The Development of Collegiate Male Glee Clubs in America: an Historical

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UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

Date: 13-Jul-2010

I, Jeremy D. Jones , hereby submit this original work as part of the requirements for the degree of: Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting, Choral Emphasis It is entitled: The Development of Collegiate Male Glee Clubs in America: An Historical

Overview

Student Signature: Jeremy D. Jones

This work and its defense approved by: Committee Chair: Earl Rivers, DMA Earl Rivers, DMA

8/16/2010 901

The Development of Collegiate Male Glee Clubs in America: An Historical Overview

A document submitted to the

Division of Graduate Studies and Research of the University of Cincinnati

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS

in the Ensembles and Conducting Division of the College-Conservatory of Music

August 2010

Jeremy D. Jones

B.M., Middle Tennessee State University, 2001

M.M., East Carolina University, 2007

Committee Chair: Earl Rivers, D.M.A.

ABSTRACT

Collegiate male glee clubs have flourished in the United States since the first glee club was established in 1858 at Harvard University. For more than 150 years men’s glee clubs have proliferated from predominately autonomous student-led social organizations singing of school pride and spirit to organizations of musical and artistic prominence. While many collegiate glee clubs still retain certain elements of a social and fraternal-like nature, faculty directors helped instill traditions of musical excellence through various artistic missions, initiatives, and endeavors.

Published historical accounts pertaining to the rich histories associated with individual glee clubs, as well as the movement as a whole, are sparse, and continued research in this field is needed to enhance the historical contributions of the male choral arts. This document serves to supplement the literature available on glee clubs through an historic overview of the development of male glee clubs among American colleges and universities. Selected glee clubs are discussed in Chapters IV and V serving as representative organizations in this broad artistic movement. Prior to the accounts of the selected American collegiate glee clubs, brief historical perspectives on Western European male singing societies as found in the English glee and

German Männerchor traditions, as well as the early American male singing societies, are presented. The final Chapter concludes the study with pertinent information on professional service organizations, such as the Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses (IMC) and the American

Choral Directors Association (ACDA), pertaining to the advocacy of the male choral movement throughout the nation. Additionally, the concluding Chapter provides information on four well- known professional and community male choruses in the nation: Chanticleer, Cantus, the Turtle

Creek Chorale, and the Washington Men’s Camerata. The document ends with an Appendix of

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forty-five recently composed twenty-first century works for male chorus commissioned by or written for specific male choruses. Its intent is to supplement available repertoire guides and provide conductors a valuable resource for programming quality literature for male choruses.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the encouraging support, wisdom, and advice that Dr. Earl Rivers provided throughout my doctoral studies at the University of

Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). He served as my major professor, academic advisor, and committee chair for this culminating document. His professional leadership, mentorship, and investment in my academic and professional career were always accompanied with remarkable compassion and integrity. Additionally, I am grateful for the opportunity he gave to serve as the conductor of the UC Men’s Chorus throughout my tenure at CCM. The experience of leading this group of men helped my professional development as a conductor, teacher, and administrator and allowed for many professional opportunities. I also would like to thank Dr. Brett Scott for his beneficial assistance and instruction during my time at CCM.

The success I had during my academic residence at CCM would not have been possible without the guidance of my mentor during my graduate studies at East Carolina University

(ECU), Dr. Daniel Bara. He is a master teacher, consummate musician, and gifted conductor who possesses a genuine passion for sharing the music-making process with others. His mentorship has been invaluable and inspirational to my professional and personal growth.

I would not have been prepared for graduate study without the training and experiences provided by many talented professors and exceptional musicians during my undergraduate studies at Middle Tennessee State University. Among the numerous influential teachers who helped shape my educational and professional outlook are Dr. Nancy Boone-Allsbrook, Mr. John

Kramar, Dr. Michael Linton, Dr. Raphael Bundage, Mr. Stephen Smith, and Mrs. Angela Tipps.

Without their guidance and encouragement, I would not be where I am today. Teaching in the public school system following my undergraduate study also provided significant experiences

that have helped shape my professional career. I will always be grateful and indebted to the numerous students I had the fortune and pleasure of teaching and mentoring at Riverdale High

School, my alma mater, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The passion for choral music and the fond memories that many of these students share have been influential to my professional development.

I would like to thank my parents, family, and close friends for their ceaseless love, support, and encouragement throughout my life and during my graduate studies. My father’s advice and editorship was extremely valuable in the completion of this document. I am also grateful for the steadfast friendship of Keith Phillips and his wife Stephanie, whom I first met while we both worked on our master’s degrees in music at ECU. We have shared an invaluable companionship working on our doctoral degrees in conducting at CCM together. Lastly, I owe immense thanks to my wife Gretchen for her unconditional love and constant support. She has made countless sacrifices to help me pursue my academic studies and professional aspirations.

Without her, I would have been unable to complete this career milestone in my life. Our twin sons Elias and Gabriel have been a wonderful joy in our lives over the past two years, and we have been blessed to be in Cincinnati surrounded by people who have helped us through this journey. I am forever grateful.

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CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ...... x

Chapter

I. INTRODUCTION ...... 1

Purpose of the Study ...... 1 A Continued Need for the Study ...... 3 Methodology and Scope ...... 5 Limitations of the Study ...... 7

II. THE WESTERN EUROPEAN TRADITION OF MALE SINGING SOCIETIES ...... 9

The English Catch, Glee, and Partsong Tradition ...... 9 The German Männerchor Tradition ...... 14

III. THE AMERICAN TRADITION: MALE SINGING SOCIETIES ESTABLISHED IN AMERICA ...... 22

The German-American Societies ...... 22 The American Societies ...... 27

IV. THE FIRST COLLEGIATE MALE GLEE CLUBS: HISTORIES AND TRADITIONS ...... 34

The Arrival of a New Tradition ...... 34 Harvard Glee Club ...... 38 University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club ...... 48 Yale Glee Club ...... 55 An Expanding Tradition ...... 62

V. THE RISE OF AMERICAN COLLEGIATE MALE GLEE CLUBS ...... 64

Virginia Glee Club ...... 66 The Ohio State University Men’s Glee Club ...... 71 Michigan State University Men’s Glee Club ...... 72 Penn State Glee Club ...... 74 Miami University Men’s Glee Club ...... 76 Morehouse College Glee Club ...... 80 Collegiate Male Glee Clubs: A Preeminent History with an Encouraging Future ...... 83

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VI. BEYOND COLLEGIATE MALE GLEE CLUBS ...... 88

Continuing Advocacy and Advancement of the Male Chorus Movement in the United States: Professional Service Organizations and Male Choruses in the Community ...... 88 Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses (IMC) ...... 89 Associated Male Choruses of America (AMCA) ...... 93 Barbershop Harmony Society ...... 94 American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) ...... 96 Chorus America ...... 98 Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA) ...... 100 Professional Male Choruses ...... 101 Chanticleer ...... 102 Cantus ...... 103 Community Male Choruses ...... 105 Turtle Creek Chorale ...... 105 Washington Men’s Camerata ...... 106 Male Choral Singing in the United States: Preserving the Tradition and Anticipating the Future ...... 109

BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 130

APPENDIX

REPERTOIRE REFERENCE GUIDE OF TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY WORKS FOR MALE CHORUS ...... 137

LIST OF TABLES

Table

1. American Collegiate Male Glee Clubs ...... 85

2. IMC Marshall Bartholomew Award Recipients ...... 112

3. Barbershop Men’s Choruses ...... 114

4. Community Male Choruses ...... 117

5. GALA Male Choruses ...... 124

6. Religious Male Choruses ...... 128

7. Military Male Choruses ...... 129

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Purpose of the Study

Collegiate men’s glee clubs have developed and flourished across the United States for more than 150 years. Throughout their historical evolution they have encouraged and fostered a membership that includes male students engaged in any of the academic disciplines. This all- encompassing embracement, encouragement, and acceptance of collegiate men into the musical community have positively impacted the male choral art across the nation.

The purpose of this study is to examine the historical context of American collegiate glee clubs and choruses for men through various perspectives in their development and evolution.1 An examination of several early selected collegiate male glee clubs will illuminate significant aspects and serve as representations of the current state of male glee clubs and choruses in the

United States. Correspondence with conductors of collegiate glee clubs and community and professional male choruses was helpful to this research project. Although the focus is centered on the historical development of collegiate male glee clubs, some discussion is given to professional and community male choruses, organizations, and initiatives that provide a panoramic view of community support that fosters the musical advancement of male choruses.

An annotated repertoire guide of forty-five twenty-first century works recently commissioned by or written for collegiate glee clubs, professional and community male choruses, and professional organizations, concludes the document. Correspondence with conductors and composers assisted in indentifying works for inclusion. Its purpose is to serve as

1 While the terms “glee club” and “male chorus” can often be used interchangeably with many collegiate male choirs, the term “glee club” will be used throughout this document as a means to simplify the terminology among collegiate male singing organizations. The term “male chorus,” however, is frequently used when discussing many of the professional and community choruses for men throughout the United States.

an accessible resource guide to quality works written in the first decade of the twenty-first century that will enhance repertoire guides currently available for conductors of male choruses.

For many years it has been common to hear conductors of men’s and women’s choruses complain about the lack of a central bibliographical source to which they might turn to for good material. . . . An enormous amount of octavo music has been published for both these combinations in Germany, England and the United States over the last hundred years. One cannot complain about the quantity, particularly for Männerchor in Germany, but the quality is another matter.2

The repertoire guide of this document includes the following information: composer, title, voicing, accompaniment, text source, approximate duration, year of publication, publisher information, commissioning ensemble or organization, and the occasion or dedication of the commission, if known. The Appendix does not claim to be a comprehensive listing of all twenty- first century choral works commissioned by or written for specific ensembles. It is the intent of this author to expand the content of the annotated repertoire guide in this document by compiling and publishing an annotated curricular repertoire reference guide that will offer conductors a valuable resource tool in the continuous and often difficult task of finding quality music. A new repertoire guide representing a wide variety of historical styles and genres is a much-needed addition to the choral field. Such a guide will provide conductors and singers balanced programming opportunities based on the values of excellence, education, and entertainment and will help promote the continued growth and artistic evolution of male choirs.

2 J. Merrill Knapp, ed., Selected List of Music for Men’s Voices (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952), v.

A Continued Need for the Study

Literature pertaining to the history, development, and repertoire of American collegiate glee clubs and non-collegiate choruses for men is sparse. Historical writings that exist are primarily limited to academic journals and archival records held within individual programs.

However, some published literature of significant value to the history of collegiate glee clubs in

America does exist. “The Harvard Glee Club and the Development of Musical Taste,” is the senior honors thesis written in 1952 by George Thomsen on the history of the Harvard Glee Club and its advancement of the artistic value in male choral singing. Bruce Montgomery’s book,

Brothers, Sing On! My Half-Century Around the World with the Penn Glee Club, offers some history about the group and tells of his stories and experiences with the University of

Pennsylvania Glee Club from 1950-2000. In 1997, Kevin Anthony Lang wrote a doctoral dissertation entitled “The University of Georgia Men’s Glee Club: Its History and Development as a Musical and Educational Organization.” Michael Slon published a history of the Cornell

Glee Club entitled Songs from the Hill: A History of the Cornell Glee Club in 1998. Many other glee clubs have briefly documented their histories and are available on their websites and in printed concert programs and alumni articles. However, it is important to both the past and current state of collegiate glee clubs that histories of such organizations be documented and published to encapsulate and share the rich stories that male choral singing has and continues to offer. One of the most significant sources aiding this present study is a 1962 doctoral dissertation by Arnold Ray Thomas at Columbia University entitled “The Development of Male Glee Clubs in American Colleges and Universities.” Although Thomas provides an examination of the development of glee clubs in America, including information on European influences, it is outdated and does not reflect the most current state of collegiate glee clubs. He was

comprehensive in his approach with the collection of data, sending 1,285 survey letters to

American colleges and universities in an attempt to provide an exhaustive investigation into the status of glee clubs during the early 1960s. The result yielded 887 replies showing 334 active glee clubs and an additional 139 that had been suspended at some point in the histories associated with their institutions.3

One of the more recent and substantial resources regarding repertoire for men’s voices is

J. Merrill Knapp’s book Selected List of Music for Men’s Voices published in 1952. It is now outdated and out-of-print, and the information does not include some of the essential details about each work that would be beneficial to a conductor’s repertoire search. Eric Allan

Thorson’s doctoral dissertation entitled “Collegiate Male Chorus: Curricular Repertoire” was written in 1982 at Arizona State University. Thorson developed recommendations for male chorus repertoire based on a survey of literature performed by the fifty collegiate male glee clubs holding membership in the Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses (IMC) from 1977-81. It includes varying levels of information and analysis on 762 works listed in Tables and Charts. “It is assumed that because of the national scope of the IMC it could serve to reflect the current literature being used by men’s choruses during the past four years.”4 Selected from this list is an analysis of fifteen of the most performed compositions during this four-year time span with additional analysis of thirty-six works for three levels of choirs, twelve in each, based on varying degrees of increasing difficulty. William Tortolano’s Original Music for Men’s Voices: A

Selected Bibliography, published in a second edition in 1981, and Kenneth Roberts’ A Checklist of Twentieth-Century Choral Music for Male Voices, published in 1970, are also valuable

3 Arnold Ray Thomas, “The Development of Male Glee Clubs in American Colleges and Universities” (Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1962), 6-7.

4 Eric Allan Thorson, “Collegiate Male Chorus: Curricular Repertoire” (Ed.D. diss., Arizona State University, 1982), 5.

repertoire resource guides. However, an updated and comprehensive guide pertaining to specific genres, time periods or geographic regions is a much-needed addition to the existing body of reference literature on repertoire for male choruses. It is hoped that the included appendix of recently commissioned works for male chorus, while not exhaustive, will supplement the current repertoire resources available.

As Thomas wrote in his doctoral dissertation, “So far as can be ascertained, no systematic study of the development of these choral groups has ever been attempted.”5 Published research offering a variety of historical accounts of the collegiate glee club movement, along with repertoire-based guides, collaborative initiatives, programming philosophies, and the commissioning of new works, will lend much-needed support to the continued advocacy of male choral singing at the collegiate level. Moreover, with the collegial assistance and relationships offered and developed by professional service organizations and professional and community male choruses, the male choral medium will continue to thrive as the artistry of male choral music is explored.

Methodology and Scope

Historical perspectives of the Western European tradition of male choral singing provide the groundwork for understanding the beginnings of male choruses in America. A succinct historical account of the Western European tradition of male singing societies is provided exploring the English glee and German Männerchor traditions. Although this history is presented with brevity and is not the central focus of this study, it does include pertinent composers and representative works associated with these male choral traditions in order to better understand

5 Ibid., 2.

the practices of these groups. This is followed by an analogous approach to the rise of American male singing societies. The historical traditions of the European and early American male singing societies directly impacted the inception, development, and traditions associated with many collegiate glee clubs in the United States.

The cultivation of male choral singing at the collegiate level is presented through various historical viewpoints of a collection of colleges and universities. An important component in this study will be an examination of the inception and histories of the first three American collegiate glee clubs at Harvard University (1858), University of Michigan (1859), and Yale University

(1861), and it will include important contributions of their conductors to the early development of the male choral art. Other collegiate glee clubs and their inception dates included in this abbreviated historical survey are from the University of Virginia (1871), Ohio State University

(1875), Michigan State University (1880), Pennsylvania (Penn) State University (1888), Miami

University (1907), and Morehouse College (1911). Communication with contemporary conductors associated with these glee clubs at their respective universities strengthened this research study in an effort to understand better not only the rich history these glee clubs celebrate but also to give credence to the on-going tradition of the camaraderie and music-making they enjoy.

The scope of this study also includes a chapter devoted to the advocacy of various professional service organizations and professional and community choruses, which have been and remain vital in continuing awareness, promotion, and performance of male choruses. Service organizations include Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses (IMC), Associated Male Choruses of

America (AMCA), Barbershop Harmony Society,6 American Choral Directors Association

6 The Barbershop Harmony Society is also known as the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America (SPEBSQSA).

(ACDA), Chorus America, and the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA). The professional male choruses Chanticleer and Cantus and community male choruses, such as the

Turtle Creek Chorale and the Washington Men’s Camerata, also have helped promote and advance the male choral art.

Limitations of the Study

The limitations of this present study on an historical overview of collegiate male glee clubs in America are evidenced by the exclusion of numerous male collegiate glee clubs and other professional and community male choruses due to the considerable size and scope of such a wide-ranging topic. This study is meant to illustrate the historical lineage between the Western

European and American traditions of male choruses on the development and growth of collegiate male glee clubs and to supplement the existing body of literature. As such, the chapters on the

Western European and early American male choral traditions are concise. Furthermore, the historical survey of collegiate glee clubs, along with professional and community male choruses, is limited to a small percentage in an effort to provide a sampling of those involved in this active movement within the choral arts. The number of collegiate glee clubs alone is far too many to include in a study such as presented within this document. Tables of collegiate glee clubs and community male choruses have been included within the document to show the far-reaching expansion and development of the male choral art across the United States. However, the included tables are not comprehensive of all male choruses but rather provide a representation of the expansion of this choral art form. The repertoire research guide of commissioned works by various male choruses is restricted to forty-five compositions written since 2000. The appended repertoire guide is not intended to be an exhaustive listing of all commissioned works of the

twenty-first century, but it is intended to serve as a representative resource guide of recent works of the current century, supplementing the resource guides currently available to conductors.

Although the historical overview and appended repertoire list included in this study are only representative, the objective is to complement the existing body of literature published and to heighten the awareness of conductors, singers, alumni, and concert-goers alike of the rich history and contributions of collegiate male glee clubs. Furthermore, it is hoped that this research will spark an interest and a desire of those who are associated with glee clubs to write, share, and publish documentaries on the history of their respective organizations.

CHAPTER II

THE WESTERN EUROPEAN TRADITION OF MALE SINGING SOCIETIES

A basic knowledge of the Western European tradition of male choral singing societies is essential to understanding the influences on the establishment of American male choral societies, which eventually led to the organization of collegiate male glee clubs. A study of the extensive progression of the choral tradition associated with Western Europe is a colossal undertaking and deserves far greater attention and study than what can be presented in this chapter. A comprehensive examination of the traditions found in England and Germany should be further investigated, as well as those of other countries that also have rich histories of male choral singing, such as the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, and of Finland, to name a few. For the purposes of this present study, however, a basic foundation of relevant information of two Western European countries is offered. The groundwork of this study begins with the English glee and catch clubs and concludes with the German Männerchor tradition.

The English Catch, Glee, and Partsong Tradition

The fellowship and conviviality of male singing societies flourished throughout Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These groups cultivated the development of singing societies that gathered to enjoy the pleasures of fellowship and the singing of glees. The term

“glee” is derived from Old English meaning mirth or entertainment, and, musically, is most commonly referred to as an unaccompanied song for three or more male voices usually in a straightforward harmonized homophonic texture. Although the meaning of “glee” seemingly signifies a composition that would embrace textual ideas of joy and merriment, glee

compositions also include textual ideas associated with a more serious or emotional nature. Prior to the cultivation of glees as a musical development, the catch was the favored musical form to a large extent in the mid-eighteenth century. A catch is described as a round for male voices and is often characterized by its humorous, witty, and even bawdy texts rejoicing in the ideas of the male pleasures of drink and sex. While some are blatant in their vulgar topics, others are more discreet containing sexual connotations or innuendos. David Johnson, contributing author to the

Grove and Oxford article on “Catch” states,

They were designed to work well even if sung badly, and were not intended to have a formal audience; any listeners eavesdropping on performances would have been invited to join in. The social class of the men who sang them is not entirely clear. If, as seems likely, catches began as an amusement for the moneyed and privileged, they must have spread to lower social groups during the reign of James I [1603-25].7

Catches first appeared in England during the late sixteenth century. Thomas Ravenscroft

(ca. 1592-ca. 1635), an English editor, composer, and theorist, published the first known collections of catches consisting of Pammelia and Deuteromelia, both published in 1609, and

Melismata published in 1611. Catch that Catch Can for three to four voices was written by John

Hilton (1599-1657) and is another important collection of catches that was published in 1652.8

Although catches as a musical form were popular throughout the seventeenth century, the first official development of catch clubs did not occur until 1761. The first organization was called the Noblemen and Gentlemen’s Catch Club. This London organization sought to promote both the musical merits of composition and singing and the joviality and camaraderie of drink, while leaving the political distractions of everyday life and work behind. “It is said that each member

7 David Johnson, “Catch,” Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, available from http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/05164 (accessed April 15, 2010).

