Choral singing, together with organ music, was considered in the 18th and 19th centuries the church-music form of expression per se. So, choral singing and choral music played a dominant role in the 19th century for the Bach revival. Though in many places the political and social upheavals of the Napoleonic era brought some traditional musical institutions to an end, the St. Thomas School with its music boarding school at Leipzig was able to hold its ground and – thanks to a lengthy reorganizational process – dovetail with the Gewandhaus Orchestra, which had in turn arisen from a middle-class society.

For the 800th anniversary in 2012 of the Leipzig St. Thomas Choir, a symposium was devoted to the institutional and musical transformation of choral traditions during this time period. The volume presents the results of this conference in an expanded and revised form: Examined from various perspectives are performance-practice aspects, such as the instruments available, the age at which the voice breaks, or the changes in vocal style, and discussed are institutional questions such as the conducting by prefects, the autonomous self-education, or the St. Thomas students’ choice of repertoire.