St. Elizabeth Music Director Mourned

Members and clergy from the Congregation of the St. Elizabeth of Hungary Roman Catholic Church, on Wyckoff Avenue, are mourning the loss of their longtime music director, Manfred Knoop. 

According to a statement released by St. Elizabeth’s Church, Knoop was described as a “gift that kept on giving.”

“His remarkable talents, energy, and enthusiasm for music were a constant source of spiritual inspiration for our parish,” the statement said. “Manfred directed several vocal groups, including our Festival Chorale, the Spirit Group, the Youth Group, and the Children’s Choir. Besides enhancing our liturgies, under Manfred’s direction these groups have presented memorable Christmas programs and periodic choral and orchestral concerts that greatly enriched the life or our parish community.”

According to his obituary, he was a resident of River Edge. He is survived by a wife, Birgit, and two  children, Kira and Nicholas Knoop, as well as a sister and brother, Edith Rischer and Reinhold Knoop, both from Germany.

Knoop owned Twinz Records and the Knoop Music Recording Studio and he was “a long-time conductor of several choral and music groups.”

Father Roberto Ortiz, of Saint Elizabeth’s, said Knoop had been battling an illness, but declined to comment on specifics. However, he said that Knoop was a generous man with his musical ability.

“He was always helping others and he could play any instrument and everything he played had the sense of the sacred and was appropriate for the occasion and played beautifully,” said Ortiz.

Ortiz said he was pleased when the church celebrated Knoop’s 25th anniversary and conducted the recent Christmas concert the church held.

Brian Scanlan, a Wyckoff Township Committeeman and member of St. Elizabeth’s, agreed with Ortiz. He said it was Knoop’s style that attracted them to the church in the first place.

“My wife, Gail, and I moved back to the area after working abroad and bought a home in Waldwick in the mid-1980s,” said Scanlan. “While there were other Catholic churches we could have attended, we were immediately attracted to St. Elizabeth's because of the power of Manfred's music ministry.”

Scanlan said Knoop was a “remarkable talent as a musician and he also had a way of bringing out the best in the other musicians and singers he worked with that has added immeasurably to our parish.”

Viewings will be at Saint Elizabeth’s on Thursday, Feb. 17 from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. and 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. with a funeral mass on Friday, Feb. 18 at 11 a.m.