8 Ibid.

was required to sing a song at every meeting, and if anyone sang inaccurately, he paid for his error by drinking a bottle of wine. . . . Coffee and tea were not permitted, . . .”9

Whereas the catch is associated with a more straightforward compositional approach and less-than-elegant poetic texts, compositional techniques of glees often include a more sophisticated approach to its musical and poetic form. Common musical traits included individual musical motives wedded with poetic ideas usually pertaining to the ideas of love, nature, hunting, drinking, moral concepts, and patriotism. Although the term “glee” was already in use by the late-seventeenth century, this development of the English glee that thrived in the mid-eighteenth century stemmed from a renewed interest in the English madrigal, popular during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The marriage of text and music was consciously set to best illustrate and represent the poetic imagery of the text. Although the sectional division of the text was created to allow effective text painting, it is less common in the glee than in the madrigal. Additionally, the sectional treatment of text in glees often features a homophonic texture rather than the contrapuntal and imitative texture of many madrigals. While the voicing of glees was composed primarily for male voices, they frequently included alto parts, which would have been sung by male falsettists. As quoted in Thomas’ dissertation,

“The glee is one of the two forms of composition that the English lay claim to. The other is the anthem. There is nothing in the world similar to the glee. The glee is a kind of musical sonnet in which the poetical idea, suggested in the opening phrase, is continued and intensified by every subsequent expression until the point is reached in the final phrases, and the beauty of the imagery culminates in some exquisite application of the motto of the whole.”10

Beginning in the late nineteenth century, the term “glee” was often abandoned in favor of the term “partsong,” which can be variously defined as sacred or secular songs for two or more

9 Thomas, 17.

10 Ibid., 14-15, as quoted in William Alexander Barrett, English Glees and Part Songs; An Inquiry into Their Historical Past (London: Longmans Green and Co., 1886), 168.

voices with or without accompaniment. However, the term is typically used to describe smaller secular works for unaccompanied voices. Partsongs encompassed a number of forms including the aforementioned glee and madrigal, as well as the earlier catch.

“Social singing societies played such an important role in fusing the partsong tradition with those intellectual and cultural constructs that the history of the glee is inextricable from that of the musical clubs that spawned and nurtured it.”11 These singing societies were a large part of

English life, and the fellowship of drink and song grew from participation and membership of the socially elite to include the middle class. As these informal singing societies, commonly referred to as catch and glee clubs, continued to flourish as a means of socialization and relaxation, they eventually began to formalize regular groups in an effort to rejuvenate the musical merit of the glee and partsong compositions. The well-known Noblemen and Gentlemen’s Catch Club in

London frequently held competitions in an effort to improve and promote this English tradition.

The first organization to officially call itself “Glee Club” appeared in 1787 and consisted of just over a dozen men, many of whom were doctors and lawyers. The original list of the Glee

Club included honorary members, such as the composers Samuel Webbe (1740-1816) and John

Wall Callcott (1766-1821).12 The Glee Club was an important group in the history of the glee.

“With a broader, younger makeup than the [Noblemen and Gentlemen’s] Catch Club, it led the transformation of the glee into the choral partsong that typified the nineteenth century. Members of the Glee Club were not drawn exclusively from the ranks of nobility and gentry, but came from the rising middle class and London’s body of professional musicians.”13

11 Emanuel Rubin, The English Glee in the Reign of George III: Participatory Art Music for an Urban Society, (Warren, MI: Harmonie Press, 2003), 87.

12 “The Catch and Glee Clubs,” The Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review 2, no. 7 (London, 1820): 328-29.

13 Rubin, 102.

As this tradition continued to flourish and evolve throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a more demanding type of composition was encouraged. Partsongs became more challenging technically and longer in duration, arguably with more musical substance and craftsmanship. A leading composer of the eighteenth century in the evolution of the English catch, glee, and partsong tradition was J.W. Callcott, whose “career as a composer was launched when he won three of the [Noblemen and Gentlemen’s Catch] Club’s prizes simultaneously in

1785,”14 representing a catch, canon, and glee. Nicholas Temperley, contributing author on

Callcott in the Grove and Oxford article, states “He virtually monopolized the Catch Club’s annual prizes, which may explain the club’s decision to abolish them after 1793. 64 of his compositions are among the collection of pieces submitted for the prize contests.”15 However,

David Johnson, the contributing author to the Grove and Oxford article on “Glee,” notes the most prominent and versatile composer to have contributed to the style is Samuel Webbe. He composed several hundred catches and glees representing a wide range of topics from the amusing to the more serious reflecting the nature of the text. Webbe was associated with both the Noblemen’s and Gentlemen’s Catch Club and the Glee Club. He won numerous composition awards, the first in 1766 when he received the first annual prize in the composition contest sponsored by the Catch Club for O that I had Wings. His most famous glee, Glorious Apollo, was composed and dedicated as the theme song of the Glee Club in the year of its official organization in 1787. “Samuel Webbe’s first glee collection was published when he was only 24 years old (1764), and within ten years or less he had established himself as the principal

14 David Johnson, “Glee,” Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, available from http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/11269 (accessed April 15, 2010).

15 Nicholas Temperley, “Callcott, John Wall,” Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, available from http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/04604 (accessed April 15, 2010).

composer in this genre and earned the half-jesting title ‘Prince of the Glee Writers.’”16 Important composers that helped cultivate the partsong tradition embedded in the nineteenth century include William Beale (1784-1854), Robert Pearsall (1795-1856), Charles Stanford (1852-1924), and Edward Elgar (1857-1934). As the tradition of partsongs continued into the twentieth century, composers, such as Gustav Holst (1874-1934) and Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-

1958), incorporated folksongs into their compositions.

The German Männerchor Tradition

The most substantial tradition of organized male singing societies in Germany was established during the first decade of the nineteenth century. It is generally assumed that this

Germanic development was a natural outgrowth of the male singing societies cultivated in

England with the earlier catch, glee, and partsong traditions. This extension and emergence of a male choral tradition that seemingly branched across the English Channel into German lands could also be viewed as a renaissance of the aristocratic Minnesinger and the lower-class artisan

Meistersinger traditions. The Minnesinger tradition dates to the twelfth century, while the

Meistersinger tradition flourished later from the fourteenth through seventeenth centuries. The encouragement of compositions of musical value evidenced in the English tradition can actually be seen in the amateur poet-musicians of the latter Meistersinger tradition. “The guilds normally held their weekly meetings in churches, where they also mounted their public song contests. In these each aspirant’s contribution was judged, in conformity with strict, somewhat pedantic

16 Rubin, 284.

rules, on his song’s sacred content: its prosody, its rhyme, and its melody. The prizes consisted of a chain of coins, the largest bearing the image of King David.”17

Several terms are used in describing the male choral singing movement in Germany:

Männerchor, Liedertafel, Liederkranz, and Männergesangverein. Männerchor can refer either to a male choral group or a composition written specifically for male voices. Liedertafel literally means “song-table,” while Liederkranz signifies a “song-wreath” or song-cycle. The difference that became associated with these two terms is described in the following paragraph. The term

Männergesangverein translates as a “men’s singing society” and was applied to the formalization of larger male singing societies around the early to mid-nineteenth century.

Carl Zelter (1758-1832) coined the term Liedertafel. He also is credited with the establishment of the first Liedertafel organization in 1809, which was an effort analogous to the

Noblemen and Gentlemen’s Catch Club in London encouraging original composition of musical value. Zelter’s Berlin Liedertafel was limited to a select group of twenty-five men who gathered to enjoy the company of eating, drinking, and singing. As early as 1815, Liedertafel groups began to expand across Germany including the cities of Frankfurt, Magdeburg, Hamburg,

Munich, Cologne, and Leipzig. They were used to promote convivial fellowship and to encourage the advancement of German song and poetry. “Original compositions were strongly encouraged: those whose contributions were well received would receive a medallion and have their health drunk, while the most-successful would be crowned with a wreath by the ‘Meister’

17 John Milsom and Basil Smallman, “Meistersinger,” The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham. Oxford Music Online, available from http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/subscriber/article/opr/t114/e4333 (accessed April 22, 2010).

(the 25th member) who presided over the evening’s entertainment.”18 Though early Liedertafel groups were selective in their membership, more inclusive groups were founded. These groups sought a wider range of membership and became known as Liedertafel groups, while the smaller, more elite groups began to be referred to as Leiderkranz.

Historical information on the male choral tradition in Germany is found in Richard

Kötzschke’s book entitled Geschichte des deutschen Männergesanges,19 published in 1926. In addition to providing an historical overview of the establishment of community male singing societies, Kötzschke also provides insight into the formalization of glee clubs among the ranks of the German Army around the early nineteenth century. This later led to the development of glee clubs among German universities following the Napoleonic Wars, which began around the turn of the nineteenth century through 1815. “By 1855 hundreds of male glee clubs were to be found in the universities of Germany. They performed not only patriotic and student songs but music of the masters as well. Almost all academic fraternities of the universities maintained glee clubs, and professors sang as well as students. It is interesting to note that most students continued to sing with these organizations long after graduation. This swelled the memberships of many clubs, and in some instances organizations had more than two hundred members on their rolls.”20

The increase of male glee clubs in German universities is analogous to the development of collegiate male glee clubs in the United States, which saw a drastic influx following the years of the American Civil War (1861-65).

18 Ewan West, “Liedertafel,” Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online, available from http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/16620 (accessed April 22, 2010).

19 Geschichte des deutschen Männergesanges translates as “History of German Male Singing.”

20 Thomas, 26.

Many renowned musicians became involved in these choral organizations as conductors.

“E. T. A. Hoffman was the first director of the Berlin Jüngere Liedertafel and Richard Wagner directed the Dresden Liedertafel for two years.”21 Additionally, with the abundance of male choral groups that developed throughout the nineteenth century, composers became motivated to write in the male choral medium in a concerted effort to advance German song and poetry.

Perhaps the greatest single source of material for male voices is German Männerchor music written during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Literally thousands of scores poured forth from German music presses from the 1830’s and 40’s onward to satisfy the demand of Liedertafel and Männerchor groups. Even though the general quality was not high, almost every important German composer of the nineteenth century wrote some music for this medium. It is also interesting to note that American composers such as MacDowell, Chadwick, Foote, and Horatio Parker, who received their musical training in Germany, wrote many pieces for male chorus in the Männerchor tradition.22

As ascertained in J. Merrill Knapp’s statement above, many American composers wrote in this German tradition because many Männerchor organizations were developed in America around the middle of the nineteenth century. These early American traditions will be discussed in greater detail in the following chapter. Additionally, as the Liedertafel movement continued to expand throughout Germany and Austria into the mid-late nineteenth century, the songs of the

Männerchor tradition became increasingly characterized by patriotic sentiments. Song festivals, referred to as Sängerfeste, were established in an attempt to foster, encourage, and demonstrate nationalistic pride. In addition to the more common songs on subjects dealing with nature, love, and drinking, a surge of folk-like and patriotic choruses were often encouraged. Some of the more representative composers of the nineteenth century Liedertafel movement included Franz

21 Ibid., 25.

22 Knapp, vii.

Schubert (1797-1828), Robert Schumann (1810-56), Felix Mendelssohn (1809-47), Franz Liszt

(1811-86), and Anton Bruckner (1824-96).

With the formal organization and expansion of Liedertafel groups, Schubert emerged as a leading composer of Männerchor songs. Approximately two-thirds of his partsongs are for men’s voices, both with and without accompaniment, and represent a wide variety of voicing.

Schubert’s affection for poetry is evidenced not only in his well-known solo Lieder and song cycles, but also in his Männerchor songs, which are drawn from a large collection of poets.

Well-known poets whom he often set in his partsongs include Johann Matthesson (1681-1764),

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805), Friedrich

Rückert (1788-1866), and Heinrich Heine (1797-1856). At the same time, a number of his songs were based on the poetry of amateurs and friends, such as Franz von Schober (1796-1882). Over one hundred of Schubert’s songs exist in multiple settings. A unique harmonic and melodic language, along with creative and inventive accompaniments, often distinguishes his music. The frequent use of harmonic and tonal shifts is a compositional technique he employed to depict the nature and meaning of the poetic text. Many of his works are also typified by technical demands that exceed the abilities of the amateur singer, including high tessitura. His Vier Gesänge für vier Männerstimmen, Op. 17, is a collection that includes one of his most popular unaccompanied partsongs Die Nacht, No. 4. Examples of other familiar compositions include

Der Gondelfahrer (Op. 28), Die Nachtigall (Op. 11, No. 2), and Widerspruch (Op. 105, No. 1), each for four-part men and piano. Nachtgesang im Walde (Op. 139), written for four-part male chorus, is accompanied by four horns, while Gesang der Geister Über den Wassern (Op. 167) is scored for eight-part male chorus accompanied by strings of divided violas and cellos with double bass.

Only one of Mendelssohn’s four collections of partsongs was written specifically for male voices. His Sechs Lieder für vierstimmigen Männerchor (Op. 50) was written in 1840 and dedicated to the Leipzig singing societies. Though Mendelssohn did not write an abundance of music for male choirs, his study with Carl Zelter indicates that he would have been familiar with the Liedertafel movement. Mendelssohn’s most extended and only other composition for male voices published during his lifetime (1846) was An die Künstler (Op. 68) for four-part chorus and solo quartet accompanied by a thirteen-part brass choir and set to the poetry of Schiller. Two sets of men’s partsongs for four voices, Op. 75 and 76, were published posthumously including approximately twelve others without opus numbers. Like Schubert, Mendelssohn had a fondness for poetry, but rather than setting the music to illuminate specific words, the text was set to help convey the aesthetic experience of the music. Opus 50 includes the poetry of Goethe,

Eichendorff, and Heine. “The determining characteristic of his songs was the emphasis they placed on the composer as reader, that is, as the interpreter of poetry. This point of view later also applied to Schumann’s songs.”23

The life and works of Bruckner provide a wealth of information on the Liedertafel organizations of the nineteenth century. Though he is primarily remembered for his symphonies and sacred mixed-voiced vocal compositions, he frequently composed secular vocal pieces for

Liedertafel groups that remain a substantial component of the German male chorus tradition. His compositions for male voices cover the majority of his compositional career from An dem Feste in 1843 to his final work Das deutsche Lied in 1892. Nearly all of these compositions were written for specific Liedertafel groups or dedicated to friends and colleagues. Bruckner was associated with the Liedertafel group called Frohsinn in Linz beginning in 1856 as a singer. In

23 Douglass Seaton, ed., “With Words: Mendelssohn’s Vocal Songs,” in The Mendelssohn Companion (Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2001), 661.

1860, he was elected as conductor and led the Frohsinn to great acclaim. Following a performance by Frohsinn in front of nearly 12,000 in attendance at the 1861 Deutsches

Sängerfest in Nürnberg, Johann Herbeck, the well-known conductor of the Weiner

Männergesangverein at this time, “rushed up to Bruckner afterwards and put his arms around him, saying, ‘I cannot prepare a chorus any better than that.’”24

In 1893, Bruckner was asked to compose a work for the fiftieth anniversary of the Vienna

Male Choral Society. From this commission came Helgoland, one of his most difficult, mature, and patriotic compositions for male chorus. Das deutsche Lied, written one year earlier in 1892, is one of his shorter pieces for male chorus but includes parts for horns, trumpets, trombones, and bass tuba. His other large scale patriotic chorus for male voices and accompanied by brass is

Germanenzug, composed thirty years earlier in 1863 as an entry in a composition contest for which he won first prize.25 Inveni David, composed in 1868, is representative of his Latin sacred motets for male chorus. It is scored for four-part men with four trombones. Bruckner made valuable contributions to the German Männerchor tradition adding to the quality of repertoire with significant works that are still programmed by male choruses of the twenty-first century. By the end of his life, the German male chorus repertoire had evolved from simple partsongs to more extended works with orchestral accompaniment. This progression is also exemplified by two significant compositions by Johannes Brahms (1833-97). These are Rinaldo, Op. 50, a dramatic cantata for a four-part male chorus and tenor solo with orchestra, and Alto Rhapsodie,

Op. 53, for alto solo and four-part male chorus with orchestra. Both works were based on the poetry of Goethe and published in 1869 and 1870, respectively.

24 Theodore Allbrecht, “Anton Bruckner and the Liedertafel Movement,” American Choral Review (January 1980), 13.

25 John Williamson, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Bruckner (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 74.

Whether the German male choral tradition that developed in the nineteenth century is viewed as an outgrowth of the catch, glee, and partsong traditions cultivated in England or as a resurgence associated with the Minnesinger and Meistersinger epochs, choral singing in these nations was a significant part of life among men. Social fellowship, camaraderie, nationalistic pride, and the advancement of the male choral art was an important underlying mission in the numerous catch clubs, glee clubs, and Männergesangverein in this period of male choral singing.

These organizations were prevalent in most communities and universities, as well as among the military ranks. The increasing number and popularity of organized male singing societies witnessed by these Western European countries resulted in a remarkable advancement and heightened awareness within the history of male choruses. Associated singing festivals and composition contests, along with the large number of composers writing for this genre, aided in strengthening this ever-growing tradition. The considerable impact of the English and German male choral traditions unquestionably influenced their emerging American counterparts as a natural consequence of the expanding American nation.

CHAPTER III

THE AMERICAN TRADITION:

MALE SINGING SOCIETIES ESTABLISHED IN AMERICA

The inclusions of German-American Männerchore and American male singing societies presented in this chapter are selective. Many groups that have developed and prospered for several years are excluded from this study. The intent is to provide historical information on representative male choruses established in the United States that were influenced by the German societies, which also impacted the growth of glee clubs among American colleges and universities.

The German-American Societies

The organization of male singing societies in America began to flourish during the mid- nineteenth century. As the numbers of immigrants on American shores continued to increase during the first half of the nineteenth century, many of the ideologies and societal traditions of

Europe began to permeate the fabric of the society and population of the United States. “The first wave [of immigrants] began shortly after the Napoleonic Wars ended . . . . In the 1820’s the arrivals totaled 151,000, and by 1833 they increased to 559,000. During the 1840’s these figures were dwarfed by a wave of 1,713,000 who came from practically every country in Europe.”26

The ingenuity of these groups, along with their cultural, educational, and musical experiences certainly broadened the musical palette to which Colonial America had been accustomed from the early seventeenth century.

26 Thomas, 38-39. Thomas’ information was based on his research found in Maldwyn Allen Jones, American Immigration (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1960), 93.

Among the innumerable trades and skills that immigrants possessed, many educated and skilled musicians helped advance the organization, growth, and development of community, professional, and educational music ensembles. German immigrants were the first to organize male singing societies during this time in America’s history. They were able to continue the fellowship and camaraderie that had been provided by male singing societies in their native country. Moreover, the organization of such groups represented their custom of embracing nationalistic pride. Many of these groups initially gave performances just for private audiences, and only later would they open concerts to the paying public. Their repertoire featured many of the compositions written by the Männerchor composers in Germany. As the German-American societies of Männerchore evolved, numerous groups began programming works by nineteenth and eventually twentieth century American composers of classical, folk, and popular songs.

The earliest known establishment of a German male choral group in the United States occurred in 1835. Founded in Philadelphia, this organization consisted of twelve members and was referred to as the Philadelphia Gesangverein, or “song society.” From the inception of this small organization to the present day, Männergesangverein have migrated and flourished in many of our nation’s larger towns and cities. Some of the Männerchor groups that thrived during this early period of male choral ensembles in America are presented below. Other Männerchor ensembles have enjoyed rich histories and have successfully advanced the art of male choral singing in the United States since the mid-nineteenth century.

