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The world has a virtuous courage
A journey through time to peasant parlors and aristocratic palaces | Ensemble astrophil & stella
Fri, September 26th, 2025 - 7:00 PM | Castle Church
Please aboard! A musical journey back in time to the world of half a millennium ago begins. In 1525, significant upheavals swept across large areas of the German-speaking world, largely initiated by farmers and rural communities: Nothing less than the right to self-determination of the poorest was at stake. The four-person ensemble astrophil & stella takes its audience to rural taverns and parlors, reconstructing the songs of the common people using typical instruments such as the dulcimer and the straw fiddle, a precursor to the modern xylophone. These instruments are preserved from descriptions dating back to the 16th century and are still played in the traditional music of many regions today.
Texts and music from this period reflect the austere lives of the peasant population, who had to pay high tributes to feudal lords and monasteries. The nobility and the bourgeoisie, in turn, cultivated a very different kind of music: Italian fantasies and French chansons were "en vogue," and those who could afford them owned fine musical instruments such as the lute or transverse flute and sang from expensive printed music. Originating in Wittenberg, the ideas of the Reformation sparked centuries of ongoing conflicts and negotiations on religious issues. Amidst all this, mercenaries seeking to escape the poverty of their villages roamed the countryside with fifes and drums in search of loot and adventure. Ultimately, this concert evening also addresses the question of where the exploitation of the poorest has shifted half a millennium later... Featuring music by Pierre de la Rue, Johannes Wannenmacher, Balthasar Resinarius, Stephan Zirler, and many others!
Ticket 25 euros/concessions 22 euros
On Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2026, the Protestant Lenten campaign "7 Weeks Without" begins. Until April 6, under the motto "Feeling! Seven Weeks Without Harshness," it invites participants to consciously experience Lent. The focus is on compassionate interaction: perceiving the pain of others, offering support, and discovering new ways of being together. Harshness can manifest itself in many ways in everyday life: in harsh words, in situations that hurt us or leave us speechless. Often, we put on our own armor to protect ourselves—and yet realize how much this distances us from one another. The "7 Weeks Without" Lenten campaign invites us to take a different path in 2026. Further information is available at https://7wochenohne.evangelisch.de/ [Photo: Jodie Griggs / Getty Images]
30 Years of World Heritage
In 1996, the castle church was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as an almost completely preserved prime example of 19th-century monument preservation. From 2012 to 2016, it was renovated and restored with funding from the State of Saxony-Anhalt, the Federal Republic of Germany, the European Union, and private donors.
My volunteer service in Japan
Dear members of the Schlosskirche congregation, I have been in Japan since September, where I am doing voluntary service with the Berlin Mission Society.
History
Around 1340, the Ascanian dukes had an "All Saints' Chapel" built at their castle and founded a collegiate monastery in it for liturgical service. Elector Friedrich the Wise had the palace with the chapel demolished and his new residential palace with a more spacious palace church built on the site. You can find out more about the story here.
Church for children
Every Sunday there is a children's service in the Wittenberg Castle Church, parallel to the adult service. Ms. Felicia Grauel is one of the volunteers for the children's service.