"During my time as a cantor in Freiburg and later in Würzburg, my works for the human voice concentrated on the composition of a large number of liturgical motets, chorales and hymns, whereby - not least - the personal contacts with the cathedral conductors Franz Stemmer (Freiburg i.Br.), Franz Fleckenstein and Siegfried Koesler (Würzburg) must be mentioned, who repeatedly commissioned me to write music for their choirs and also to design new chants for the liturgy."

Bertold Hummel 1998

 

Works that were premiered by Franz Fleckenstein

Würzburg Dommesse for soloists, choir, congregation and large orchestra op. 31a

Würzburg Dommesse for soloists, choir, congregation, strings and organ op. 31b

Proprium for the Feast of the Apostles of Franconia for soloists, choir, congregation and large orchestra op. 32

Bertold Hummel dedicated the motet to Franz Fleckenstein on his 70th birthday

Veni, Creator spiritus based on the Gregorian hymn for 2 mixed choirs and organ op. 97d

Biography

Franz Fleckenstein. Born in Würzburg and already a member of the boys' choir and organist of the Carmelite Church (Reuererkirche) as a schoolboy, he studied church music in Regensburg, was a prefect of the Domspatzen for some time and passed his music maturity examination there in 1941. This was followed by military service in various countries, after the war he studied theology and was ordained a priest in 1950. After years as a chaplain in Miltenberg, he became prefect of music at the Kilianeum in 1953, cathedral vicar in 1960 and cathedral chapel master after Easter 1961. He left Würzburg in 1970 to take over the management of the Regensburg Church Music School, later a specialised academy. From 1974 to 1984, he was national president of the General Cecilia Association for Germany and was appointed to numerous commissions and conferences. When he retired in 1987, he returned to Würzburg, where he took on pastoral duties and a teaching position for church music at the conservatory. In 1973, he received the title of Monsignor from the Vatican, the Albertus Magnus Medal from the city of Regensburg and the Federal Cross of Merit from the Federal President. On 11 January 1996, his requiem in the cathedral and his funeral in the city cemetery of Würzburg were performed jointly by the Regensburg Church Music School and the Würzburg Cathedral Music.

Fleckenstein's time as cathedral chapel master coincided with the radical reform of church music by the Second Vatican Council in 1963, which emphasised the participation of the congregation and the admission of the national language. He embraced this reform, having initially adopted his predecessors' organisation of church services with Latin choral masses. In the years after 1964, first Latin masses with choir and congregation were sung by Gelineau, Heino Schubert and Schroeder, then German-language ordinaries such as those by Schieri, Heino Schubert, Rohr, Schroeder, Faulstich and Damjakob and the large German-language Würzburg Cathedral Mass by Hummel for the reopening of the cathedral in 1967. At the end of his tenure, Fleckenstein largely returned to the Latin choral mass, albeit with the premise that there must always be a balance between choral and congregational singing (hymns, chorus verses).

(from: Siegfried Koesler: Die Würzburger Dommusik in den ersten zwei Dritteln des 20. Jahrhunderts (in: Dieter Kirsch / Ulrich Konrad (eds.): Kirchenmusik in der Diözese Würzburg - Studien und Quellen vom 16. bis ins 20. Jahrhundert, Würzburg 2010).