Another early German-American male singing society during this period was the

Liederkranz of New York City,27 which was founded in 1847 and was comprised of twenty-five men. William Osborne cites an 1894 historical study of singing societies that claims 150

27 The group’s original name was the Deutscher Liederkranz der Stadt New York.

enthusiastic men were in attendance at the first announced meeting of the group, but when mandated to pay a membership fee of twenty-five cents, the number of men quickly dwindled.

However, it was only a matter of time before the Liederkranz of New York City swelled in membership. By 1860, the group was an incorporated organization with a membership of over

500 members that grew rapidly to over 1,500 by 1894. “Apparently the group flourished under the leadership of piano maker William Steinway, who served as its president for much of the time from 1867 until his death in 1896.”28 For over 160 years, this organization has maintained a rich musical heritage with an exuberant membership and active performance schedules in addition to its mission of collaborative events and the support of young artists. The Liederkranz made an important contribution to the musical community by starting an annual vocal competition in 1951 that has been dedicated to this important cause. “Many have gone on to careers with the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Opera, and the world’s leading opera houses. Some past and recent winners include Gene Boucher, Dominic Cossa, Justino Diaz,

Renée Fleming, Batyah Godfrey, Kelly Kaduce, . . . and Deborah Voigt.”29 From its earliest years, the encouragement and advancement of artistic merit has been an important part of their mission.

“By 1849 an embryonic gathering of five midwestern societies in Cincinnati laid the foundation for what became known as the North-American Sängerbund, which held Sängerfests in cities ranging from Pittsburgh and Buffalo to Chicago, St. Louis and New Orleans. The twenty-fourth such gathering, celebrated in Milwaukee during four days of July 1886, collected

28 William Osborne, American Singing Societies and Their Partsongs: Ten Prominent American Composers of the Genre (1860 – 1940) and the Seminal Singing Societies that Performed the Repertory (Lawton, OK: American Choral Directors Association, Monograph No. 8, 1994), 6.

29 Quoted from the official website of the Liederkranz of New York City, available from http://www.liederkranznycity.org/history.asp (accessed June 15, 2010).

eighty-four societies with a total of 2,550 participants . . . .”30 Likewise, competitions began in

Philadelphia in 1850 further enhancing the cause of male choral singing.

The Columbus Maennerchor in Ohio was founded in 1848 with an initial membership of twelve men. This organization is one of the oldest American Männerchore still in existence today and maintains an active roster of approximately fifty men. “Though the chorus was first formed by German Immigrants, and for many years, membership was restricted to men of

German descent, the membership has broadened to include all ethnic groups who share a love of the German Music we work so hard to preserve for our community.”31 The founding of this organization in Ohio within a year of the establishment of the Liederkranz of New York City, over 500 miles away, gives evidence of the surge of immigrants moving across the country and the popularity and importance of such male singing societies within their culture and heritage.

Another Ohio-based German-American male singing society was the Heights Männerchor founded in 1873 in Cleveland. However, in 1967, this organization along with the Schwäbischer

Sängerbund, also founded in Cleveland in 1885, joined together in alliance as the Cleveland

Männerchor, which still enjoys success as an organization. These organizations, along with others like them, strive to promote a German tradition of song that enriches the ever-expanding and diverse society of the twenty-first century.

Two additional German-American male singing societies organized around the mid- nineteenth century are the Arion Society of New York and the Arion Society of Brooklyn. The

Arion Society of New York was founded in 1854 and has a unique, somewhat humorous, historical account of its beginning. Originally, this group of men held membership in the

30 Osborne, 3.

31 Quoted from the official website of The Columbus Maennerchor, available from http://www.maennerchor.com/index.html (accessed June 15, 2010).

Liederkranz of New York City. “A dispute about a substandard meal of red cabbage and sausage led to the defection of thirteen members of the Liederkranz who, with an added recruit

. . . became the Arion Society of New York. [The group] flourished until declining membership following World War I forced reunion with the parent society on 11 March 1920.”32 However, the society enjoyed many years of great music-making over their almost seventy-year life-span.

Prominent conductors who held leadership positions with this group of men include Frank Van der Stucken, who served the Arion Society of New York from 1883-94 when he left to become the conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. The concerts they presented at home and abroad attracted thousands. “Under his baton they became the first American musical group to invade Europe, with an extensive tour during the summer of 1892.”33 Osborne also notes that part of the group’s core repertoire included four American songs arranged by Van der Stucken:

Old Folks at Home, My Old Kentucky Home, Dixie’s Land, and The Star-Spangled Banner, which were published in German and English editions. “The Arion’s last conductor was Carl

Hahn (1874-1929), who, despite his Germanic name, had been trained at the Cincinnati College of Music, where his father, a flutist, was a member of the faculty.”34

The Arion Society of Brooklyn was founded in 1865. Whereas the Arion Society of New

York was forced to rejoin the Liederkranz of New York City in order to survive after sixty-six years as an independent organization, Brooklyn’s Arion Society thrived for over a hundred years until its demise in 1983 due to an increasing lack of interest among German immigrants. This organization also benefited from the leadership of well-trained and respected conductors, such as guest conductor Franz Abt (1819-85), a notable German composer and choral conductor. Abt’s

32 Osborne, 10.

33 Ibid., 13.

34 Ibid., 14.

opus includes more than 3,000 compositions, many of which were written to enhance the repertoire available for male choruses. The Arion Society of Brooklyn also participated in concert tours and competitions winning numerous awards at Sängerfeste around the United

States and across Europe.

The American Societies

As the largest single group of immigrants from one nation landed on the Eastern seaboard, the number of German male singing societies grew as these newcomers settled into new communities across the continent. The ensuing years of establishing recognizable music- making organizations within German communities across the United States allowed them to maintain a sense of pride in the customs of their home country while establishing a new identity in a new world. The ideas and philosophies shared by the German-American musical communities led to the subsequent formation of male singing societies among the native-born citizens of America. Additionally, the local, national, and international concert tours and singing competitions that the German societies established in major U.S. cities, all contributed to an enthusiastic fascination with the movement, garnering high interest from the American populace.

As such, many of the newly-founded American male choral organizations were largely structured on the missions of those already established in the German-American societies. Early

American male choruses presented both private and public concerts based on the music of the

German Männerchore and were often characterized by possessing the ideals of actively promoting fellowship and camaraderie among friends embodied in the earliest singing societies in Germany. A number of the American male singing societies organized in the mid- to late- nineteenth century are presented below.

The Mendelssohn Glee Club represents the oldest non-collegiate American male singing society for amateur male voices that is still in existence today. Founded in New York City in

1866, the organization embraces a heritage that lays claim to being the second oldest American musical organization, preceded only by the New York Philharmonic, the oldest symphony orchestra in the United States, which was founded in 1842. Although the first collegiate male glee clubs were instituted prior to the organization of community male choruses, the first in 1858 at Harvard University, the Mendelssohn Glee Club and others that soon followed helped in the advancement of male choral singing among communities and universities throughout America.

Initially comprised of eight members, the group gave its first concert in 1867 and was recognized on the program as the “Amateur Musical Association” and the “Male Voice Quartette Club.” In addition to private concerts, the club made cultural and social concert appearances in and around

New York City. The first song programmed at the Club’s first titled private concert in the spring of that same year was the Turkish Drinking Song by Mendelssohn. This song has been a staple in the core repertoire of the Club’s nearly 150-year history. The Club also performed music by many other German composers including Schubert, Schumann, and Liszt among others.

However, the music was often performed with English translations of the original German text.

Their active performance repertoire today still includes some of these musical traditions, as well as a variety of spirituals, folk, and traditional arrangements and popular and Broadway songs.

The Mendelssohn Glee Club’s second conductor Joseph Mosenthal (1834-96) was instrumental in advancing the artistic merit of musical performance, a philosophy that the group still embodies more than one hundred years later. Mosenthal was a German-American violinist and choral conductor, who led the club from 1867 until his death in 1896.

Perfection of technique was almost a fetish with Mosenthal, and through him the Club came to have an abandon, an absolute freedom from technical restraint and a vitality that electrified its audiences. His style at rehearsal was infamous. The Club would stand. Mosenthal would shout, pound the bare floor with his foot, then, in despair at the lack of results from his efforts, he would throw his baton into a corner and turn his back on the chorus. The singers would receive the outburst in undismayed silence and before long Mosenthal would retrieve his baton and work would start again. A single voice would stand out and he’d look up and cry “No Solos, Gentlemen”; and when the men would lag he'd call out “Time, Gentlemen, No Sentiment.” The atmosphere is well-captured in a cartoon by Charles G. Bush [1842-1909], who joined the Club in 1867, and later was honored as the “Dean of American Cartoonists.”35

The Mendelssohn Glee Club strove to promote musical culture along with social pleasures. Though the majority of the Club’s concerts were private, it eventually began allowing the public to purchase tickets after club members invited their own family and friends. From the early to mid 1900s, the club frequently programmed concerts featuring only American composers including Horatio Parker (1863-1919); Edward MacDowell (1860-1908); Harry T.

Burleigh (1866-1949); Clarence Dickinson (1873-1969), a former conductor of the Club from

1909-13; Archibald T. Davison (1883-1961); and Randall Thompson (1899-1984). In an effort to foster the growth of new literature for male choruses, the Mendelssohn Glee Club has sponsored numerous composition competitions dating as early as 1880 awarding a series of three prizes to

William Wallace Gilchrist (1846-1916) during its first decade of sponsoring the contests. This effort, and many others like it, was analogous to the manner in which The Noblemen and

Gentlemen’s Catch Club of London made efforts to improve the musical worth of the English partsongs in the mid-eighteenth century. Gilchrist was a notable American composer and conductor active in Philadelphia for the majority of his professional career. His legacy also lies with the founding of the Philadelphia Mendelssohn Club in 1874, originally an eight-voice men’s chorus, that he conducted until 1914. Although first comprised of only men, this organization

35 Quoted from the official website of The Mendelssohn Glee Club, available from http://www.mgcnyc.org/history.htm (accessed June 15, 2010).

soon became a mixed choral ensemble in the late-nineteenth century, and still thrives as a large symphonic chorus of nearly 150 mixed voices under the baton of Artistic Director Alan Harler, who has been with the organization since 1988.

The Orpheus Club of Philadelphia was founded in 1872. Two groups may have influenced the formation of this group, the first being the charter of the Gesangverein of

Philadelphia established in 1835 as the earliest German-American male chorus in the United

States. The Mendelssohn Glee Club of New York City also likely influenced the Orpheus Club of Philadelphia. In 1876 and again in 1895, the Orpheus Club collaborated in multiple concerts with both Mendelssohn Clubs under the direction of their founding conductor Michael H. Cross.

Horatio Parker conducted the Orpheus Club from 1907-14.36

Two other significant American male singing societies established in the mid-nineteenth century were the Apollo Club of Boston in 1871 and the Apollo Club of Brooklyn in 1877. The

Mendelssohn Glee Club of New York City directly impacted the development of the Apollo

Club of Boston in 1871 after giving a concert to critical acclaim that same year. Following in the traditions of the early American male choruses, these groups primarily performed repertoire associated with the composers of the Männerchor tradition. However, the Apollo Club of

Brooklyn, whose inaugural conductor was Dudley Buck (1839-1909), programmed compositions of American composers, including his own, more frequently than the Boston club. “A predictable

German bias is evident in the first formal concerts by the Apollo Club in the Boston Music Hall .

. . [in] 1872: . . . Lang himself37 was the only American represented until Dudley Buck’s The

36 Osborne, 32.

37 Benjamin J. Lang (1837-1905) was a prominent American pianist, organist, teacher, composer, and conductor in the Boston area. He was a charter member of the Apollo Club of Boston and served as its conductor for a number of years through 1901.

Nun of Nidaros was [performed in] 1880.38 Throughout the celebrated histories of these two clubs in the evolution of American male singing societies, they have been involved in numerous civic, religious, and professional engagements in promoting musical and social enrichment opportunities among their members and communities.

The Singers’ Club of Cleveland has been in existence for nearly 120 years and celebrates a heritage dating to 1891. As an outreach initiative, the group founded a scholarship program for local voice students to receive stipends in order to continue their training in singing and music education. As part of their mission, the group regularly commissions new works to enhance the male choral repertoire and has collaborated with other choral and orchestral ensembles, including the Cleveland Orchestra. This organization is currently under the leadership of Melvin Unger. 39

Similar to the Mendelssohn Glee Club of New York City, the University Glee Club of

New York City was founded in 1894 in an effort to encourage continued singing by men of all ages striving for the highest level of musical excellence. However, only graduates of universities and colleges or students who had completed at least one academic year at an institution of higher education could hold membership in the University Glee Club.40 Only five men have served as its conductor since its establishment beginning with Arthur D. Woodruff (1853-1934), who served the club from 1894 until 1924. He was also a “member of and Mosenthal’s interim successor as conductor of The Mendelssohn Glee Club [of New York City].”41 Marshall

Bartholomew succeeded Woodruff, who established many of the group’s early traditions and

38 Osborne, 34.

39 Dr. Melvin P. Unger is the Director of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute at Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music where he is Professor of Music History and conductor of the B-W Singers. He has authored four books including the award-winning Handbook to Bach's Sacred Cantata Texts published by Scarecrow Press in 1996. He also completed an Historical Dictionary of Choral Music published by Scarecrow Press in 2010.

40 Osborne, 30.

41 Ibid.

repertoire, for a short period until 1927. Bartholomew was conducting the Yale Glee Club at the same time.

While excellent music making was an expected outcome of this group, they also enjoyed social libations as many male singing organizations have enjoyed since their early establishment in England. An account from Phil Brett, a founding member of the University Glee Club, is comically printed on the Club’s current website addressing some of the group’s rehearsals during their first years.

The custom of that time was to have a keg of beer in the room adjoining the rehearsal hall. First the tenors were rehearsed while the basses drank beer. Then, the process was reversed; the basses tried to sing while the tenors wet their whistles. After this was over, Arthur Woodruff put all the parts together and attempted to finish the rehearsal. You may imagine the results! At the end of each rehearsal, the policeman on the beat came in, had his two glasses of beer, and said “Good night, God bless you, gentleman!” and left us to make as much noise as we pleased.42

Francisco Núñez has been conducting the University Glee Club since its 2000 season. Currently, there are more than 150 men singing in the group with additional support and involvement of associate non-singing members and retired members. “Over the last century we have become considerably more visible and more diverse–we now have representatives from 68 colleges and universities, up from 11 when we started. Indeed, it might be fair to say that we have evolved from a group of elite members who were singers into a group of elite singers who are members.”43 The University Glee Club presents diverse repertoire that branches into many genres including classical, sacred, secular, traditional spirituals, folk songs, and more contemporary works of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, as well as college and student songs that have their roots in many of the collegiate and university glee clubs in America.

42 Quoted from the official website of the University Glee Club of New York City, available from http://www.ugcofnyc.org/ (accessed June 15, 2010).

43 Ibid.

The rise of male choral singing in American communities continued to flourish throughout the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. Some of the historical male choruses that were established in the first decade of the twentieth century include the

Mendelssohn Club of Kingston, New York (1903); The Choral Club of Hartford of West

Hartford, Connecticut (1907); The Orpheus Club of Ridgewood, New Jersey (1909); and the

Mendelssohn Club of Albany, New York (1909). Membership among the male singing societies in communities across the nation embraces men from all professions who share a common interest in performing great choral music for men’s voices. The cross-fertilization of the Western

European traditions associated with the English glees, catches, and partsongs and the German

Männerchore is at the center of the founding and continued development of male singing societies in America, which impacted the interest and expansion of collegiate male glee clubs across the nation.

CHAPTER IV

THE FIRST COLLEGIATE MALE GLEE CLUBS: HISTORIES AND TRADITIONS

The Arrival of a New Tradition

Male choral singing in the United States quickly found a foothold on college campuses influenced in part by community male choral groups first established by German-American immigrants in communities throughout the Northeast and Midwest. While the first prominent collegiate male glee clubs were founded at Harvard University in 1858 followed by the

University of Michigan in 1859 and Yale University in 1861, an interest in collegiate singing was certainly heightened in the years following the American Civil War (1861-65). Singing among the various regiments was often a part of the recreational activities the soldiers enjoyed.

That a large number of soldiers of German descent were in the service of the Union armies was influential in the establishment of singing groups within their ranks. “It is estimated that over

200,000 German soldiers served the Union cause during the War.”44 This is evident in the historical accounts of the Liederkranz of New York City with over one hundred men of their club members serving in the Union army.45 As soldiers returned home at the end of the Civil War in

1865, many pursued a college education and brought with them a continued interest in singing. It was in this manner that the progression and development of collegiate male glee clubs across the

United States began to evolve. “The decade of the sixties found the following college and university male glee clubs in existence: Kenyon, 1866; Hampton Institute, 1868; Williams,

Boston College and Dartmouth in 1869; Wooster, 1870; New York University, 1873; Princeton,

44 Thomas, 43.

45 Historical accounts of the Liederkranz of New York City can be found on their official website, available from http://www.liederkranznycity.org/history.asp (accessed June 18, 2010).

and Ohio State in 1874; and Hamilton and the University of Rochester in 1875.”46 The rapid development of collegiate glee clubs shared a parallel expansion with the community singing clubs discussed in the previous chapter. Both traditions of collegiate and community men’s singing societies certainly had a reciprocal influence on the advancement of the male choral art.

Some collegiate and university glee clubs were founded prior to the establishment of community clubs in the same city. The Apollo Club of Boston was founded in 1871, two years after the Glee

Club at Boston College. One could hypothesize that the Glee Club at Boston College influenced the founding of the Apollo Club and the Mendelssohn Glee Club of New York City, which was discussed in the previous chapter. Many collegiate male glee clubs were well-established student organizations prior to the creation of official music programs as academic disciplines adhering to the evolving standards of higher education. This is evident in the first three universities that established a collegiate male glee club, an effort that was replicated among many other colleges and universities in the United States. Harvard University, established in 1636, is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Harvard incorporated its first music course into its curriculum in 1855 three years prior to the inception of its Glee Club. It was more than

200 years later after its founding that Harvard recognized its first professor of music in John

Knowles Paine (1839-1906) in 1875.47 It also has been documented that music was a great aspect of student life at Harvard prior to the official organization of the Glee Club. “In the early years of

Harvard College, music in student life came primarily through singing: at chapel service, college ceremonies, and as entertainment. Concert music is first documented in the 18th century when at

46 Thomas, 44.

47 Elliot Forbes, A History of Music at Harvard to 1972 (Harvard University Press, 1988), 16. Paine began his academic tenure at Harvard in 1862 when he was appointed as an instructor teaching classes in sacred music and served as organist and director of music, 11.

a reception given for Governor Hutchinson in 1771, the ‘young gentlemen of the college’ performed an anthem ‘set to music.’”48 While the University of Michigan was founded in 1817, its School of Music49 was instituted in 1880, twenty-one years after the establishment of its Glee

Club. Yale University, founded in 1701, did not formally incorporate music into its academic curriculum until 1894.

While most of the earliest glee clubs are the oldest campus music organizations, they often also are the oldest student organization on their campus. Membership in these clubs was typically comprised of undergraduate students from a majority of the schools and colleges within their respective university, which is a shared commonality among many glee clubs in the twenty- first century. Student leadership often is a strong component in the structure of glee clubs following the heritage of past generations of being organized, led, and conducted by the students themselves. Another aspect shared by early glee clubs was the inclusion of small instrumental ensembles into their organization, most often mandolin and banjo clubs. While the mandolin and banjo groups are no longer a component of glee clubs today, many glee clubs still hold to the tradition of including a variety of small, select vocal groups. Well-known groups associated with each of the first three universities to establish male glee clubs are Glee Club Lite at Harvard

University, The Friars at the University of Michigan, and the Whiffenpoofs at Yale University.

