Moments of inspiration at the piano
Bishop Paul Werner – a friend and connoisseur of music

When Professor Dr Paul-Werner Scheele was appointed Bishop of Würzburg in 1979, this was welcome news for the musical community of Würzburg, as rumours had been circulating that the new bishop had, in his youth, toyed with the idea of studying music.

People were therefore eager for their first meeting, during which it very soon became clear that they were dealing with a profound connoisseur of music and its history. The conversation spanned a wide range of topics, from Gregorian chant through Palestrina, Bach and Handel, the Viennese Classical period and the Romantic era, right up to the music of our own time. In my case, I was able to identify many shared interests, particularly regarding the works of Palestrina, Bach, Anton Bruckner and Olivier Messiaen. Since then, Bishop Paul-Werner has repeatedly expressed his expert views, both verbally and in writing, on musical matters (church music) and the life’s work of composers (Anton Bruckner), which has earned him great respect in specialist circles. His private piano-playing and musical interests centre primarily on the classical composers Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, whose works he immerses himself in with devotion during the few hours of leisure that his busy schedule allows. Chamber music is also one of his passions. Among other things, he has sought, in a spirit of ecumenism, to harmonise potential theological dissonances by performing Mozart sonatas together with the Protestant dean Martin Elze, who plays the violin. As an attentive listener, Bishop Paul-Werner follows developments in contemporary music, mostly through recordings but also – when time permits – in the concert hall. In particular, it is the works of Olivier Messiaen whose intellectual and theological depth deeply move and convince him.

Whilst working on the libretto for my oratorio *Der Schrein der Märtyrer* (*The Shrine of the Martyrs*), I came to regard Bishop Paul-Werner as a sensitive translator of Old Irish texts and as a knowledgeable collaborator in the creation of a large-scale musical form. Drawing inspiration in an original way from the canon tables of Old Irish manuscripts, a compelling structure emerged, featuring five soloists, a mixed choir, a boys’ choir, a narrator, a large orchestra, a percussion ensemble and three organs – all positioned in different locations to make the most of the acoustics of Würzburg Cathedral. Naturally, the collaboration required a number of ‘sessions’, which were usually opened by a chamber-music-style ‘prelude’ performed by the bishop’s pianist. This was followed by the composers playing the completed sections, their review, and discussions regarding the text’s interpretation. There were lively debates over phrasing, abridgements and so on. At the ‘conclusion’, a fine Franconian wine was a must, and the bishop’s sense of subtle humour also came to the fore time and again, despite the seriousness of the oratorio’s subject matter. The result was a collaborative work which was premiered to a large audience in the anniversary year of 1989 and attracted regional attention.

Bertold Hummel (in ‘Friede und Freude – On the 25th Anniversary of the Episcopal Consecration of Paul-Werner Scheele’, a special edition of the Würzburg Catholic Sunday Newspaper)

Works by Bertold Hummel associated with Paul Werner Scheele

• The Shrine of the Martyrs, Op. 90
• Message of Peace from the Apocalypse, Op. 94
• Christus heri, Op. 103h
• A Small Tribute, Op. 95f,2
• Album piece for piano

Biography
Paul Werner Scheele was born in 1928 in the Sauerland region, the son of a commercial clerk and a housewife. He had five siblings, two of whom died in childhood. Scheele attended primary school in Olpe and secondary schools in Olpe and Attendorn. During the Second World War, he was conscripted into the Luftwaffe. After the war ended, Scheele passed his A-levels in Attendorn on 8 October 1946.

From 1947 to 1951, Scheele studied philosophy and theology at the universities of Paderborn and Munich. On 29 March 1952, he was ordained a priest by the then Archbishop of Paderborn, Lorenz Jaeger. Following his ordination, Scheele served as a parish priest and teacher of religious education in Paderborn for ten years, until 1962. Following further studies from 1962 to 1964, Paul-Werner Scheele was awarded a Doctor of Theology (Dr. theol.) degree on 4 February 1964 in Würzburg, with a thesis entitled ‘Johann Adam Möhler’s Doctrine of the Unity of the Church and its Significance for the Justification of Faith’. On 3 March 1966, Scheele accepted an appointment to the Chair of Fundamental Theology at the Ruhr University in Bochum. In 1970, he was appointed to the Chair of Dogmatic Theology at the University of Würzburg. From 1971 to 1979, Scheele served as provost of Paderborn Cathedral whilst also holding a professorship in Dogmatic Theology at the Faculty of Theology in Paderborn.

On 31 January 1975, he was appointed titular bishop of Druas and auxiliary bishop of Paderborn. He was consecrated a bishop on 9 March 1975 by the Archbishop of Paderborn, Johannes Joachim Degenhardt. The Auxiliary Bishops of Paderborn, Paul Heinrich Nordhues and Friedrich Maria Rintelen, were the co-consecrators. On 31 August 1979, Pope John Paul II appointed Paul-Werner Scheele as Bishop of Würzburg. He was installed on 21 October 1979 by the Archbishop of Bamberg, Elmar Maria Kredel. Under his leadership, St Kilian’s Cathedral underwent extensive renovation. On 1 April 2002, he celebrated his golden jubilee as a priest.

On 14 July 2003, John Paul II accepted Bishop Paul-Werner Scheele’s resignation due to reaching the age limit.

Until his retirement, Scheele was chairman of the Ecumenical Commission of the German Bishops’ Conference and a member of the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches. Even after his retirement, he remains a member of the Vatican’s Council for Promoting Christian Unity. Scheele is actively involved in the Bartholomew Society and serves as a member of the board of trustees of Shalom Europa (the Jewish community in Würzburg and Lower Franconia). Bishop Scheele was an honorary canon in Paderborn and Würzburg, a recipient of the Golden City Medal of the City of Würzburg, the Bavarian Order of Merit and the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class, as well as an honorary professor and honorary senator at the University of Würzburg. To mark his 85th birthday in 2013, the City of Würzburg awarded him the Ring of Honour. Paul Werner Scheele passed away on 10 May 2019 in Würzburg. Recommended reading: Paul Werner Scheele: *In Praise of Music and Musicians: Contributions to a Theology of Music*, including: *In memoriam Bertold Hummel*, Echter Verlag, Würzburg 2005