In the church of St. Pius in the Lohrer Lindigsiedlung, white fabric in the form of umpteen pairs of wings has been hanging from the ceiling for a few days. “Angels” is the name of the campaign for Advent and Christmas. It runs until the feast “Baptism of the Lord”, that is until the Sunday after Epiphany. The idea and design come from the Pius church musician Markus Inderwies, as Vicar Christian Nowak tells the editorial team when asked.
Suitable for the architecture
Markus Inderwies says it was a spontaneous idea. He was inspired by the architecture of St. Pius. According to Inderwies, the ascending church interior designed by the Würzburg cathedral builder Hans Skull (1910 to 1996) is ideal for such an installation. The grand pianos were tailored by Hanni Herrmann and Ingrid Pfister. Joseph Waurick hung them up and Karl-Hermann Hummel illuminates them. For example, the white wings will be staged with light during the Rorate, announces Nowak.
“Let yourself be affected and make up your own mind”, this is how Inderwies sees his project. Vicar Christian Nowak, responsible for pastoral care in St. Pius, will stretch the angels as a red thread through the Advent and Christmas season. He sees in angels and thus in the staging, the visualization of the Advent and Christmas message: “It’s about the open heaven. The angels of God rise and fall.” With the church roof pulled up, it actually looks as if the suspended wings are moving skyward.
Sign of the nearness of God
Angels are messengers of the good news and signs of the closeness of God. He will address this in the services in Advent and Christmas. He wanted to deepen in his sermons that heaven is not closed. Nowak gives examples of the appearance of the angels: Gabriel announces to Mary that she will bring the Son of God into the world. “Through the angel Hallelujah it sounds loud from far and near. Christ the Savior is here”, it says in the Christmas carol “Silent Night, Holy Night”. Inderwies informs that a series of church music was originally planned for the Advent services. Due to the 2G plus rule, however, the effort is too great, so that the program is now limited to organ music and occasionally its singing, says Inderwies. On the 1st of Advent he played, among other things, “Wake up, the voice calls us” by Johann Sebastian Bach. The service ended with an improvisation to an angel song from the praise of God. Some churchgoers stayed until the last note had died down and thanked them with applause for the music.
Church music in Advent
In the other church services during Advent, Inderwies will mainly play baroque tunes by Bach, Johann Pachelbel and Dietrich Buxtehude. “Goes well with the angel wings,” says the church musician. Inderwies came to play the organ as a child. “The beginning was a very simple children’s organ, not much more than a melodica that actually belonged to my sister,” says the Ruppertshüttener.
The next stop was the church organ in his home town. The Lohr music teacher and organist Waldemar Hauck taught him. “Later I took the C-license in Würzburg.” The main job is the 56-year-old insurance agent. Before he came to St. Pius, his part-time work as an organist was in Ruppertshütten and Frammersbach. From time to time he can also be heard in St. Michael in Lohr when he represents the district cantor Alfons Meusert. He also occasionally plays in Sackenbach.
Enjoy the sound
Inderwies takes singing lessons in Würzburg and supervises the St. Pius Choir, Chamber Orchestra and Jupi, the Junge Pius Choir. Due to the corona, however, the ensembles are currently pausing.
“It’s the fun in the sound, in the great variety of colors,” is how he describes his passion for the instrument. “The acoustics and architecture in St. Pius offer the sound of a cathedral,” enthuses Inderwies. There he repeatedly implemented musical and visual ideas, whether with colored lights for organ playing or improvisations for the silent film “Sunrise”. The “Angels” project is now a continuation.
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