While the historical institution of collegiate glee clubs certainly was influenced by the initial and prolific German-American singing traditions established in the United States, the early repertoire of collegiate male glee clubs largely consisted of light-hearted, humorous, and popular college songs. Although this was in direct opposition to the repertoire performed by the

48 Ibid.

49 The University of Michigan School of Music adopted a new title in 2006 as The School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

community male choruses, it was a means of establishing a tradition that embodied school spirit and camaraderie among friends. By the late nineteenth century, the repertoire of many collegiate clubs began to appeal to a wider audience and included compositions of the German Männerchor and English glee club traditions and introduced some of the new compositions of American composers. Musical and artistic merit began transforming the clubs into organizations with high standards of excellence. However, the entire public did not embrace this improvement in musical and artistic expression. An unidentified author wrote an article in the January 6, 1931 edition of the New York Evening Post,50 which addressed much-needed attention to reforming the tradition of many collegiate glee clubs to the eras that embraced the life of an undergraduate student and not that of an elaborate and artistic choral society, which was ostensibly beginning to permeate the collegiate glee club movement.

College boys are not professional singers. The Mendelssohn and other choral societies meet a fine public need. But the undergraduate should not be called upon to live up to their standards of excellence. More than that, the college glee club with college tunes and college humor and college tenderness fills a niche in life that is worth the filling. Perhaps it is all sophomoric, it is all adolescent. But this phase of life exists. And however unimportant it may seem musically, nevertheless it deserves expression. We don’t know what can be done about it. Harvard started this heresy a number of years ago when it tried to lift the undergraduate singer up into abstract musical realms where he does not belong. Mr. Bartholomew at Yale has made it worse. They are artistically wrong. They don’t do the thing that they are supposed to do and the thing which is their only justification. They don’t express the life of the college as revealed in music.51

While some music critics and enthusiasts shared and published negative images of collegiate glee clubs, a phenomenal transformation of musical expression began to evolve bringing the seemingly incapable sophomoric and adolescent men of university ranks into the

50 The New York Evening Post, founded in 1801 by Alexander Hamilton (ca. 1755-1804), is now called the New York Post.

51 Julian S. Mason, ed., “College Glee Clubs,” New York Evening Post (January 6, 1931).

realm of artistic merit. At the same time, glee clubs still enjoyed the beloved traditions of their college through a wide variety of university songs and popular melodies, which ultimately enhanced concert programs through a diversity of repertoire. Many collegiate glee clubs today still provide entertaining and musically-enriched performances while continuing to honor, embrace, and celebrate their university’s rich history keeping alive the tradition of collegiate pride through song. A timeless tradition of camaraderie and musical excellence can be seen throughout the evolution of collegiate glee clubs of the mid-nineteenth century. The individual histories and traditions associated with the glee clubs at Harvard University, the University of

Michigan, and Yale University, accounted in brief detail in the remainder of this chapter, positively influenced the social, educational, and artistic value of the collegiate male glee club movement over the course of the next 150 years.

Harvard Glee Club

The Harvard Glee Club celebrated its sesquicentennial in March 2008 and has been recognized as the grandfather of collegiate male glee clubs in America since its early beginnings.

The 152-year-old organization is often considered to be the premier collegiate men’s glee club in the country. It was the first group to transform a collegiate male glee club from a self-sustained student organization to an established ensemble under the direction of a permanent, full-time faculty musical advisor and conductor. This effort was a turning point in the history of the Glee

Club, a decision that would ultimately expand the scope of its musical abilities for years to come and further influence the evolution of the male glee club movement to one of growing prominence throughout the twentieth century.

During the first sixty-one years of its history, student led the Glee Club. Since acquiring the artistic leadership of a full-time academic professor, the Glee Club has only had five conductors in its long history. These conductors and their respective years of leadership are

Archibald T. Davison (1919-33), G. Wallace Woodworth (1933-58), Elliot Forbes (1958-70), F.

John Adams (1970-78), and Jameson N. Marvin (1978-2010). At the conclusion of the 2009-10 academic year, Marvin retired as Director of Choral Activities for the Holden Choirs and as a

Senior Lecturer on Music at Harvard University. Andrew Clark became the Harvard Glee Club’s sixth conductor at the start of the 2010 academic season.

The introduction of this chapter cites singing among the men of Harvard University nearly one hundred years prior to the establishment of the Glee Club in 1858. By 1808, several

Harvard students interested in singing formed the University Pierian Sodality. During the first half of the nineteenth century, a number of small male singing groups were established although they existed only for brief periods of time.52 When the Glee Club was formed in 1858, the group maintained the student-directed format with a selective membership that lasted through the first two decades of the twentieth century. “The Club prospered during the sixties and within several years the membership increased from six to sixteen. Harvard’s enrollments soared and complaints were soon voiced that the glee club rejected some of the best voices in the College.”53

In the late 1880s, the Glee Club joined forces with the Mandolin Club and the Banjo Club and began traveling and providing musical entertainment for a variety of social gatherings. The majority of repertoire performed by the Glee Club during this time consisted of popular and college songs, appealing to collegiate life, as it was not popular for a social student organization

52 Thomas, 48.

53 Ibid., 49.

to sing repertoire from the classical genre. When Davison was asked by students to serve as the group’s musical advisor in 1912, his relationship with the Glee Club unsuspectingly began a new tradition in male collegiate singing. Davison soon became regarded as one of the most influential figures in the advancement and evolution of American collegiate male glee clubs.

To the late “Doc” Davison, as the students called him, rightfully belongs the title of the first “great” in American college male glee club singing. It is the consensus in all college glee club circles that Davison was the first to make the male glee club a respectable musical organization, . . . . Davison accepted the Glee Club’s invitation on condition that he not be paid for his services. The members knew that they had a bargain, but little did they realize that this man was to make a contribution to male glee club singing which would make him famous.54

Not only would the work of Davison make him a highly-regarded individual, but also the distinguished reputation that the Harvard Glee Club garnered under his leadership has continued through successive generations. Prior to Davison’s work as conductor of the Glee Club, it was a socially exclusive group led by a group of elected students. In 1919, the Glee Club officially separated itself from the student-led social organization and asked Davison to accept the position as their new conductor. Over his twenty-one year affiliation with the Glee Club, membership flourished to over two hundred singers as Davison dedicated his time and efforts to improving the standard of performance and increasing the awareness and appreciation for music of a higher quality. His first steps as advisor were to encourage the students to consider a more inclusive group, thus increasing the membership, and to eliminate the common glee club songs in favor of a more demanding and advanced quality of literature. Gradually, Davison introduced partsongs of the European tradition and eventually influenced the group to concentrate on music of greater artistic value.

54 Ibid., 51.

Davison was well acquainted with the better English glees and German Männerchore music, but he felt that such music had its limitations. Inspired by all of this interest in the quality of music, he immediately set about the task of transcribing familiar mixed chorus works of the masters for four-part male voices. Over a period of twenty years Davison produced more than one hundred and fifty of these arrangements.55

Many of his musical arrangements for male voices are contained within the six-volume set of partsongs for the Harvard Glee Club published by the E. C. Schirmer Music Company.56 The contents include a wide variety of compositions from simplistic folksongs, madrigals, and chorales to more complex and elaborate works spanning centuries of great composers in the canon of Western music. “The collection makes available to all glee clubs and other choral groups a mass of music that has been chosen with great scholarship and catholicity of taste, and above all with an unerring sense for distinction in the most varied styles.”57 Some of the representative composers that exhibit varied historical genres of music included in Davison’s published arrangements are Josquin des Prez (ca. 1450-1521), Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

(ca. 1525-94), Thomas Morley (ca. 1557-1602), John Wilbye (1574-1638), Johann Sebastian

Bach (1685-1750), George Friedrich Handel (1685-1759), Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827),

Charles-François Gounod (1818-93), Johannes Brahms (1833-97), and Antonin Dvořák (1841-

1904) among many others. Specific examples of some arrangements are Bach’s “Crucifixus” from the Mass in B-Minor, Beethoven’s “Hallelujah Chorus” from Christ on the Mount of

Olives, Handel’s “Hallelujah, Amen” from Judas Maccabeus, Lotti’s Crucifixus, and Hassler’s

Cantate Domino. Though popular and college songs have remained an important tradition of the

55 Ibid., 54.

56 The official title of this collection arranged by Davison is entitled “Harvard University Glee Club Collection of Part Songs for Men’s Voices,” and is published by E. C. Schirmer Music Company in The Concord Series of Music and Books on the Teaching of Music.

57 Daniel Gregory Mason, preface, in “Harvard University Glee Club Collection of Part Songs for Men’s Voices,” Volume I, arranged by Dr. Archibald T. Davison, (Boston, MA: E. C. Schirmer Music Company, 1922).

Glee Club since Davison’s direction, Davison guided the men toward a higher choral aesthetic by programming a wide array of valuable music from the Renaissance to modern eras.

Davison was also a visionary in embarking on numerous performance tours not only throughout the East Coast and Midwest but abroad as well. Although the Glee Club was not the first collegiate glee club to travel abroad, its concertizing tours elevated the presence of the Glee

Club around the world bringing them fame as ambassadors of collegiate male glee clubs. The

Amherst College Glee Club of Massachusetts, founded in 1865, is the first collegiate glee club claiming to travel abroad with a concert tour throughout many cities in England in 1894.58

HGC became one of the first American college choruses to concertize in Europe when it accepted the invitation of the French government for an extensive tour during June and July of 1921, performances at sites including major concert halls in major cities and a World War memorial at Strasbourg Cathedral. Not only was this Tour documented by almost daily reports in the French and American press, but it also inspired the writing of new pieces of men's choral music specifically for HGC by two young French composers: Poulenc's Chanson a boire (allegedly based on a Tour reception for HGC) and Milhaud’s Psaume 121.59

Another important contribution Davison made was the planning of collaborative concerts with other choral ensembles to present great works for mixed chorus by master composers. This effort was in conformity with his vision of enabling the Glee Club to perform music of lasting value, thus supplementing the music education and experiences offered at the university. As early as 1913, Davison began to combine the Glee Club with the Radcliffe Choral Society, a collegiate women’s choir at Harvard founded in 1899, to present Christmas carols in joint concerts. Although initial impressions of this co-ed collaboration were negative among many

58 Thorson, 25.

59 Quoted from the official website of the Harvard Glee Club, “History of the Harvard Glee Club,” contributed by Dr. Bernard Kreger, available from http://www.harvardgleeclub.org/info/history (accessed March 28, 2010).

university officials and alumni, Davison continued this collaborative partnership with the

Radcliffe Choral Society to facilitate even greater accomplishments.

A major factor favoring Davison in his reform was the sober maturity of the veterans who returned from World War I impatient with the Glee Club's rowdiness. Another was the University Chapel Choir, for as Organist, he had control over repertoire. When at Christmas 1913 he introduced some Radcliffe singers into the choir, President Lowell warned him sternly not to do it again, but when the beautifully varied tone of a mixed chorus reappeared the following year, Lowell remained silent and thereafter supported Davison unswervingly.60

By 1917, the two combined choral ensembles were invited to perform large choral-orchestral works with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1881, in a collaborative initiative that remained prominent for much of the twentieth century. Since 1917, the Glee Club has enjoyed collaborations with world-renowned conductors and orchestras. Most notable among these is the

American premier of Igor Stravinsky’s (1882-1971) neo-classical opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex in

1928 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which they also later recorded under the baton of

Leonard Bernstein.

The collaborative concerts and performance tours, enriched with the music of lasting value, undeniably elevated the presence and status of the Glee Club around the world. In addition to the above quoted compositions of French composers Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) and Darius

Milhaud (1892-1974) that were written in 1922 for the Glee Club, other notable composers began writing original compositions for male voices specifically for the group. Representative composers, many of whom were educated or served as professors at Harvard and who were commissioned by the Glee Club or wrote works specifically for the group during the early- to mid-twentieth century include Leonard Bernstein (1918-90), Elliot Carter (b. 1908), Irving Fine

60 William A. Weber, “Archibald T. Davison: Faith in Good Music” The Harvard Crimson (February 17, 1961), available from http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1961/2/17/archibald-t-davison-faith-in-good/ (accessed June 28, 2010).

(1914-62), Gustav Holst (1874-1934), Walter Piston (1894-1976), and Randall Thompson (1899-

1984).

Davison’s commitment to music education, musical aptitude, leadership, and vision advanced the standards and expectations associated with the Glee Club. Furthermore, his contributions and accomplishments in advancing the education and performance standards have had a lasting influence on the historical evolution of collegiate male glee clubs across America.

Many other collegiate glee clubs have followed Davison’s ideologies in providing meaningful experiences that explore, embrace, and expand educational opportunities and artistic greatness.

His efforts helped lead to the eventual inclusion of male choruses in the academic curriculum in many universities. “It was during that time [1920s and 1930s] that the glee club [movement] was rising to the status of chorus rather than club. More and more college officials began recognizing and accepting the genre. . . . , the quality of literature being performed by collegiate male choruses contributed a great deal to their acceptance among learned college professors.”61 In the

November 1922 edition of Century, author Frederick L. Allen in his article “Reforming the Glee

Club” wrote,

Recently the precedent set at Harvard has begun to have its effects elsewhere. “If the movement spreads,” wrote Daniel Gregory Mason not long ago, “it is not too much to say that it will in a few generations transform our entire musical life. To set young people to making good music for themselves is fundamental. It is placing something else, something better, in that vacuum that nowadays rag-time, jazz, and the ‘canned music’ of mechanical instruments rush in to fill.”62

When Davison retired from conducting the Glee Club in 1933, his successor G. Wallace

Woodworth began his tenure with the group as conductor, but he had been associated with the

Glee Club from 1921 serving as an accompanist and later as an assistant conductor under

61 Thorson, 29.

62 Frederick L. Allen, “Reforming the Glee Club” Century 5, no. 1 (November 1922), 73-74.

Davison. At the conclusion of the Glee Club’s centennial celebration year in 1958, Woodworth retired as conductor after leading the group for a quarter of a century. The leadership and direction of Woodworth and the ensuing leadership years of Elliot Forbes and F. John Adams continued the remarkable traditions of performing great music and traveling around the world first envisioned by Davison. Recordings of performances started to become popular in the mid- twentieth century, which featured a diverse repertoire ranging from college and football songs to folksongs, English glees, and other choral works spanning centuries of composers whose music the group has enjoyed. A 1960 review in The Harvard Crimson states

, . . . the Glee Club sings with more restraint and is considerably more impressive. In a particularly excellent performance of Josquin's “Gloria” from Missa Master Patris et Filia, the strained tone of the pep rally numbers is no longer evident. The Glee Club sings this type of music with especial resonance and precision. The classical repertoire is, on the whole, very well performed under the sensitive guidance of Mr. Forbes, who coaxes both elegant gentleness and sturdy vigor from his forces.63

The longest-tenured leader of the Glee Club is the Club’s most recent conductor, Jameson

Marvin. For thirty-two years, Marvin led a distinguished career with the Glee Club that upheld the traditions of musical excellence and high professional standards that Davison first instilled in the group. The inspiring vision, dynamic leadership, and musical ability of Marvin’s remarkable career nurtured the reputation of the Glee Club as one of the leading collegiate glee clubs in

America. He is considered to be a leading expert on music for male choruses with scholarly publications pertaining to the field in addition to numerous arrangements, edits, and original compositions written for the Glee Club. Some of his publications of American, British, and

Chinese folk song arrangements include All Through the Night, Danny Boy, Flower Drum Song,

Greensleeves, and Shenandoah. Additionally, he has published numerous editions of

63 Alice E. Kinzler, “Harvard in Song: The Harvard Glee Club Conducted by Elliot Forbes” The Harvard Crimson (October 4, 1960), available from http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1960/10/4/harvard-in-song-pin-its- first/ (accessed June 28, 2010).

Renaissance works for male voices, some of which are Josquin des Prez’s Absalon fili mi,

Guillaume Dufay’s (ca. 1397-1474) “Agnus Dei” from Missa Ave Regina coelorum, Thomas

Tallis’ (1505-85) “Sanctus” from Mass for 4 Voices, and John Taverner’s (ca. 1490-1545)

Magnificat. These invaluable contributions to the male choral repertoire are seemingly a continuing tradition first fostered by Davison in an effort to enhance and cultivate music of value for male choruses.

During Marvin’s tenure, the commissioning of new works for the male choral medium became a continuing and increasingly important aspect of the mission of the Glee Club.

Representative composers who have been commissioned by or have written for the Glee Club since 1978, and their works, include John Harbison’s (b. 1938) Nunc dimittis, Virgil Thomson’s

(1896-1989) Cantantes eamus, Sir John Tavener’s (b. 1944) Awed by the Beauty, Morten

Lauridsen’s (b. 1943) Ave dulcissima Maria, Stephen Paulus’ (b. 1949) Shall I compare Thee?,

Carol Barnett’s (b. 1949) One Equal Music, Steven Sametz’s (b. 1954) Dulcis Amor, Paul

Moravec’s (b. 1957) Credo, and Dominick Argento’s (b. 1927) Apollo in Cambridge: A Harvard

Triptych. The Glee Club also has released numerous recordings under Marvin’s direction, many of which are available on the Harvard Glee Club website. The two most recent releases include the 150th Anniversary Concert in 2009 and American Choral Music for Male Voices in 2007.

Marvin led the Glee Club on numerous national and international tours and collaborated with many well-respected musicians and ensembles from around the world with performances at the Lincoln Center in New York City, the Kennedy Center in Washington D. C., Boston

Symphony Hall, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles among many others. Under his direction, the Glee Club hosted men’s chorus festivals, performed at numerous state, regional, and national conferences including five National Conferences of the American Choral

Directors Association, and hosted two National Seminars for the Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses in 1994 and 2004. Marvin also performed major works for men’s chorus and orchestra to critical acclaim. Among these are Franz Schubert’s Gesang der Geister über den Wassern, Igor

Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex, Arnold Schoenberg’s (1874-1951) Survivor from Warsaw, Johannes

Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody, and Dominick Argento’s The Revelation of Saint John the Divine.

Collaborative concerts with the Radcliffe Choral Society, the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium

Musicum, and other professional ensembles continue to be enjoyed by the Glee Club.

Today, the membership in the Glee Club consists of approximately sixty-five men representing many academic disciplines at the undergraduate and graduate levels. “This HGC continues to flourish, singing good music well, demonstrating the persisting vitality of men's choral music on campus and all over the world, in concert halls and schools and churches, live and on recordings, for novices and for the knowledgeable choral community.”64 Their corporate musicianship, beauty of tone, and overall passion for “singing good music well,” is an ideal that

Marvin has continuously fostered and one that has become contagious among many collegiate glee clubs. In 1985, members of the Glee Club organized a small, select a cappella ensemble

Glee Club Lite. The auditioned group consists of about fifteen to twenty singers and specializes in folk, jazz, popular, and rock music with many of the arrangements written by members of the group. The significant contributions that the Glee Club has made during Marvin’s tenure have substantiated the distinct reputation that the Harvard Glee Club celebrates and deserves. In a news release that noted the leadership transition of the Harvard Glee Club and that this vibrant and ambitious program was ready for new challenges, the outgoing conductor expresses his own appreciation and affirms the choice of his successor.

64 Kreger, “History of the Harvard Glee Club,” available from http://www.harvardgleeclub.org/info/history (accessed March 28, 2010).

I have been deeply honored and thrilled to make music with these extraordinary students over thirty-plus years. Andy Clark is a perfect fit for our choral singers and for galvanizing new and important directions for the Holden Choirs and Choral Program at Harvard. His breadth of knowledge, comprehensive musicianship, and charismatic leadership will inspire a whole new generation of students.”65

Jameson Marvin leaves a remarkable musical tradition and legacy, indeed.

