod, there were Austrians in 1948, but everyone knew that Germany would be the big test of the theory behind the Eisteddfod.<\/p>\n

Most accounts of this German visit begin and end with Hywel Roberts (\u201cHywel Bach\u201d), then in his first year as a stage presenter. Faced with compering Friday\u2019s mixed choir competition, what could he say to introduce Volkshochschulchor L\u0171beck, remembering as he did that four years earlier his brother had been killed on German soil on the last day of World War II? His appeal to the audience to \u201cwelcome our friends from West Germany\u201d produced minutes of cheers and tears, delaying the progress of the mixed choir competition for many minutes. It also created a lasting friendship that culminated with Hywel Roberts being made a freeman of the City of L\u0171beck in 1988, just before his death. A lovely Eisteddfod story.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But as always it is worth digging a little deeper, before and beyond the formality of the Eisteddfod stage. The display of the generous spirit of the Welsh audience and presenter that we celebrate so often only gave public voice to a welcome that had begun days earlier – on Llangollen Station – and involved many people in the town. It included the flag raising ceremony on the Wednesday, in which the choir participated with the Eisteddfod chairman – probably the first occasion on which the new German Federal Republic\u2019s flag had been flown in Wales.<\/p>\n

Moreover, Volkshochschulchor L\u0171beck was playing its own distinct role in the post-war movement to seek rehabilitation and reconciliation through music. They merit a mention for what they were doing in Germany, not just because they came to the 1949 Eisteddfod.<\/p>\n