Through the Years: the History of the Harmon Choral Associates
The HistoryThrough of the George Washington the University Years: Choral Program Please note: An index of pictures begins on page 48 Introduction One Saturday evening in the spring of 1986, Winfield Weitzel stood before a group of dinner guests assembled at the Marvin Center and told of the night The George Washington University Glee Club won first place in the National Intercollegiate Glee Club Contest held at Carnegie Hall. That year was 1930 and, yes, GW surpassed the glee clubs of Yale and Princeton, Columbia and Dartmouth in the competi- tion... a night to remember! The 1930 concert program had never been placed in the University Archives, but Weitzels copy occupied a prominent place in the evenings exhibit of choral memorabilia. The event at which Weitzel was speaking was the March 1986 Harmon Choral Reunion. Drawn by a camaraderie developed in the tradition of choral singing and wishing to honor their leader of more than 40 years, Dr. Robert Howe Harmon, GW choristers traveled long distances to the reunion. There were 239 guests in attendance at the banquet and more than 500 crowded the Dorothy Betts Marvin Theatre later that evening to hear student and alumni voices join together in a rousing Its A Grand Night For Singing. They were celebrating a grand tradition at GW the tradition of choral singing which dates to the turn of the century and has taken the Universitys name to the far corners of the earth. One of those places was the South Pacific, where Traveling Troubadours members Dick Hedges, Steve Andersen, Dave Lum, John Parker, Wade Currier, Dick Randall, Sue Farquharson Law, Joan Haag Osborne and Rosemary Glenn found themselves in 1950.
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