University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club

Founded in 1859, only one year after the Harvard Glee Club was established, the

University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club is the second oldest collegiate glee club in the United

States. Recently celebrating its sesquicentennial in 2009, the Glee Club also is the oldest student and music organization on the University of Michigan campus. Immersed in rich traditions of

151 years, the Glee Club has earned an enduring reputation as one of the most prominent collegiate male glee clubs in America and around the world. Their accepted adage and belief in upholding a commitment to “Tradition, Camaraderie, and Musical Excellence” has been a distinguishing attribute recognized in the group’s increasing distinction throughout the twentieth century. Analogous to the historical evolution of the Harvard Glee Club, the University of

Michigan Men’s Glee Club began as a self-sustained and directed student organization beginning with a modest membership of six to eight men. Likewise, in a similar approach to the group’s musical development and education, the Glee Club eventually acquired the artistic guidance and leadership of a faculty member from the School of Music. While faculty conductors have significantly contributed to the musical improvement of the Glee Club, the group has maintained its tradition of being an organization with student-elected and -appointed officers and represents

65 A press release from the Office for the Arts at Harvard and Harvard University Music Department on May 10, 2010 announced the appointment of Dr. Andrew Clark as Director of Choral Activities and Senior Lecturer on Music. Available from http://music.fas.harvard.edu/Clark_DCA.pdf (accessed June 28, 2010).

an inclusive membership from a majority of the colleges and schools within the University.

Perhaps one of the Glee Club’s most famous student leaders was Thomas E. Dewey (1902-71), who was the Presidential nominee of the Republican Party in 1944 and who was headlined in the famous 1948 presidential campaign when the Chicago Daily Tribune erroneously printed

“Dewey Defeats Truman” the day after the election. In 1923, Dewey served as manager and conductor while a student in the Glee Club.

The Glee Club has had numerous faculty conductors throughout its history since a School of Music faculty member was assigned as its artistic leader in the 1920s. Although the Glee

Club has consistently had a full-time faculty director since that time, faculty directors were involved with the organization much earlier than the Harvard Glee Club. As early as the 1870s faculty members were utilized as directors of the Michigan Men’s Glee Club. “During the period following Prof. Silas R. Mills, [beginning in the 1894 school year] the Glee Club was conducted by one of its own members, since a director from the Music School was thought unnecessary.

Beginning in 1908, a faculty member was again appointed as director, but was in fact merely an advisor until the 1920’s.”66 However, it often is said that it was not until the leadership of Philip

Duey that the status of the Glee Club began to rise in the United States and abroad. Duey was the conductor of the Glee Club from 1947 until his retirement in 1969 and is the longest tenured conductor in the Glee Club’s history. Appointed faculty conductors who have followed Duey since 1969 and their respective years of service are Willis C. Patterson (1969-75), Leonard

66 Michael Ferrante, “The History of the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club” (Compiled 1993-94, Revised by Adrian Leskiw, 2003), available from http://www.ummgc.org/about/history.pdf (accessed June 28, 2010).

Johnson (1975-81), Patrick Gardner67 (1981-87), Bradley Bloom (1987-88), Jerry Blackstone68

(1988-2002), and Stephen Lusmann69 (2002-05). Paul Rardin has served as the Glee Club’s conductor since the 2005-06 academic year.

During the first two decades of the Glee Club’s history, the organization was comprised of smaller individual ensembles representing each undergraduate class. The groups used a variety of names, such as in 1862 the Sophomore Glee Club, which consisted of a quartet of men representing the class of 1864. The senior class in 1872 called themselves the University Glee

Club and included seven members using piano accompaniment. In 1876, the University Glee

Club and the other smaller ensembles under the Glee Club umbrella began to combine as a single unit, and by 1885 the ensembles emerged as one entity with the exception of the freshmen class.

The last reference to the Freshmen Glee Club in the printed account of its chronological listing of clubs occurs in 1918 with a membership of fifty-five freshmen students.70 As was typical of many glee clubs in the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the Glee

Club intermingled with the Banjo Club and Mandolin Club of the University to present joint concerts featuring each group separately and together. Over time, the groups combined their names, such as the University Glee, Banjo, and Mandolin Club and Freshmen Glee and Banjo

Club in 1897. Additionally, during the early years of the 1900s, the Glee Club was often featured in the all-male Union Operas that were organized to raise money for the construction of the

Michigan Union, which was established as an all-inclusive organization for men attending the

67 Dr. Patrick Gardner is currently the conductor of the Rutgers University Glee Club, a position he has held since 1993.

68 Dr. Jerry Blackstone is the Director of Choral Activities and Professor and Chair of Conducting at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance.

69 Professor Stephen Lussman is an Associate Professor of Voice at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance. As a baritone, he has performed extensively around the world in leading opera houses.

70 Ferrante, 20.

University. In 1910, the Banjo Club was terminated, and by the conclusion of the 1923 academic year, the collaboration with the Mandolin Club also was ended. At this time, the organization officially adopted the name University of Michigan Glee Club. “Due to the increasing popularity of the Girl’s Glee Club in the 1930’s, the group was renamed the University of Michigan Men’s

Glee Club in 1938, and in 1944 the group added “Varsity” to the title, [University of Michigan

Varsity Men’s Glee Club] that was dropped four years later. Finally, mirroring the cautious and businesslike 1980’s, the group added “Inc.” to its official name in 1989 [University of Michigan

Men’s Glee Club, Inc.].”71

During the organization’s long history, a number of small vocal ensembles also have played a prominent role in its evolution. The Friars, named after a University of Michigan drinking society that originated with members of the Men’s Glee and Mandolin Club in the early

1900s, is the longest continuous vocal ensemble affiliated with the Glee Club. Walter S. Collins, who was the acting director of the Glee Club during Duey’s year-long academic sabbatical leave, founded the eight-member group in 1955. Collins received graduate degrees from the University of Michigan in 1955 and 1960. As an undergraduate, he was a member and former president of the prestigious Yale Whiffenpoofs during his senior year at Yale University in 1948. Collins also received his first graduate degree in music in 1951 from Yale University prior to attending graduate school at the University of Michigan. His singing experience in one of the most well- known collegiate male a cappella choirs in the country was influential in establishing the success that The Friars have enjoyed for over fifty years.

On the verge of gaining national acclaim under the direction of David E. Matter (1932-

47), it was his successor Philip Duey, who channeled the transformation of the Club’s status to one of world prominence. Prior to his work at the University of Michigan, Duey was an active

71 Ibid., 2.

professional singer in New York City for approximately twenty years. He frequently appeared on thousands of radio shows aired around the United States and often sang under the baton of many notable conductors in opera, oratorio, and Broadway shows, such as Arturo Toscanini (1867-

1957) and George Szell (1897-1970). With his great gift of musicianship and wealth of performance knowledge and experience, he was a visionary in bringing notable awareness to the group through radio broadcasts, television appearances, recordings, and movie soundtracks along with national and international concert tours. Additionally, similar to Davison’s work at Harvard,

Duey arranged and published many of the songs the Glee Club performed under “The University of Michigan Glee Club Series” published by the Boston Music Company.

By the 1930s and 1940s, the Glee Club had established a tradition of national tours serving as ambassadors of the University and concertizing in nearly every state. However, under the direction of Duey, the Glee Club embarked on its first of many international concert tours to

Europe in 1955. In celebration of its centennial year in 1959, the Glee Club garnered one of its greatest achievements during a four-week European tour. At the Llangollen International

Musical Eisteddofod in Wales, the Glee Club became the first American male choir to win first place since the competition was established in 1947. The 1959 competition included eighteen male choruses from around the world. The first two selections of each competing chorus were the same: Palestrina’s Confitemini Domino and Josquin’s El Grillo. The third work, which was to represent a composer from the chorus’s native country, selected by Duey was “Stomp Your

Foot” from The Tender Land by Aaron Copland (1900-90). Dick Bowman, Glee Club member from 1955-60, wrote an article in the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club Newsletter,

Laudes, reminiscing about his experience at the 1959 Llangollen competition.

Shortly after 8:30 AM we learned there were to be 18 male choruses in the competition and we had drawn performance number 13. . . .

. . . . About 10:00 AM the first chorus performed and we watched from the back of the large performance tent. They were good. All of the groups were very good, indeed.

We knew that only one American Glee Club had ever enjoyed success in this same competition, when a few years earlier, the Yale Glee Club had taken third place. We weren’t so concerned about besting the other international groups; we just didn’t want to score lower than Yale.72

The Glee Club appeared four more times at the same competition claiming first place prizes again in 1963, 1971, and 1978. The Glee Club’s third place finish on its 1967 trip to Llangollen was its only appearance not to receive the coveted first place award. Other memorable moments that brought the Glee Club to new heights during Duey’s tenure were appearances on Ed

Sullivan’s Toast of the Town in 1953, the Pat Boone Show in 1958, the Dinah Shore Show in

1961, and Perry Como’s Kraft Music Hall in 1964. The experiences that Duey provided the Glee

Club were inevitably defining moments in its history elevating the group to a status of unparalleled greatness in the historical evolution of collegiate male glee clubs in America.

Willis C. Patterson, who succeeded Duey in 1969, was also an acclaimed professional singer who had concertized throughout the United States and Europe. He appeared as King

Balthazar in NBC’s 1963 televised production of Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian Carlo

Menotti (1911-2007). Not only was Patterson the first African-American professor in the School of Music at the University of Michigan, he was one of the first African-American conductors of a prominent collegiate chorus. The Glee Club received its third victory at the 1971 Llangollen competition with Patterson as conductor. In the succeeding decades of leadership under conductors Johnson, Gardner, and Bloom, the Glee Club’s national reputation continued to rise with performance opportunities around the globe including an appearance at the 1986

72 Dick Bowman, “Llangollen ’59…A Remembrance” Laudes, 37, no. 1 (Fall 2008): 9, available from http://ummgc.org/alumni/laudes/laudesF08.pdf (accessed June 28, 2010).

Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses National Seminar and a performance of the national anthem at the 1984 World Series in Detroit.

Under the direction of Jerry Blackstone from 1988-2002, the Glee Club continued to reach new levels of musical excellence through various performance and outreach initiatives.

The Glee Club embarked on four extensive international tours throughout Asia, Australia,

Eastern and Central Europe, and South America and has performed at state, regional, and national conferences of the American Choral Directors Association. The group also released several CD recordings during Blackstone’s tenure and was featured on Mannheim Steamroller’s

2001 album Christmas Extraordinaire. As an advocate for music education and the promotion of male choral singing, Blackstone published an acclaimed educational DVD Working with Male

Voices, distributed by Santa Barbara Music Publishing, which covers topics ranging from warm- ups to rehearsal techniques through various discussions and demonstrations with the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club. Santa Barbara Music Publishing also publishes the Jerry

Blackstone Choral Series, which features over a dozen works for male chorus in a variety of styles with some of the works written by current Glee Club conductor Paul Rardin. One of

Blackstone’s most significant contributions to the musical community was the institution of the

Male Vocal Arts Day in 1991. This outreach initiative was established as a recruiting program to provide area high school male students a singing experience at the collegiate level. The day-long workshop and rehearsal sessions culminate in a joint performance with the Glee Club.

Currently under the leadership of director Paul Rardin, the University of Michigan Men’s

Glee Club continues its remarkable tradition of enhancing its ever-growing musical and historical legacy uniting men in a spirited friendship and passion for singing. “One of the longest standing traditions in this group is [the] singing of Laudes atque Carmina [composed in 1878 by

Charles M. Gayley (1858-1932)] as the opening hymn of every concert. For over 100 years this song has opened every Glee Club concert. Similarly, the University of Michigan alma mater, The

Yellow and Blue [also written by Gayley in 1878], has closed each concert of the group for almost as many years.”73 Throughout the years, a timeless energy, passion, commitment to excellence, and a love of singing have been connecting links among the Glee Club’s members, both past and present. The University of Michigan Male Glee Club, like others among America’s oldest glee clubs, has made immense contributions to the male choral art.

Yale Glee Club

The Yale Glee Club, founded in 1861, was the third collegiate male glee club to be formed in the United States. Like the Harvard Glee Club and the University of Michigan Men’s

Glee Club before it, the Yale Glee Club began as a small group of men who enjoyed the social and musical aspects of singing together. Since its earliest days, the membership of the Glee Club has been comprised of students actively pursuing music and non-music degrees. In 1861, a group of thirteen sophomore students organized an official singing organization on the campus and were recognized under the name Yale Glee Club of the Class of 1863. However, the Glee Club has an ancestry dating many years earlier.

73 Ferrante, 10.

Singing at Yale goes back to the year of 1812 when twelve men who sang solely for chapel called themselves the Yale Musical Society. In 1826 another group called the Beethoven Society was formed to sing secular as well as sacred music. This organization was considerably larger, with a membership of between forty and fifty singers. In 1833 the famous Yale fence was put up around the Brick Bow, facing the New Haven Green. This was one of the favorite singing places for the Beethoven Society. . . . It became the custom for each class to occupy its own particular section of the Yale fence. Here class glee clubs and quartets were formed in the 1840’s and 1850’s, and it was on this fence that the first organized Yale Glee Club began its career in 1861.74

Although the current Glee Club anticipates the celebration of its sesquicentennial in the 2010-11 academic year, the group has functioned as a mixed ensemble since 1970, which was the year after Yale University began admitting women to its undergraduate programs.

During its 150-year distinguished history, the Yale Glee Club has had only seven men serve as its faculty and artistic director. The Glee Club’s first conductor was Gustav Jakob

Stoeckel (1819-1907), a German immigrant who helped establish the music program at Yale and became the first professor of music at Yale. His long career at Yale spanned four decades and began as chapel organist and choirmaster in 1855. Stoeckel retired from Yale in 1894 the same year it officially adopted and recognized music as a full-time, professional academic course of study. His tenure with the Glee Club from 1868-73 is the earliest-referenced association of any university faculty member serving as director of a student organization. During his work with the

Glee Club, he wrote arrangements and new compositions for the group that remained popular for many years. Conductors following Stoeckel, along with their years of service, were Thomas G.

Shepard (1873-1905), G. Frank Goodale (1905-21), Marshall Bartholomew (1921-53), Fenno

Heath (1953-92), David H. Connell (1992-2002), and interim director Timothy Snyder (2002-

03). Since 2003, Jeffrey Douma has conducted the Yale Glee Club.

Shepard, who, like Stoeckel, was of German descent, led the Glee Club for thirty-two years. Under his direction the group began receiving greater national attention through its many

74 Thomas, 57-58.

tours along the East Coast and throughout the Midwest. As a talented composer, Shepard provided many popular compositions and arrangements that were included in the song books of the Glee Club. He also conducted a Männerchor in New Haven. Similar to the traditions at

Harvard and Michigan, the singing clubs of Yale often performed glees along with popular, drinking, and college songs. Many of these appeared in Yale song books dating as early as 1853 prior to the official establishment of the Glee Club. The Glee Club collaborated with the Banjo and Mandolin Clubs as early as 1894, which is possibly the earliest occurrence of university student instrumental and choral organizations merging to present joint campus and tour concerts.

In 1887 the banjo club joined forces with the Glee Club for a touring season of twenty- one concerts throughout the East and Middle West. As a result of the Yale influence, combined instrumental clubs consisting of banjos, mandolins, and guitar sprang up on practically every college and university campus in America where they occupied a prominent place in musical activities for more than forty years.75

In 1909, the Glee Club witnessed the beginning of a tradition that would eventually influence the structure of collegiate male glee clubs around the country. While it was often common for glee clubs to include select quartets and small ensembles of men who sang barbershop and other popular songs for a variety of campus, alumni, and community events, members of the prestigious Varsity Quartet of the Yale Glee Club formally established the Yale

Whiffenpoofs. This elite ensemble has often been recognized as the oldest collegiate a cappella choir in the nation since its founding in 1909 originating from weekly informal meetings among

Varsity Quartet members at a local tavern, Mory’s.

75 Thomas, 60.

Of these five original singers, four were members of the Glee Club’s Varsity Quartet, a group that sang together regularly at alumni functions. With the addition of a fifth singer, the group was able to improvise more complex harmonies to the old songs that they loved so well. Mory’s was a perfect home to the gentleman songsters. The beer brought music, the music brought customers, and the customers brought money. Their weekly meetings soon became a hallowed tradition.76

The autonomous group of five men that began this famed tradition 101 years ago is still thriving in its second century. Comprised of fourteen senior men, the Whiffenpoofs continues the tradition of providing many of their own arrangements, as well as enjoying some of the old standards of generations past. Its legendary signature piece known as the Whiffenpoof Song is claimed to have been written by Todd Galloway of Yale’s Class of 1885.

In the hundred years since, each class of Whiffenpoofs has sung the Whiffenpoof Song at the end of every concert as a celebration of brotherhood and Whiffenpoof tradition. The song gained nationwide recognition when Rudy Vallee (Whiffenpoof Class of 1927) recorded a solo version in the 1930s. The song would later become one of the popular tunes of the Second World War. Later on, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald (made an honorary Whiffenpoof in 1979), and Elvis Presley followed suit with their own recordings.77

The group is active in many outreach initiatives including efforts supporting Education

Through Music, a New York based non-profit organization founded in 1991. This organization encourages the inclusion of music in a school’s curriculum, especially disadvantaged inner-city schools often lacking resources to provide quality music instruction, in an effort to benefit the overall education of all students. Two recent professional CD recordings of the Whiffenpoofs are

The Best Whiffenpoofs Ever! (2010) and Century (2009), which was released to commemorate its centennial anniversary. In further celebration of its 100-year history, the group engaged in concert tours around the nation including performances at Carnegie Hall and the White House.

76 “A Brief History of the Whiffenpoofs: A Century of Song: 1909 – Today” The Yale Whiffenpoofs, information available through the Digital Publicity Kit located on the official website of the Yale Whiffenpoofs, available from http://www.whiffenpoofs.com/bookings/ (accessed July 5, 2010): 2.

77 “The Whiffenpoof Song” The Yale Whiffenpoofs, available from http://www.whiffenpoofs.com/storage/Repertoire.pdf (accessed July 5, 2010): 2.

Additionally, in May 2010, the Whiffenpoofs embarked on a remarkable three-month world tour reaching all seven continents. Throughout its distinguished history, the a cappella group has entertained dignitaries, presidents, and audiences around the world in prestigious concert halls, at sporting events, and television appearances including NBC’s Saturday Night Live and the Today

Show. Their programs consist of arrangements of standard jazz charts, classic ballads, contemporary popular songs, and the songs of Yale University.

One of the more significant contributors to the history of the Yale Glee Club, who immeasurably influenced the historical evolution of collegiate male glee clubs in America, was the prolific conductor and composer Marshall Bartholomew (1885-1978).78 While working at

Yale, he also established and conducted the University Glee Club of New Haven from 1924-48.79

When Bartholomew was selected as conductor of the Yale Glee Club in 1921, he immediately sought to cultivate and engender an atmosphere of excellence in music through high performance standards. At the time of his appointment, and similar to Davison’s appointment at Harvard, the

Glee Club sang primarily light, popular music, and college songs. Bartholomew continually sought to perform music of artistic value and immediately began enriching the quality of the group’s music-making by arranging numerous spirituals, American folk tunes, sea chanties, and other music.

78 The Irving S. Gilmore Music Library of Yale University holds important papers written between 1929-66 and documents Bartholomew’s career at Yale University. Its contents, organized in ten boxes, include compositions, arrangements, and programs, among other items, that greatly contributed not only to the collegiate glee club movement but also to the great history of choral music. The specific contents of the Marshall Bartholomew Papers include: 1. General & miscellaneous. 2. History of music at Yale. 3. Yale Glee Club history. 4. Whiffenpoofs. 5. Barbershop & informal singing. 6. International Student Music Council (ISMC) 7. Music in a world at war. 8. Materials for a book on singing. 9. Music. 10. School music books.

79 Sorab Modi and Patrice Madura Ward-Steinman, “Bartholomew, Marshall” Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, available from http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/subscriber/article/grove/music/A2084834 (accessed July 5, 2010).

