St. Martin, Idstein

History of the parish St. Martin

The beginning of Christianity in Idstein is not documented. When the Idstein Castle was first mentioned in 1102, the area belonged to the Diocese of Trier. Idstein possibly had a church in Romanesque style which was replaced in 1330 by a Gothic church dedicated to St. Martin, the patron saint of Idstein. It was the church of a Chorherrenstift founded in 1333 for six canons, and became the Protestant church with the Reformation, named Unionskirche in 1917.

During the Reformation, Idstein became Lutheran beginning in 1540 under Philipp I of Nassau-Idstein. The last Catholic canon left the town in 1553, which then had no Catholic congregation until the beginning of the 19th century. In 1806 Frederick Augustus, Duke of Nassau, permitted the practice of Catholic cult again. 13 families were permitted to use the chapel of the Schloss. The dukedom became part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1866. In 1884 the minister Wilhelm Schilo began the building of a church for a growing congregation, collecting money all over Germany. The architect Aloys Vogt, from the local Baugewerbeschule (School for building), designed a hall church with two aisles in Gothic Revival style, built from 1887 to 1888. The building, seating 135 people, was dedicated to Mary Magdalene (Magdalenenkirche) by Bishop Karl Klein on 8 October 1888. The Catholic population of Idstein grew considerably after World War II, when many refugees and Heimatvertriebene moved to Idstein. Minister Hans Usinger first built a Gemeindehaus (community center) and pursued from 1961 the building of a larger church. The Magdalenenkirche was dynamited in 1963.

The building of the new church began in 1963. It was consecrated, again to St. Martin, on 5 June 1965 by Bishop Wilhelm Kempf.

The parish became on 1 January 2017 part of the larger St. Martin Idsteiner Land which includes six former parishes, Maria Königin Niedernhausen, St. Nikolaus von Flüe Idstein-Wörsdorf/Hünstetten, St. Martha Niedernhausen-Engenhahn, St. Michael Niedernhausen-Oberjosbach and St. Thomas Waldems. A service was held on 5 February by Wolfgang Rösch.

Construction of the present church

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 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. The building recalls the austere style of sacred architecture of the 1950s.

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 of Mary, John, and Mary Magdalene under the cross, from the Magdalenenkirche. Low stained glass windows forming the Stations of the Cross were designed by Paul Corazolla from Berlin. 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.

Restoration in 2003

The walls of the church were completely restored in 2003. At the same time the altar was moved closer to the congregation, making more room for the choir. The baptismal font was relocated from the chapel to the front, opposite the ambo. The tabernacle, which had been where the baptismal font is now, and the crucifixion scene were moved to the chapel, creating a chapel for adoration. The restoration 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.

Mebold Organ

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. The first organ concert on the Mebold Organ was played by Dan Zerfaß, organist of the Worms Cathedral. The organ is used mostly in services, but has been played in concerts of artists such as Kalevi Kiviniemi. In 2005 Graham Waterhouse was the soloist in the premiere of his Cello Concerto in the chamber version on 5 August 2005. Giora Feidman and Matthias Eisenberg performed a duo programme on 14 November 2008. Christian Schmitt played in 2007 with the chamber choir of the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt, conducted by Wolfgang Schäfer, who returned in 2010 to conduct the Frankfurter Kammerchor.

Church music

Franz Fink has been the cantor 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 Barock-Consort St. Martin on period 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, Leopold Mozart's Missa in C, K. 115, Mozart's Missa brevis in D minor, K. 65 and Spatzenmesse, Monteverdi's Missa in F from Selva morale e spirituale, the mass for double choir from Missodia Sionia by Michael Praetorius, and masses by František Xaver Brixi, Johann Ernst Eberlin, Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer, Hans Leo Hassler, Alberich Mazak, Flor Peeters and Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel. The repertory includes motets such as Bohuslav Matěj Černohorský's Laudetur Jesus Christus, Kuhnau's Tristis est anima mea and Bruckner's Locus iste.

The groups have also included contemporary music, such as music by Heinz Werner Zimmermann, Pärt's De profundis and Barber's Agnus Dei, Sandström's Es ist ein Ros entsprungen, and Whitacre's Lux Aurumque. The Martinis have performed Bach cantatas, Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 (Actus tragicus), in a Geistliche Abendmusik (a Vespers service) on 20 November 2005, and Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brot, BWV 39, in a cantata service.

Concerts and services have also been performed by guest ensembles such as the Ukrainian chamber choir OREYA. The choirs of St. Martin travelled to England in 2006, to attend services and evensong in Christ Church, Oxford, Salisbury Cathedral and St Paul's Cathedral, London. They travelled to Leipzig in 2008, 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. In 2016, they perform at the Cathedral the premiere of the oratorio Laudato si' with the choirs of Liebfrauen, Frankfurt, conducted by the composer Peter Reulein.

Choral concerts

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), Main-Barockorchester Frankfurt and L'arpa festante /Munich) accompanied works by Bach, Buxtehude, Handel, Haydn and Schütz in historically informed performances, also the church's groups Capella lignea and Barock-Consort St. Martin. Several concerts were collaborations 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 from 2003.

In the following table, the regular conductor Franz Fink is not mentioned - only the guest conductor when conductors shared a performance.