36-hour chorale marathon completed hour early
A chorale marathon in Haapsalu, in which all 484 chorales of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELK) hymnal were sung back-to back beginning at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning, ended an hour ahead of schedule on Monday night.
While the singing marathon was expected to last 36 hours, with a concluding Mass scheduled for 8 p.m. on Monday night, participants began to sing the songs a bit faster throuoghut the course of the day, which allowed them to sing the last of the 484 chorales by 7 p.m., reported ETV news broadcast "Aktuaalne kaamera."
The chorale marathon marked 25th anniversary of the publication of the EELK's current hymnal, the 500th anniverary of the beginning of the Lutheran Reformation as well as drew attention to work currently underway on the next edition of the hymnal.
"Well, I suppse it is a marathon," said Bishop Tiit Salumäe. "We did hit the brakes meanwhile in that there were Psalms meanwhile, but apparently these chorales are currently being sung faster than at the time when they were measured, which causes this slight time difference."
Editor: Aili Vahtla