The Yale Glee Club was fortunate to have Marshall Bartholomew become its director in 192280, for here was a man who realized that the singers had great potential. His name is synonymous with male glee club singing all over the world, although he retired in 1953. Bartholomew instilled a musical soundness and respectability into the organization without changing its basic undergraduate character singing for fun. Under his direction the Club grew from a group of twenty-four singers and twenty-one instrumentalists to an internationally famous organization of sixty voices.81

Although Bartholomew was the Glee Club’s fourth conductor, his relationship with Yale was established years earlier as an undergraduate student of the University. One of the

Whiffenpoofs founding members James R. Howard states “Actually, Bartholomew's intimate association with the Whiffenpoofs even antedated his return to Yale in 1921 as director of the

Glee Club, for way back in 1907 and 1908 he frequently sang at public appearances as one of the

“Varsity Quartet” from which the original membership was derived.”82

During his thirty-two year tenure at Yale, Bartholomew brought the Glee Club to an internationally renowned reputation by bringing an amateur group of college men to musical greatness. When national and international concert tours began to feature classical works among its repertoire selections, the group began to define a musical tradition of excellence that would lead to a transformation of collegiate glee clubs around the country. Large numbers of published compositions and arrangements for the Glee Club became standard musical fare among collegiate male glee clubs. The 1953 publication of Songs of Yale, edited by Bartholomew, features over 100 works the majority arranged by him. The collection also includes arrangements by Stoeckel and Shepard, the first two conductors of the Glee Club, along with music by other contributors. Various editions of Yale song books throughout the years have been arranged in a

80 Bartholomew began serving as conductor of the Yale Glee Club in 1921.

81 Thomas, 62.

82 Reverend James M. Howard, “An Authentic Account of the Founding of the Whiffenpoofs,” available from http://www.whiffenpoofs.com/storage/Whiffenpoofs_History.pdf/ (accessed July 5, 2010): 5.

variety of categories and have included Songs of Yale, Old Favorites, Yodels, Humorous Songs,

Educated Barbershop, Folksongs/Spirituals, Sea Chanteys, Football Songs, Songs of Other

Colleges (which includes Fair Harvard), and Songs for Special Occasions, which includes the famous Whiffenpoof Song. The Glee Club continued to maintain its tradition of Songs of Yale with a 2006 edition celebrating the Club’s 145th anniversary. Edited and compiled by current director Jeffrey Douma, the compilation features arrangements by conductors past and present in both SATB and TTBB arrangements. Some of Bartholomew’s more popular arrangements that have been widely performed by collegiate glee clubs for years include De Animals A Comin’,

Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes, Little Innocent Lamb, Shenandoah, Steal Away, The Battle of

Jericho, and What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor. Many of Bartholomew’s arrangements began to appear in the Yale Glee Club Series published by the G. Schirmer music company beginning in 1926 adding to the male choral repertoire and its considerable impact on the male choral tradition in the United States. Approximately twenty of the series’ first fifty works were spirituals, and the majority of other compositions concentrated on the heritage of our nation with folk songs and sea chanteys.

Fenno Heath (1926-2008) succeeded Bartholomew in 1953 and directed the group for thirty-nine years surpassing the remarkable tenure of Bartholomew that spanned more than three decades. Like Bartholomew, Heath was an undergraduate of Yale and was a member of the

Whiffenpoofs during his senior year in 1950. He also completed graduate work at Yale receiving his master of music degree in 1952 one year prior to his appointment as conductor of the Glee

Club. Heath was a legendary conductor, composer, and arranger who continued to increase the worldwide prominence of the Glee Club through domestic and international tours. He continued the tradition that Bartholomew began by extensively arranging and composing new works

published under the Yale Glee Club Series. Popular among Heath’s arrangements are Didn’t My

Lord Deliver Daniel?, Gaudeamus Igitur, He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands, Sometimes I

Feel Like a Motherless Child, and The Lamb. The Glee Club often commissioned Heath to write new works for the group, including the 2004 composition Cascade. In 1970, he transformed the

109-year-old male glee club into a mixed chorus after the University began accepting undergraduate women into its institution and continued writing and publishing music for the mixed chorus. In 2005, Douma established the Fenno Heath Award that encourages student composers at Yale to compose new Yale songs. When Heath passed away in December 2008, his friends, colleagues, and former students “exalted Heath both as a traditionalist who kept a broad repertoire of old-school Yale-specific anthems alive for future generations, and as an open- minded explorer of the latest musical forms.”83 Although the group is no longer comprised of all men, the legacy and contributions of the Yale Glee Club were significant in the evolution of

American collegiate male glee clubs.

An Expanding Tradition

The traditions of collegiate male glee clubs that are embedded in the individual storied legacies of Harvard, Michigan, and Yale pioneered an evolution of collegiate male glee clubs and male choruses throughout America. Though now far removed from the distant generations of their founding fathers, today’s collegiate glee clubs continue to maintain their allegiance to fellowship, camaraderie, and musical excellence. The leadership and vision of the conductors associated with these highly regarded musical organizations led to a phenomenal growth and legacy that reached new heights excellence in music and artistry. The timeless traditions

83 Christopher Arnott, “A Gift of Glee” Yale Alumni Magazine (January/February 2009): 20.

associated with these fraternal brothers of song considerably influenced future generations of conductors and glee club members throughout the United States.

CHAPTER V

THE RISE OF AMERICAN COLLEGIATE MALE GLEE CLUBS

The rapid progression and development of male glee clubs in the United States began at numerous colleges and universities on the East Coast and the Midwest throughout the latter decades of the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century. This was due in large part to the popular and influential traditions first established at Harvard University, the University of

Michigan, and Yale University. The effects of the Civil War also impacted the growth and interest in collegiate singing among men during this period of history. When the War ended, many soldiers continued to have interest in singing, which aided the growth of collegiate glee clubs and community male choruses across the nation. This is seemingly comparable to the influx of collegiate male glee clubs at many German universities following the Napoleonic Wars mentioned in Chapter II.

The establishment of many collegiate glee clubs was similar in many respects to the histories of glee clubs associated with Harvard, Michigan, and Yale; singing was often an inevitable part of social and scholastic life among college and university students prior to the official sanction of such groups by the academic community. For many men, singing engendered a sense of pride and well-being and boosted morale at the same time. It was through the growing number of small student-led singing groups that the subsequent development and evolution of collegiate glee clubs occurred. The official organization of collegiate glee clubs that often originated from these small groups of informal singers was based on a desire to enrich the opportunities for fellowship and singing. Over time, with the inclusion of faculty conductors and increased musical opportunities, many glee clubs followed in the footsteps of their pioneering forefathers and evolved into established ensembles with highly regarded musical reputations.

Likewise, many collegiate glee clubs have followed the model of accepting a broad membership from undergraduates and graduates and often including faculty and staff members. The students have continued to represent the majority of the departments, colleges, and schools at their respective institutions. Whether concentrating their academic studies in the arts or agriculture, business or biology, education or engineering, mathematics or medicine, philosophy or political science, they have shared a mutual desire to be a part of something special. For more than 150 years, the brotherhood and esprit de corps of collegiate male glee clubs have enabled members to develop close relationships and life-long friendships through both the social and musical rewards provided by the glee club experience.

In spite of the higher level of musical aptitude that has emerged among glee clubs, the desire to foster a sense of camaraderie through social events can at times appear to overshadow the musical aspects. That song and stein have lived in such bonded harmony since the early days of the English glee clubs and German Männerchor groups is a testament to the power of singing among men. A time devoted to socializing, relaxing, and enjoying the company of friends through song and drink has been a long-lived facet among the generations and centuries of male glee clubs and choruses.

The artistic endeavors and trends enjoyed by many collegiate glee clubs have, however, produced one of the richest choral traditions in the United States. Performances by many collegiate glee clubs continue to embrace variety in musical programming. From early Gregorian chant to contemporary twenty-first century compositions, glee clubs throughout the country continue to delight both their members and audiences with a balanced repertoire representing the full genre of musical styles while still including traditional glee club songs. Glee clubs have provided musical and social experiences in an environment that allows students to reap the

benefits of serving as ambassadors of music for their universities while enjoying the fraternal spirit of song. The musical histories of so many collegiate glee clubs are in tandem with the social traditions and interactions they enjoy.

An historical summary of representative collegiate male glee clubs established within the forty-year span from 1871-1911 will provide information on certain traditions of other notable glee clubs celebrating important historic anniversaries. While an exhaustive historical survey of collegiate male glee clubs would be a unique contribution to the field, it is not within the realm of this project. The scope of this brief historical document is limited to the inclusion of six collegiate glee clubs in this chapter from the following institutions: University of Virginia, Ohio

State University, Michigan State University, Penn State University, Miami University, and

Morehouse College. Correspondence with conductors associated with some of these schools assisted with the research process. At the conclusion of this chapter, Table 1 shows a chronological listing of a number of American collegiate male glee clubs still in existence and is arranged by the founding year of each glee club. The list does not claim to be comprehensive but gives evidence of the rapid emergence of male glee clubs on college and university campuses across the nation.

Virginia Glee Club

The University of Virginia, one of the first public state schools in the country, was chartered in 1819 by its founding father and the third President of the United States Thomas

Jefferson (1743-1826) and opened its doors to academic study in 1825. The University was historically an all-male university until 1970 when women were first admitted as undergraduate students. The Virginia Glee Club is approaching a notable historic anniversary of 140 years as a

student-led musical organization. Founded in 1871, it is, like many other glee clubs, one of the oldest student organizations on campus. Among the distinguished alumni of the Glee Club, the nation’s twenty-eighth President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) was involved with the group in

1879. Following the traditional histories of many other collegiate glee clubs, the Virginia Glee

Club began with a small group of students who resided together at the Cabell House and desired to create a singing group. The group became known as “The Cabell House Men,”84 and throughout the remaining decades of the nineteenth century the group began to increase in membership. Although the organization banded together with the Banjo Club, Mandolin Club, and Guitar Club in 1891 to present joint University concerts, the group soon thereafter separated from these instrumental groups and established itself as a self-directed student organization at the

University in 1895.

Although the Glee Club became more visible over the course of its first seventy years through a variety of on-campus concerts and collaborations, as well as domestic concert tours across the South, East Coast, and Midwest, the group never attained the musical reputation and stature that the clubs at Harvard, Michigan, and Yale enjoyed during this same period.

During the early part of this Century [twentieth], the Glee Club was less concerned with musical sophistication and excellence than it was with putting on a “good show.” Following World War I, the group toured extensively throughout the South offering musical variety shows as standard bill of fare. These tours proved to be a bit rambunctious for the faculty of the era, and some constraints were placed upon the Club as it began to sing joint concerts with neighboring womens’ schools ever since.85

A significant transformation in the Glee Club’s history occurred during the 1941 academic year when two well-respected musicians, Stephen Tuttle (1907-54) and Randall Thompson (1899-

84 Information pertaining to the Virginia Glee Club can be found on the Glee Club’s official website, available from http://www.student.virginia.edu/~glee/ (accessed July 10, 2010).

85 “The Virginia Glee Club,” Notes from the Path: The Newsletter for the Virginia Glee Club Community (Fall 2008), 9.

1984), joined the University’s McIntire Department of Music. In 1943, Tuttle, who served as the conductor of the Glee Club from 1942-51, commissioned Thompson to write The Testament of

Freedom to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson’s birthday. The dedication printed above the title page reads “To the University of Virginia Glee Club, in memory of the

Father of the University.”86 The work became one of the more prominent works of the twentieth century for male chorus and continues to be in the core repertory of male choruses. Organized in four movements, its texts are derived from three writings of Jefferson: A Summary View of the

Rights of British America (1774), Declaration of Causes and Necessity if Taking Up Arms (July

6, 1775), and Letter to John Adams, Monticello (September 12, 1821). The premier performance, conducted by Tuttle and accompanied by Thompson, was given by the Virginia Glee Club on

April 13, 1943 in honor of Founder’s Day and was nationally televised and later rebroadcast for the United States Armed Forces overseas.

The Glee Club has also incorporated small, select ensembles into its ranks. In 1953, The

Virginia Gentlemen was founded as an octet of men and is the oldest a cappella ensemble at the

University. Currently comprised of just over one dozen members, the group enjoys performing popular music including songs from bands such as Alabama, Counting Crows, The Beatles and performers like Billy Joel, Elvis Presley, James Taylor, and Michael Jackson among many other popular artists and groups. However, this group seceded from the Glee Club in 1987 and became an autonomous student-run organization. More recently, the Glee Club introduced a new a cappella ensemble in 2010 known as the Gleemen.

During the thirteen years that followed the departure of Tuttle in 1954, the Glee Club continued on its mission to attain a greater musical purpose. Donald Loach began his tenure as

86 Randall Thompson, The Testament of Freedom, E. C. Schirmer Music Company, (Boston, Massachusetts), 1943.

conductor of the Glee Club in 1964. His service spanned twenty-five years and was the longest tenure of any leader. Under his direction the Glee Club garnered an exceptional musical reputation touring domestically and around the world. Loach also “endeavored to raise the Glee

Club to the highest standards of excellence. A specialist in Renaissance polyphony, Professor

Loach developed a counter-tenor section within the Glee Club for the performance of music originally written for male voices.”87 During Loach’s last year as conductor in 1988, the Glee

Club became an independent organization, severing its relationship with the University of

Virginia McIntire Department of Music because of the attempt to dissolve the group’s identity by combining it with the Women’s Chorus as a mixed university chorus. As a result, the Glee Club dropped University from its name and has since been recognized as the Virginia Glee Club.

Since attaining its independent status in 1988, the Glee Club has been led by a number of conductors, of whom some have been affiliated with the McIntire Department of Music and others who have remained independent. These conductors have included John Liepold (1991-

96), Bruce Tammen (1996-2001), and Michael Slon (2002-03). Since 2003, the Glee Club has been under the direction of Frank Albinder. During the tenure of Liepold, concert tours and at conventions became an important mission of the Glee Club including performances at a Southern

Division Conference of ACDA and an IMC National Seminar. The group performed for

President Bill Clinton at the 250th anniversary celebration of Thomas Jefferson’s birthday in

Washington, DC, in 1993 and also has appeared on numerous television and radio broadcasts, such as NBC’s Today Show and NPR’s Performance Today. Since 1996, the Glee Club has produced seven recordings. The most recently-released recording Songs of Virginia (2009) was funded by a Jefferson Trust grant through the University Foundation. Two other compilation

87 “The Virginia Glee Club,” 9.

recordings were also produced in 2009: Christmas with the Virginia Glee Club and Virginia Glee

Club Live!.

Although the Virginia Glee Club no longer has an official academic relationship within the University’s Department of Music, it has continued to thrive under many gifted student and professional leaders committed to achieving high levels of performance excellence while maintaining the camaraderie that is such an integral component of the group. Members of the

Glee Club have adopted the motto “fraternity of talent,” which symbolizes the close-knit relationships that have developed within this community of kindred spirits who enjoy the fellowship of song. As a means to help the Glee Club remain a viable entity in fostering musical excellence within its community and beyond, the Virginia Glee Club Alumni and Friends

Association was established in 2006. In the same year, this association initiated an endowment campaign to reach $1,000,000 in pledges by April 2011. Tim Jarrett, a 1994 Glee Club Alumnus, serves as the historian for the Alumni Association. Jarrett is in the process of collecting stories and past artifacts of the Glee Club in a determined effort to provide a detailed chronicle of the group’s storied history. In a September 2009 alumni article on the group’s website, Jarrett states,

“there's little published history after 1940, for a number of reasons. That’s where the alumni and friends of the Club come in. The best history of the last seventy years of [the] Club lies with its alumni.”88 Many collegiate glee clubs and their alumni associations have undertaken similar initiatives in an effort to provide support for the annual operating expenses associated with music and travel and to chronicle the rich histories associated with their respective organization.

88 Quoted from the official website of The Virginia Glee Club Alumni & Friends Association, available from https://hoosonline.virginia.edu/site/c.swL5KgNXLtH/b.3815185/k.BE96/Home.htm (accessed July 10, 2010).

The Ohio State University Men’s Glee Club

The Ohio State University, founded in 1870, is one of many state institutions established by the provisions afforded by the Morrill Land-Grant Act signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862. With over 63,000 students, it is currently one of the largest universities in the nation. An interest in singing quickly took root in student life at the University shortly after it was founded.

The Ohio State University Men’s Glee Club was established by a small group of students in 1875 to foster individual friendships and boost school spirit through song. However, the Ohio State

University Men’s Glee Club Alumni Society has indicated through University research that “the

College of the Arts’ history, written for the University’s 1970 Centennial, indicates that the

Men’s Glee Club was started in 1873 as a social group.”89 As such, the Glee Club is recognized as the oldest student organization on its campus and accepts a diverse membership from all academic areas.

Celebrating 135 years of brotherhood in 2010, the Glee Club has achieved national and international acclaim similar to earlier collegiate glee clubs with television and radio broadcasts and many concert tours around the nation and abroad. A tradition of choral excellence also has been sustained throughout its history with state, regional, and national performances for the

Music Educators National Conference (MENC), ACDA, and IMC. In March 1930, the Glee

Club competed in the 14th annual Intercollegiate Glee Club Contest held at Carnegie Hall in New

York City. This national competition featured the winners of twelve regional competitions. The

Ohio State University Glee Club was awarded third place with the George Washington Men’s

Glee Club and Yale Glee Club winning first and second place, respectively. One of the Glee

Club’s greatest accolades was awarded in 1990 when it received the first place award in the male

89 Quoted from the official website of The Ohio State University Men’s Glee Club Alumni Society, available from http://www.osumgcalumni.com/index.html (accessed July 10, 2010).

chorus competition at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod in Wales. This prestigious award had been previously claimed four times by the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club, which is the most ever in the competition’s history by an American collegiate men’s glee club. In 2010, the Glee Club gave performances for the ACDA Central Division Conference in Cincinnati,

Ohio, and at the IMC National Seminar in Oxford, Ohio. National and international tours have been a consistent program component of the Glee Club throughout its history.

The Glee Club currently is under the direction of Robert Ward and has a membership of over one hundred students. The establishment of the James S. and Carol W. Gallagher

Endowment Fund has aided the Glee Club in benefitting from quality musical opportunities, such as travel, recordings, commissioning of new works, and outreach initiatives within the community. The campaign for the endowment was initiated to help continue the musical and professional advancement of choral music at the University. The endowment is named after

Professor Emeritus James Gallagher and his wife. He was the conductor of the Glee Club from

1981-2002 and elevated the group’s status as a prominent collegiate glee club based on musical excellence. Since 1990, the Glee Club has released numerous recordings the most recent being

We Sing (2007) and Brothers in Song (2006) both under the direction of Ward. Through the noted leadership and vision of Gallagher and Ward, the Ohio State University Glee Club has become recognized as a well-respected musical organization.

Michigan State University Men’s Glee Club

The Michigan State University Glee Club was established in 1880 as a student organization supporting traditional goals of singing and socialization. When the Glee Club was first organized twenty-five years after the University was founded in 1855, the group was known

as the “Singing Statesmen.” Although it was not the first sanctioned student organization, the group is among the oldest student organizations on campus. The Glee Club has embraced the tradition of encouraging a non-auditioned membership that represents academic majors across the undergraduate and graduate student body. During the group’s first three decades, it was a self-governed student organization. In 1911, the Michigan State University College of Music granted an affiliation with its music program to the Glee Club. As a result of this union between the student-run organization and the College of Music, a faculty conductor was assigned to provide musical and artistic direction to the group placing the Glee Club on the path to musical greatness.

Serving as ambassadors for the University throughout its 130-year history, the Glee Club has toured internationally; provided entertainment and musical outreach programs around its campus, community, and state; appeared on television broadcasts such as the Ed Sullivan Show; and performed at the Presidential Inauguration of the nation’s thirty-fourth President Dwight D.

Eisenhower (1890-1969). The Glee Club also has presented critically acclaimed performances at conferences of MENC and ACDA. While the group has enjoyed remarkable artistic successes, it still revels in its early history as a student organization providing numerous recreational activities for its members, the most notable of which is the Men’s Glee Club versus the Michigan State

University Spartan Marching Band annual football game. The Michigan State University Men’s

Glee Club “has been a place for men young and old with a passion for singing to come together, have a good time, and occasionally... sing!”90 The Glee Club boasts a membership of over one hundred singers and has been under the direction of Jonathan Reed since 1993.

90 Quoted from the official website of the Michigan State University Men’s Glee Club, available from https://www.msu.edu/~mensglee/ (accessed July 10, 2010).

