St. Martin in Idstein, Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis, is the church of the local Roman Catholic parish. The official name is Katholische Pfarrkirche St. Martin. The parish is part of the Diocese of Limburg. The present building of architect Johannes Krahn was consecrated in 1965.
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Because the Catholic population of Idstein grew considerably after World War II, the former Magdalenenkirche of 1888 had to give way to a new church and was dynamited. The building started in 1963, the church was consecrated on 5 June 1965 by Bishop Wilhelm Kempf.[1][2] It was dedicated to St. Martin, the patron saint of Idstein until the Reformation. Professor Johannes Krahn, who built several churches and early skyscrapers such as the Beehive House in Frankfurt am Main, designed a space recalling elements of an early Romanesque Basilica. In a most simple shape, a single long nave is concluded by a semicircle choir around the altar. On the right side the wall opens to a side chapel, reminiscent of a transept. The outer walls are sandstone, visible both inside and outside. Light flows in from a band of windows under the plain wooden ceiling. The combination of materials has been compared to Le Corbusier.[1] The floor is of Jura marble, the altar, ambo, baptismal font and tabernacle are made of Lahn marble. The wall behind the altar held a neo-gothic crucifixion scene, Mary, John, and Mary Magdalene under the cross, from the Magdalenenkirche.[3] Low stained glass windows forming the Stations of the Cross were designed by Paul Corazolla (Berlin).[1] The first organ was built by E. F. Walcker & Cie. and consecrated in 1974. It was placed on the right side in the opening for the chapel, visible to the congregation. The free-standing bell tower, housing four bells, is 42 m high.[3]
The walls of the church were completely restored in 2003.[1] At the same time the altar was moved closer to the congregation, making more room for the choir. The baptismal font was moved from the chapel to the front, opposite the ambo. The tabernacle was moved from that position to the chapel, also the crucifixion scene, creating a chapel for adoration. The works were directed by Franz Josef Hamm from Limburg. The new cross above the altar was created by a group of young people in preparation for confirmation. During the restoration the organ had to be taken apart. The parish decided not to restore it, but to have a new organ built.[4]
The organ was built by Orgelbau Mebold and consecrated on 22 January 2006. The instrument has 1,888 pipes and 33 stops on two manuals and a pedalboard. The layout of its Great division (Hauptwerk) reflects the classic organ construction of the Baroque period, whilst the Swell division (Schwellwerk) has the timbre of the Romantic, which makes it possible to play a wide range of the organ repertoire from different eras.[4][5] The organ is used mostly in services, but has been played in concerts of artists such as Kalevi Kiviniemi. Giora Feidman and Matthias Eisenberg performed a duo programme in 2008. Christian Schmitt played in 2007 with the chamber choir of the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt, conducted by Wolfgang Schäfer,[5] who returned in 2010 to conduct the Frankfurter Kammerchor.[6] The first organ concert on the Mebold Organ was played by Dan Zerfaß, organist of the Worms Cathedral.[7] In 2005 Graham Waterhouse was the soloist in the premiere of his Cello Concerto in the chamber version.[8]
Franz Fink has been the Kantor of St. Martin since 1992, conducting five musical groups, a children's choir Kinderchor St. Martin, the Chor St. Martin, the Martinis (a chamber choir of mostly young people), the Orchester St. Martin, and the Capella Lignea on historic instruments. The church choir was named Chor St. Martin in 1973. The Martinis were founded in 1988 by Thomas Gabriel as a youth choir. All groups perform in services, including Masses, such as Haydn's Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo, Mozart's Missa brevis in D minor, K. 65 and Spatzenmesse, Monteverdi's Missa in F from Selva morale e spirituale, and masses of František Xaver Brixi, Johann Ernst Eberlin, Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer, Hans Leo Hassler, Alberich Mazak, Flor Peeters, Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel. They have also included contemporary music of Arvo Pärt and Heinz Werner Zimmermann, Agnus Dei by Samuel Barber and Es ist ein Ros entsprungen by Jan Sandström. The Martinis have performed Bach cantatas, Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 (Actus tragicus), in a Geistliche Abendmusik (a Vespers service), and Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot, BWV 39, in a cantata service.
The choirs traveled to England (2006) and Leipzig (2008), to attend services and Evensong in Christ Church, Oxford, Salisbury Cathedral, St Paul's Cathedral, London, and to hear the Thomanerchor in Motette and services. In 2009 they sang with other choirs of the diocese in the Limburg Cathedral from the Missa primi toni octi vocum of Stefano Bernardi for double chorus, conducted by Joachim Dreher and Franz Fink.
An annual choral concert with soloists and orchestra has been performed by the combined choirs. The specialized orchestras La Beata Olanda (Freiburg), Antichi Strumenti (Mulhouse) and Main-Barockorchester Frankfurt accompanied works of Bach, Buxtehude, Handel and Haydn in historically informed performances. Several concerts were a collaboration with other choirs, the choir of the Protestant church of Geisenheim and the Idsteiner Kantorei (the choir of the Unionskirche), conducted by Kantor Carsten Koch since 2003.
In November 2010 Verdi's Messa da Requiem was performed twice in a collaboration of three Idstein choirs (Idsteiner Kantorei, Chor St. Martin, Martinis) with soloists Christiane Kohl, Christa Bonhoff, Dantes Diwiak and Andreas Pruys, the Nassauische Kammerphilharmonie; the Kantors Carsten Koch and Franz Fink shared conducting in both concerts.[21][22]
The concert of 2011 was Handel's Messiah with Katia Plaschka, Andreas Scholl, Ulrich Cordes, Markus Flaig and the Main-Barockorchester Frankfurt.[23][24]