The largest Protestant church in Germany dominates the Museumsinsel in the center of Berlin. The site of the Hohenzollern dynastic crypt and one church or another since the 1400s, it now boasts a hulking Baroque Revival cathedral built at the turn of last century by Emperor Wilhelm II. It’s not a pretty church. Constructed on the basic architectural principle of “more is more,” it reminded me of nothing more than Cogsworth’s line in the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast: “As I always say: If it ain’t Baroque, don’t fix it!” And yet fix it they perpetually must as the weather and the Spree River wear it down.
All that being said: Oh, the music! The acoustics of the gilt-and-cherub-addled dome are fabulous. Never the biggest organ fan, I actually enjoyed organist Andreas Sieling’s subtle handling of the Mack-truck-sized instrument. But it was the vokalensemble–all boys and men, accompanied sparingly and perfectly by piano and clarinet–that took my breath away.
You can listen to the whole service on YouTube: do it with headphones if you can; the recording is surprisingly good. Unless you want to wade through the whole German liturgy, I recommend starting about 6 minutes in for the organ and ensemble and then skipping as desired. For bonus points, you can play “Where’s Waldo?” starting at about the 48-minute mark and find me in the congregation (hint, I have my bicycle helmet next to me in the pew).
The Rookery 