Penn State Glee Club

Pennsylvania State University, also known as Penn State University, was established in

1855, the same year as Michigan State University. However, the Penn State Glee Club was founded in 1888, eight years later than the Michigan State University Glee Club. The Glee Club represents the oldest musical organization on its campus with a unique origin consisting of a small group of nine students who referred to themselves as the Penn State Glee Club and Banjo and Mandolin Society. It was common for collegiate male glee clubs to join forces with various student instrumental ensembles such as this, but these collaborative relationships were usually witnessed following the official establishment of the glee club. Although the informal student organization was limited in membership during its early years, the group maintained a leadership of various academic professors from its inception, yet another distinct characteristic that sets it apart from many of the earlier collegiate glee clubs that were solely student-governed.

The Glee Club has had eleven conductors in its 122-year history and credits Charles M.

H. Atherton, its fourth faculty director, as the one who “brought stable leadership to the Club” during his tenure from 1893-1912. “Glee Club programs under Atherton were affable affairs, the second half of which often veered into revue and sketch comedy. Skits depicted student life with a mixture [of] high jinks and Penn State college songs. A clever jab at a donnish professor could lead into a rousing chorus of ‘Hail to Old State’ or the Alma Mater.”91 Although Atherton is credited with bringing about a positive change in the musical direction of the Glee Club, the group’s next director Clarence C. Robinson was the Glee Club’s first legitimate music director.

Robinson led the group from 1912-22 while serving as the head of the University’s Department of Music. Robinson, a composer of some of the group’s songs, was the first to elevate the Glee

91 Quoted from the official website of the Penn State Glee Club, available from http://www.pennstategleeclub.com/ (accessed July 10, 2010).

Club’s status and reputation for musical excellence, to target larger audiences with tours across the nation, and to record the Glee Club as early as 1914. The first track listing on the Glee Club’s

1997 CD recording Blue and White Album is On the Sea by Dudley Buck performed by the members of the 1913-14 Glee Club. The club began competing in collegiate male glee club contests sponsored by IMC during Robinson’s tenure and continued this competitive tradition under its following conductor Richard W. Grant, who led the Glee Club from 1922-40. Under the direction of Grant, the Glee Club embarked on its first international tour to Europe in 1928. One of its select ensembles, the Hy-los, founded in 1934 with sixteen members, is still in existence today but is now known as the Hi-Los.

Frank Gullo began his leadership with the Glee Club in 1940 while Grant was on an academic sabbatical, and he assumed complete leadership of the group in 1942 serving until

1967. Gullo provided many performance opportunities for the group including its first national radio broadcast. During the 1945 academic year, the Glee Club became inactive due to a high number of members who were involved in World War II. The hiatus was short-lived, and the

Glee Club was back during the spring of the following year. Gullo toured considerably with the group and is said to have “expanded the repertoire of the Glee Club to include Renaissance motets, German partsongs, and English madrigals, plus the novelty songs and humorous selections that were, and still are, the Glee Club's trademark.”92

In 1970, the Glee Club hired Bruce Trinkley as its new conductor. He served the longest- tenured conductor appointment with the group until his retirement in 2005. During Trinkley’s thirty-five-year career with the Glee Club, he expanded upon the remarkable traditions of the group with numerous tours throughout the nation and overseas and prestigious appearances at the

National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, among others.

92 Ibid.

The Glee Club also released numerous audio recordings under his direction with the most recent being The Green Album (2002) and Glee Club Gold (2005), the latter being a three-disc set of recordings of the Glee Club since 1949. The recordings also feature a large number of compositions and arrangements composed by Trinkley. In March 2005, the Penn State Glee Club

Alumni Interest Group was formed to help support the Glee Club through various efforts including endowments, scholarships, reunion events, and annual spring tours. In the fall of the same year, current director Christopher Kiver was appointed as the Glee Club’s leader following

Trinkley’s distinguished and memorable years of service to the group.

Miami University Men’s Glee Club

Chartered in 1809 and opening its doors to academic study in 1823, Miami University of

Oxford, Ohio, is one of the oldest state institutions of higher learning in America. Acclaimed for its high academic standards emphasizing a liberal arts education, the University is considered as one of America’s public Ivy League schools and has often been referred to as the “Yale of the

West.”93 The Miami University Men’s Glee Club was founded in 1907 and has gained favorable reviews as one of the best collegiate male glee clubs in America. Although the Glee Club was not officially established and recognized until 1907, informal singing organizations were evidenced on campus decades prior with some as early as 1870 for the purpose of enhancing school spirit and morale.

93 http://www.miami.muohio.edu/about-miami/ (accessed July 14, 2010).

With the reopening of Miami in 188594, the Miami Student regularly recognized the student organization of glee clubs, but also regularly lamented on the lack of a true Glee Club like those found on campuses such as Harvard or Yale. By the 1890s, Mandolin Clubs, like those found on other college campuses, were organized at the whim of students who loved music. But all of these examples of Miami’s musical heritage were informal, and reflective of the internal spirit of Miami’s students, and without any formal sanction of the university itself.95

Raymond H. Burke (1881-1954) officially organized the Glee Club in 1907 and served as the group’s director from 1907-14. He also taught courses in geography, geology, and music at the

University from 1906-15. The formation of the Glee Club was at the request of Guy Potter

Benton (1865-1927), the President of Miami University from 1902-11, who wanted it to serve as a means to promote school spirit and provide a vehicle for recruitment. Burke, a composer as well as a conductor, wrote the music for Miami’s Alma Mater and Fight Song. Considered a

Renaissance man by many, he later served the State of Ohio in various political offices including as a member of the Ohio Senate from 1942-46 and afterwards in the United States House of

Representatives from 1947-49. When his political career was over, he returned to Miami

University to teach in the finance department from 1949-50.

From Burke’s twenty-one member original group, the Glee Club has increased its membership to over one hundred students who represent a cross-section of the school’s student body and serve as ambassadors of the University. Burke led the early groups on regional tours throughout the state to carry out the President’s mission of strong recruiting efforts. Though

Burke was not as well-trained musically as other early glee club conductors, he understood the importance of instilling musical excellence within the Glee Club. His philosophy was that social

94 Miami University was closed for a period of time during the 1870s until 1885 because of a lack of enrollment and funds.

95 Kevin Keuthe, “Miami University Glee Club History” (unpublished chronicle of the Glee Club’s history, October 2009), available from http://mugleeclubhistory.squarespace.com/ (accessed July 14, 2010). Keuthe was a 2001 undergraduate of Miami University and member of the Glee Club from 1996-2001.

interactions enjoyed by the group should manifest themselves through musical endeavors. In an effort to develop a larger program with dedicated and reliable members, Burke published an article in the 1910 Miami Student announcing the characteristics a student should possess if desiring to join the Glee Club.

Musical intelligence and ability, a spirit of co-operation and geniality, ability to blend and submerge voices in the whole chorus, faithful attendance and punctuality, and a disposition to grasp the intent and meaning of a program then, are the chief characteristics of the really valuable Glee Club man. . . . The immediate purpose of a Glee Club is the musical development of its various members. . . . A better and broader man should result for having had the training it can give. Such education stimulates the perceptions, arouses clear and sane emotions, broadens sympathies, and cultivates a better appreciation of the beautiful in life.96

The assertive leadership and vision of Burke paved the way for the Glee Club to achieve recognition as a reputable musical organization throughout the fourteen conductors who have led the ensemble. Eight directors served the Glee Club during Burke’s thirty-five year political career. George Barron was the current director of the Glee Club when Burke returned to the

University and served the group over a sixteen-year period from 1936-52.97 As the University underwent rapid growth in the 1920s-30s, the Glee Club was afforded more opportunities for travel. In 1927, the Glee Club embarked on its first of many European concert tours. As the Glee

Club continued to develop throughout the mid- to late-twentieth century, the group began collaborative relationships with some of the nation’s best musicians and ensembles. In 1968, the

Glee Club performed, and later recorded, the world premier of Dave Brubeck’s (b. 1920) oratorio The Light in the Wilderness with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under the direction of then assistant conductor Erich Kunzel (1935-2009). In the following year, the Glee Club

96 Raymond Burke, “Essentials for Ideal Glee Club Man: Distinct Qualities Needed by Aspirants for Club” Miami Student (June 1910). Quoted in “History of the Miami University Glee Club History” by Kevin Keuthe.

97 In 1943, Barron was drafted for service in World War II and was away from Miami until the fall of 1946. Joseph Clokey, who had served as the Glee Club’s director from 1921-24, returned to lead the group during Barron’s military leave of absence.

traveled to Europe on a performance tour with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Max Rudolph (1902-95).98

Permanent conductors of the Glee Club since the mid-twentieth century have included

Richard Schilling (1952-67), John Wabrick (1967-88), Clayton Parr (1989-98), and Ethan Sperry

(2000-10). While the Glee Club enjoyed prosperous decades under the leadership of Schilling,

Wabrick, and Parr, it rose to an unprecedented level of acclaim across the nation and abroad under the leadership of Sperry. With him, the Glee Club traveled extensively on four international tours in addition to annual winter tours throughout the United States. The group was invited to perform at three IMC National Seminars in 2004, 2006, and 2008 and hosted and performed at the 2010 National Seminar. The group has released three recordings under Sperry:

Take Time in Life (2003), Loud Noises (2005), and One Two Go Two (2009). Embracing a diverse repertoire, the Glee Club performs songs spanning many genres and centuries. The group also has presented numerous arrangements by Sperry, including some popular Indian songs published under his editorship with the Global Rhythms series by earthsongs. Three of these well-known Indian arrangements for male chorus are Desh, Ramkali, and Zikr. A strong relationship with the Miami University Alumni Association’s Glee Club Alumni Group was engendered during Sperry’s tenure fostering the long-lived traditions of the group’s past and present. In 2007 with the assistance of the Alumni Group, the Glee Club established an endowment with over $1,000,000 in pledges. Building upon previous conductors’ leadership,

Sperry imparted the Glee Club with musical experiences and opportunities that elevated its prominence among the nation’s best collegiate male glee clubs.

98 “Brothers in Song, Sing On!” Miamian Magazine (Fall 2007). Accessed via the official Miami University Alumni Organization website, available from http://www.miamialum.org/ (accessed July 14, 2010).

Morehouse College Glee Club

In 2011, the Morehouse College Glee Club will celebrate its historic centennial anniversary. The esteemed reputation held by the Glee Club parallels the renowned status of the

College. The history of Morehouse College is remarkable in itself. In 1867, two years following the cessation of hostilities during the U.S. Civil War, Augusta Institute, the predecessor of

Morehouse College, was founded and held its first classes in the basement of the Springfield

Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia.99 An historically all-male African-American institution,

Morehouse College has been considered the largest private liberal arts educational system of higher learning for African-American males in the United States. What is more, “Morehouse

College has a goal of being the finest liberal arts college in the nation. . . . Not the finest historically black college, or Southern institution, or institution with similar enrollments or backgrounds.”100 One of the more notable undergraduates of Morehouse College was Martin

Luther King, Jr. (1929-68), the revolutionary civil rights activist and 1964 Nobel Peace Prize recipient. The College today embraces a diverse student population of all races while remaining true to its original mission as one of the few remaining men’s colleges in the United States.

While the Morehouse College Glee Club formally claims 1911 as its founding year, historical accounts of singing on the Morehouse campus date to the mid- to late-nineteenth century within a few years of the establishment of the school. Male singing groups often were formed within each academic year’s class to promote a fraternal and school spirit continuing the

99 Springfield Baptist Church in Augusta, Georgia, was founded in 1787 and is recognized as the oldest independent African-American church in America. Morehouse College, established in the church’s basement in 1867, and originally named the Augusta Institute, underwent two additional name changes prior to its current name: Atlanta Baptist Seminary (1879) and Atlanta Baptist College (1897). Morehouse College was adopted as the official school name in 1913 in honor of Henry L. Morehouse, the corresponding secretary of the American Baptist Home Mission Society.

100 Quoted from the official website of Morehouse College, available from http://www.morehouse.edu/about/ (accessed July 15, 2010).

time-honored tradition often associated with singing men in early college and university glee clubs. The Morehouse College Quartet dates itself as early as 1870 and is the oldest singing organization in school history. This early singing tradition at Morehouse included competitions between numerous quartets, which often included the Mandolin Club. The Morehouse College

Quartet is still in existence and commemorates its 140-year history of performance excellence in

2010.

An interest in music was well-established at Morehouse College when Kemper Harreld

(1885-1971) began his tenure at the school in 1911. He became the first official conductor of the

Glee Club organizing the group during his first year at the school. Harreld quickly brought attention to the Glee Club and the Music Department with numerous concerts in the community and regional tours to nearby cities. “Every spring the Glee Club and Orchestra make a visit to one or two cities not far away; and invariably they have excited favorable comment and reflected credit on the college.”101 Soon after its inception, Harreld’s vision of musical greatness for the

Glee Club was achieved and recognized firmly embedding within the Glee Club a tradition of excellence that has been sustained for nearly one hundred years.

An astonishing fact in the history of the Glee Club is the long-lasting and stable leadership of its directors similar to the long-tenured directors of the Harvard Glee Club.

Approaching its one hundred-year anniversary, the Glee Club has been under the leadership of only three conductors, although two other conductors held interim posts while conductors where on study leave. Harreld led the Glee Club for forty-two years until his retirement in 1953. The second conductor in the history of the program was Wendell Whalum (1931-87). Whalum was a

1952 undergraduate of Morehouse College and also served as a student director of the Glee Club.

101 Benjamin Brawley, History of the Morehouse College (Morehouse College: Atlanta, GA, 1917), 127.

He conducted the Glee Club for thirty-four years from 1953-87. The prominence of the Glee

Club was heightened under Whalum with appearances with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and concert tours to Lincoln Center in New York City and the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, among others.

Under the direction of Dr. Whalum, the Glee Club performed for the funeral services of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., ʼ48, and for the Second International Choral Festival at Lincoln Center in New York. In March 1972, the Glee Club made a month-long tour of five African countries. The Glee Club sang for the inauguration of President Jimmy Carter in 1977 and in the East Room of the White House with Coretta Scott King in 1978. In the Spring of 1987, the Glee Club recorded “I’m Buildin’ Me a Home”, arranged by former Glee Club member Uzee Brown, Jr., ʼ72, for the soundtrack of Spike Lee’s [ʼ79] movie “School Daze”.102

Whalum’s numerous compositions and arrangements for the Glee Club are treasures in the male choral repertoire. Popular among his many titles are Get on Board, Guide My Feet, I’m Gonna

Live So God Can Use Me, Mary Had a Baby, and The Lily of the Valley. One of his more popular

Christmas arrangements is the Nigerian carol Betelehemu.

The acclaim that the Glee Club received under Harreld and the international stature garnered under Whalum was bestowed to the Glee Club’s third and current conductor David

Morrow in 1987. Morrow joined the Morehouse College faculty in 1981 and served as the Glee

Club’s assistant director under Whalum for six years, which was an impressive accomplishment after just completing his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1980 from Morehouse. At the same time he continued his studies and received his Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan in 1981 and his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in 1995 from the University of Cincinnati

College-Conservatory of Music. Morrow’s doctoral thesis, “The Choral Music of Wendell

Whalum,” draws attention to the significant impact Whalum had in the choral field through his many years of service with the Glee Club at Morehouse College. The Glee Club has continued

102 Ibid.

its legendary musical tradition under the direction of Morrow with national and international tours and prestigious concert engagements and collaborations with the Atlanta Symphony

Orchestra and the Spelman Glee Club,103 which have been featured together at the annual concerts honoring Martin Luther King’s birthday since the inaugural event in 1993. Additionally, the Glee Club has performed with renowned artists including Gloria Estefan, Jennifer Larmore,

Jessye Norman, Trisha Yearwood, and Stevie Wonder and also has collaborated with movie producer Spike Lee by recording He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands for Lee’s 2008 World

War II film Miracle at St. Anna. Of special significance was the Glee Club’s appearance at the

Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Morrow has contributed to the male repertoire medium with published arrangements of well-known spirituals.

Three of these arrangements are Got a Mind to Do Right, I Can’t Tarry, and Jacob’s Ladder. The

Glee Club has released numerous recordings under Morrow’s direction the most recent being A

Legacy Continued… (2007) and Walk Humbly (2010). Currently comprised of a select auditioned group of approximately seventy students representing the majority of majors on campus, Morrow continues to lead the Glee Club with a continuing artistic reputation that is among the finest in the nation.

Collegiate Male Glee Clubs: A Preeminent History with an Encouraging Future

Since the establishment of the Harvard Glee Club in 1858, a growing number of glee clubs have achieved musical greatness during the movement’s 152-year history. Although many glee clubs emerged from small student organizations whose purpose was to provide music-based

103 The Spelman College Glee Club is an auditioned women’s chorus open to all students enrolled at Spelman College, an historically all-female African-American College in Atlanta, Georgia. The Spelman Glee Club frequently collaborates with the Morehouse College Glee Club and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

social opportunities while promoting school spirit, they emerged as a musical entity that would eventually achieve the highest accolades. While popular, school, and drinking songs characterized programming by many glee clubs in their early history, they eventually were transformed to include songs with more musical merit when faculty conductors assumed leadership. Collegiate glee clubs in the twenty-first century continue to embrace diverse genres of repertoire spanning centuries of music from around the world while retaining many traditional glee club songs. Glee clubs have regularly opened membership to include students from all academic disciplines allowing those who are passionate about music to have a musical outlet and opportunity to experience the spirit of brotherhood and song. Serving as organizations that offer members social, educational, and musical opportunities, collegiate male glee clubs provide life- long memories that are likely to encourage members to remain active in choral music and become supporters of the arts when entering the professional work force.

The accounts of the selected collegiate glee clubs included in this brief historical examination are representative of the rich traditions embedded in glee clubs around the country.

While the traditions of camaraderie and fellowship remain constant, the desire to excel in the area of musical performance also is a continual focus. This tradition is likely to continue well into the future so long as colleges and universities recognize the inherent value of the male choral experience to the individual, to the fraternal spirit, and to the broader academic community.

TABLE 1

AMERICAN COLLEGIATE MALE GLEE CLUBS

COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY STATE GLEE CLUB FOUNDED SCHOOL FOUNDED Harvard University MA 1858 1636 University of Michigan-Ann Arbor MI 1859 1817 University of Pennsylvania PA 1862 1740 Amherst College MA 1862 1821 Tufts University MA 1865 1852 Cornell University NY 1868 1865

85 University of Virginia VA 1871 1819 Rutgers University NJ 1872 1766 Columbia University NY 1873 1754 Worcester Polytechnic Institute MA 1874 1865 Princeton University NJ 1874 1746 The Ohio State University OH 1875 1870 University of Wisconsin-Madison WI 1875 1848 University of Rochester NY 1876 1850 Lehigh University PA 1880 1865 Smith College MA 1885 1871

TABLE 1 – Continued

COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY STATE GLEE CLUB FOUNDED SCHOOL FOUNDED University of California at Berkley CA 1885 1869 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign IL 1886 1867 Kansas State University KS 1888 1863 Michigan State University MI 1888 1855 Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) PA 1888 1855 University of Pittsburgh PA 1890 1787 University of Georgia GA 1891 1785 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill NC 1892 1789 86 Purdue University IN 1893 1869 Fordham University NY 1893 1841 Texas A&M University-College Station TX 1893 1876 New York University NY 1894 1831 Baylor University TX 1895 1845 Case Western Reserve University OH 1897 1867 Georgia Institute of Technology GA 1906 1885 Ohio University OH 1906 1804 Miami University OH 1907 1809 Morehouse College GA 1911 1867 University of Notre Dame IN 1915 1842

TABLE 1 – Continued

COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY STATE GLEE CLUB FOUNDED SCHOOL FOUNDED University of California-Santa Barbara CA 1921 1905 Bowling Green State University OH 1923 1910 California Institute of Technology (Caltech) CA 1923 1891 University of Florida FL 1924 1853 Loyola Marymount University CA 1937 1911 Georgetown University DC 1946 1789 Brigham Young University UT 1958 1875 University of Northern Iowa IA 1960 1876 87 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire WI 1967 1916 Clemson University SC 1982 1889 Boston College MA 1990 1863 College of William and Mary VA 1990 1693 University of Texas at Austin TX 1998 1883 Iowa State University IA 2000 1858 University of Connecticut CT 2001 1881 University of Maryland-College Park MD 2001 1862 University of Kentucky KY 2002 1865 University of Wyoming WY 2004 1886

CHAPTER VI

BEYOND COLLEGIATE MALE GLEE CLUBS

Continuing Advocacy and Advancement of the Male Chorus Movement in the United States:

Professional Service Organizations and Male Choruses in the Community

As collegiate male glee clubs continued to develop and strengthen their artistic missions throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century, numerous professional service organizations have emerged to advocate for the male choral movement. Professional and community male choruses have assisted in this effort by maintaining awareness of this artistic movement, providing various initiatives, performances, and outreach opportunities that encourage others to sing in a male chorus regardless of age. This chapter includes information on the Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses (IMC), Associated Male Choruses of America (AMCA),

Barbershop Harmony Society, American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Chorus

America, and the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA). These are among the foremost professional service organizations with missions supporting the advancement of male choruses. Tables 3 through 7 at the end of this chapter provide a listing of representative male choruses under the aforementioned affiliations in addition to the military male choruses. The male choruses included in the tables are not comprehensive but reveal the high level of interest in male choral singing in the United States. Initiatives undertaken by the two leading professional male choruses, Chanticleer and Cantus, along with two well-respected community choruses, the

Turtle Creek Chorale and the Washington Men’s Camerata, have been included because of their efforts of programming and advocacy of the male choral art in the United States.

Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses (IMC)

The first professional service organization founded in the United States to support the male choral art was known as the Intercollegiate Musical Council. The creation of this organization, now known as the Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses (IMC), began in 1914 and coincided with the time period that many collegiate male glee clubs were attempting to achieve higher artistic standards. The organization owes much of its early growth to Albert Pickernell, student conductor of the Harvard Glee Club during his senior year of 1913-14. Pickernell believed that creating a glee club competition would be good for the growth of collegiate male singing and would enhance artistic performance standards at the same time. During his senior year, he and the Harvard Glee Club challenged the Columbia University Glee Club, Dartmouth

College Glee Club, and the University of Pennsylvania Glee Club to participate in a singing competition. Pickernell’s wife Harriet served as the IMC Executive Secretary for a period of time prior to Marshall Bartholomew’s tenure in the same position. Harriet, a well-respected concert manager, wrote a history of the organization in 1956 and recalls the following:

Mr. Albert Pickernell made the varsity glee club at Harvard in his freshmen year, and HP’s [Harriett] brother, Sanger Steel, was the leader of the glee club at that time. AP was the leader of the glee club his senior year, which was 1914. During his Junior year he had the idea for IMC. He and Sanger Steel had been working to raise the standard of singing. They felt that standards in other lines had been raised thru competition in football, track, etc., but that sufficient attention had not been paid to the quality of singing and it was with this in mind that AP set up the first organization.104

After graduating from Harvard in 1914, he moved to New York and became an active member of the University Glee Club of New York City. His fellow singing companions supported the idea of collegiate glee club competitions, and through the assistance of the

University Glee Club of New York City, the first national collegiate men’s glee club competition

104 Harriet Pickernell, “History of IMC” (May 9, 1956).

was organized that same year. Bartholomew, serving as the Executive Secretary with IMC in

1961, recalls the following historical account of the early contests.

A first intercollegiate glee club contest was held in 1914 [at Carnegie Hall in New York City] and three additional contests were held until the entry of the USA into World War I brought them to a close. In 1916 and 1917, Princeton, Amherst and Penn State joined the original four. The contests were resumed in 1921, with eight clubs participating, New York University having joined the group.105

Prior to the New York University Glee Club joining the contest in 1921, the University Glee

Club of New York City formally organized and incorporated the Intercollegiate Musical Council in 1920. Efforts to continue the collegiate glee club competitions through IMC were highly successful. Bartholomew recounts that the 15th Annual Intercollegiate Glee Club Contest held in

1931 at Carnegie Hall featured sixty-seven glee clubs hailing from twenty-four states. In the

IMC Report of Activities of 1930-31, Bartholomew began and concluded his annual report with the following:

The activities and influence of the Council have expanded in every direction during the past winter, in spite of the discouraging world depression which has continued throughout the year and made progress difficult at every point. . . . There is no question but that our organization is now looked upon throughout the country as an important element in music education and as the chief inspiration and hope of maintaining the singing spirit among American students.106

The expansion and growth of this competition led to the first national competition outside

New York City. St. Louis, Missouri was the chosen site in 1932. The competition featured the winners of ten regional IMC contests earlier that year with the Pomona College Glee Club claiming the first place award followed by the Yale Glee Club and Penn State Glee Club in second and third place, respectively. The rapid progression of the collegiate male glee club

105 Marshall Bartholomew, “A Bit of History” (1961), available from http://imci.sdstate.org/pages/history.html (accessed March 28, 2010).

106 Marshall Bartholomew, Executive Director, Intercollegiate Musical Council, “Report of Activities” (October 1930 to April 15, 1931).

movement was further evidenced in the 1933-34 IMC records with 139 college glee clubs holding membership in the organization. However, when World War II (1939-45) commenced, the large number of men drafted into the service of the United States military decimated the ranks of collegiate glee clubs. As a result, this period of time witnessed the disbanding of numerous glee clubs around the country, some of which, unfortunately, never returned, while others evolved into co-ed choral ensembles.

In 1954, IMC began a revitalization process under the leadership of Frank H. Baxter, then president of the University Glee Club of New York City, who helped initiate the first IMC

National Seminar held that year at Purdue University. Although glee club competitions were terminated, the national seminars provided an encouraging environment in which glee clubs performed for one another and seminar attendees gained valuable knowledge through the various interest sessions that were offered. In 1961, the Baxter Fund was established, which made a Prize

Song Contest possible.

In 2008, Clayton Parr, current Executive Secretary of IMC, picked up where

Bartholomew left off with “A Bit More History: IMC Since 1961,” published on the organization’s website. Parr recounts the first IMC-sponsored composition contest.

The 1961 Prize Song Contest, adjudicated by Robert Shaw, Wallace Woodworth and George Howerton, was won by Leonard Kastle’s piece “Three Whale Songs from Moby Dick,” and was premiered at the 1962 Seminar at Northwestern University. The contest was never repeated in that form, and funds donated in memory of Frank Baxter remain with IMC to this day, with recent proceeds supporting the Male Chorus Commissioning Consortium.107

107 Clayton Parr, “A Bit More History: IMC Since 1961” (2008), available from http://imci.sdstate.org/pages/history.html (accessed March 28, 2010).

Although the annual Prize Song Contest was short-lived, insight into its eventual demise is suggested by comments in a letter written by the preeminent conductor and adjudicator of the contest Robert Shaw. Shaw’s letter to the Intercollegiate Musical Council states the following:

I do not know how many compositions were received, but of those forwarded to me I am able to find only five of tolerable merit.108 The areas of my evaluations were formal, harmonic, rhythmic, prosodic and practical. . . . I do not know how much this contest may have cost beyond the $250 prize and the additional honoraria offered the judges. However, as it is very unlikely that any recognized first- or second-rank composer would engage in this sort of contest, I wonder if more might have been gained for male glee club repertoire if the money spent had been awarded as a commission to an acknowledged professional composer. I would think that there might well be a half-dozen or more Americans with international reputation who could have found the time to write a decent and vital five to seven minute piece for male chorus for a fee in the neighborhood (as we say) of $750. It will be interesting to see what you all decide to do.109

Since the founding of the Male Chorus Commissioning Consortium in 2006, IMC has been involved in each of the three commissioning projects. The first commission in 2006 was Last

Letter Home by Lee Hoiby. In 2007, Steven Sametz was commissioned to write We Two, and in

2008, Gavin Bryars was commissioned to write three pieces: A Golden Age, Post-Glacial, and

The Mirror.

Although the IMC rebounded in the early 1950s through the late 1960s with initial help from Baxter, the number of participating collegiate glee clubs has since declined. Parr notes that sixty-three collegiate glee clubs held membership in 1967 compared to forty-seven in 2008.

Currently, there are forty-two collegiate glee clubs listed as members of IMC on its official website.110

108 There were at least twenty-five submissions to the Prize Song Contest. Shaw’s top five selections were numbered 5, 9-A, 10, 15, and 25. The winning song Three Whale Sings from Moby Dick was the fifth entry.

109 Letter to Mr. F. Austin Walker, Intercollegiate Musical Council, November 7, 1961.

110 Information can be found at http://imci.sdstate.org/pages/members.html (accessed July 18, 2010).

In 1968, then-President Fenno Heath wrote of the ‘ . . . uncertainty of the survival of the male choruses on many campuses, it is our most important responsibility to encourage and support the activities of our member glee clubs wherever they may be, and to demonstrate the significance of the contribution which our groups can make to the musical life of our institutions. As one who has grown up in this tradition, I can only say that the friendships engendered and the benefits derived from this kind of association which we have all enjoyed are too precious and enduring to cast aside. We are the inheritors and the custodians of an ongoing pattern of musical activity which hopefully will enrich the lives of all who participated for years to come.’111

Despite the current membership of IMC being considerably lower than the early 1930s, the organization is thriving and plays a vital role in sustaining the long-lived traditions associated with collegiate men’s glee clubs in the United States. In 1980, IMC established the Marshall

Bartholomew Award to honor individuals who have made significant contributions to the male chorus movement. At the conclusion of this chapter, Table 2 lists the twenty-two recipients of the Marshall Bartholomew Award that has been given between 1980-2010 as published on the

IMC website. Since the 1990s, IMC has expanded its mission by reaching out to male choruses beyond academic circles. Today, secondary, community, and professional male choruses are included in IMC membership, as well as in performances at its National Seminars. The influences of Albert Pickernell that led to the organization of IMC and those associated with the organization over its ninety-year history have helped shape male glee clubs and choruses, both academic and non-academic, into an artistic choral movement that is recognized worldwide.

Associated Male Choruses of America (AMCA)

Clayton W. Old, a former member of the University Glee Club of New York City, was a life-long enthusiast and advocate of collegiate male glee club singing. At a meeting of the

Intercollegiate Music Council on March 11, 1924, Old presented a plan that would encourage the

111 Parr, “A Bit More History.”

creation of glee clubs across the country and at the same time further the goal of making the

United States and Canada nations of singing men. The motto eventually adopted summed up his philosophy of male choral singing: “Good Singing, Good Fellowship, and Public Service.”112

The organization’s name was changed in 1945 to Associated Male Choruses of America, Inc.

Today the group has a membership of seventeen male choruses primarily in Minnesota,

Wisconsin, and North Dakota. Each year, the member choruses join together for a large singing festival known as the “Big Sing,” which is hosted by a member chorus. The festival includes individual performances by each participating chorus, master-class sessions with featured clinicians, reading sessions, a variety of special interest sessions, and a mass festival chorus with all choruses singing together to conclude the event. The organization attempts to host an international “Big Sing” every five years. However, according to the group’s official website, the last international “Big Sing” was held in 1998 in Amherst, New York. The festivals are not designed as a competition but rather to promote male choral singing through the exchange of ideas and resources and to provide the fellowship that is such a vital component of the male choral tradition.

Barbershop Harmony Society

On April 11, 1938, Owen Clifton Cash, a local tax attorney in Tulsa, Oklahoma, organized the first official meeting of what became known as the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America (SPEBSQSA). Since 2004, the organization has been referred to and marketed as the Barbershop Harmony Society. Barbershop quartet singing is recognized as an original American musical art form. The mission of the

112 Information pertaining to the Associated Male Choruses of America can be found on its official website, available from http://amcofa.net/ (accessed July 20, 2010).

organization is to bring men together in harmony and fellowship, to enrich lives through singing, and to be the premier membership organization for men who love to sing. The group was headquartered in Kenosha, Wisconsin, for fifty years before relocating to Nashville, Tennessee, in 2007. The Society “is home to the Old Songs Library, the world’s largest privately held collection of sheet music, containing 750,000 sheets and 125,000 titles from the heyday of Tin

Pan Alley.” 113

The original group that Owen founded in 1938 consisted of twenty-six men.

“Membership grew to more than 2,000 men in that first year, and the Society held its first convention and national contest the following year.”114 The 2007 membership figures, the most recent figures available, indicate that nearly 30,000 men are involved in barbershop singing in the United States today. Since 1939, the Society has sponsored annual international competitions featuring five categories to further promote the artistic advancement of this seventy-two year choral movement. Three categories are quartet specific: International Collegiate Quartet,

International Quartet, and International Seniors Quartet. The remaining two categories are specified for choral organizations: International Chorus and Youth Chorus Festival. The annually sponsored competitive events are just a small element of the Society’s mission, which also includes many other outreach initiatives for civic, community, church, and educational organizations and a number of charitable events. Educational initiatives sponsored by the organization are held throughout the year. One of its largest is known as Harmony University, a weeklong summer music education workshop that began in 1970. The program offers a wide

113 “Preserving an Art Form: the Barbershop Harmony Society,” accessed via the official Barbershop Harmony Society website, available from http://www.barbershop.org/ (accessed July 20, 2010).

114 Ibid.

variety of classes for directors and singers of all ages with instruction from some of the foremost barbershop coaches in the world.

American Choral Directors Association (ACDA)

In February 1959 the foundation was laid for what would become the American Choral

Directors Association (ACDA), one of the most comprehensive and encompassing of the choral art service organizations in the world. The organization was created from the desires of thirty- five choral directors who met in Kansas City, Missouri, during a Music Teachers National

Association (MTNA) conference in 1959. Originally envisioned as the American Choirmasters

Association by its founding members, the organization adopted its current name at its first meeting. ACDA celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2009 and currently has an organizational structure of over 18,000 that supports and represents a wide-ranging membership in the art and education of choral singing and conducting.

With the promotion of excellence in choral music through performance, composition, publication, research, and teaching as its central purpose, ACDA serves also as an advocate for the choral arts in all levels of American society. Membership in this organization includes choral singers, directors, and administrators of ensembles with community, church, or educational affiliations regardless of age, race, gender, and religion drawing together leaders and communities of singers to promote the art of singing well together. ACDA membership represents more than 1,000,000 singers throughout the United States. It is well represented across the nation with seven geographic divisions and chapters in all fifty states. In addition to its scholarly Choral Journal, its divisional and state chapters each sponsor newsletters, festivals,

workshops, and choral clinics to offer educational development opportunities that advanced the choral arts.

Of particular benefit to its members are the fourteen Repertoire and Standards (R&S)

Committees. Among these are the Male Choir Repertoire and Standards Committee, which has as its purpose “to promote the best in male choir singing in America by helping male choirs and their directors gain access to repertoire, resources and communications.”115 Through the seven sections of the Standards, directors of male choirs are assured that nothing is overlooked with regard to helping their choir develop into the best ensemble possible. The Standards include

Repertoire, Choral Vocal Production, Rehearsal Techniques and Instruction, Professional

Growth and Development, Recruitment and Retention, Audience Development and Education, and Advocacy. Each Standard lists multiple specific actions conductors should take or consider in order to achieve their desired goals for the male choirs they direct. The Standards are preceded by the following statement, which attests to the recognition and commitment of providing assistance to male choral directors regardless of age or ability level.

Creating standards for the male choir R&S area is particularly challenging in that we represent a singing constituency that spans a wide age range. We conduct teenage singers whose voices have just changed, as well as mature adults, some of whom have been singing for nearly their entire lives. But certain general standards can apply to all men’s choruses, as long as conductors make appropriate adjustments for the ages and levels of their singers. A Schenkerian analysis of these standards might result in the simple phrase, “Sing well.” We hope they can provide both guidance for the new conductor and reaffirmation for the experienced one.116

Beyond its publications, festivals, clinics, and workshops, ACDA maintains a dynamic website and in December 2009 assumed ownership and management of ACDA ChoralNet, a professional online networking site for the global choral community. Since 2003, Oklahoma

115 Quoted from the Male R&S section of the American Choral Directors Association website, available from http://acda.org/repertoire/male_choir/ (accessed July 20, 2010).

116 Ibid.

City, Oklahoma, has been the national headquarters for ACDA. The two previous national office headquarters were in Lawton, Oklahoma, from 1977-2003 and Tampa, Florida, from 1960-77.

For over a half-century, ACDA has provided numerous opportunities for the enrichment of male choruses through its state, regional, and national conferences and has helped to rapidly advance the choral arts to artistic prominence around the country and across the globe.

Chorus America

One of the more recent professional service organizations to be created in support of the choral arts in the United States is Chorus America. The organization, originally named the

Association of Professional Vocal Ensembles, was formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in

December 1977 by conductors of professional choirs to help advance the artistic growth of such choruses in America. Michael Korn (1947-91), founder and former conductor of the Philadelphia

Singers, was instrumental in the establishment of the organization and served as its first

President from 1977-85. The organization has since dramatically expanded its membership, and in 1993, officially changed its name to Chorus America. In 1998, Chorus America relocated its national headquarters to Washington, DC. With charter members totalling twenty-four, membership quickly rose to forty-five in its first year and has now surpassed 650 choral groups spanning the spectrum of choral voicing, including male choruses. Currently, “More than 1,600 choruses, individuals, and businesses are members of Chorus America. This powerful group of conductors, arts administrators, board members, singers, music business executives, and choral music lovers are at the core of a dramatically expanding choral movement in North America.”117

117 Quoted from the official website of Chorus America, available from http://www.chorusamerica.org/about_chorusamerica.cfm (accessed July 26, 2010).

Chorus America has advocated for the choral art in numerous ways through research publications, annual conferences, leadership development forums, and conducting workshops.

The two scholarly publications of Chorus America are the American Choral Review, a comprehensive journal focusing on choral repertoire and performance practice issues that is published biannually under the editorship of William Weinert,118 and the Research Memorandum

Series, a bibliographic journal also published biannually under the editorship of L. Brett Scott.119

Chorus America also publishes a quarterly magazine The Voice which is wide-ranging in scope with “in-depth interviews and profiles, chorus news, opinion and commentary, board leadership strategies, successful fundraising and marketing techniques, and advice on artistic issues.”120

Likewise, the organization has published additional research studies the most recent including

The Chorus Impact Study (2009), which reveals the significant numbers of American choral singers and choirs and advocates the social, musical, and lifestyle benefits of choral singing.

118 Dr. William Weinert has served as Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Conducting and Ensembles at the Eastman School of Music since 1994. He has served as editor of Chorus America’s American Choral Review since 1999. Alfred Mann served as editor from 1961-99.

119 Dr. L. Brett Scott has served as Assistant Professor of Ensembles and Conducting at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music since 2007. Prior to his appointment at the University of Cincinnati, he served as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at the University of Rochester and as Assistant Professor of Conducting and Ensembles at the Eastman School of Music. He has served as editor of Chorus America’s Research Memorandum Series since 2010. Dr. David DeVenney served as editor from 1995- 2009.

120 Description of Chorus America’s quarterly publication The Voice as noted on the organization’s website, available from http://www.chorusamerica.org/ (accessed July 26, 2010).

Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA)

The Gay and Lesbian Association Choruses (GALA) organization was established in

1982.121 This twenty-eight year choral movement to encourage and involve members of the gay and lesbian communities in the choral arts began to emerge in 1975 when the Anna Crusis

Women’s Choir was formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Gotham Male Chorus in New

York City, founded in December 1977, was the first gay chorus. This group specialized in

Gregorian chant and Renaissance music. Women were admitted to the group in 1979 making it the first gay and lesbian chorus in the nation, and the name was changed to the Stonewall

Chorale. In 1978, the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus became the first group to use the word

“gay” in its name. This group was the first to undertake a concert tour visiting twelve cities in

1981 and inspiring the formation of numerous other choruses. The San Francisco Gay Men’s

Chorus hosted Gay Games I in 1982, which drew fourteen choruses to San Francisco for the First

West Coast Choral Festival. This event gave birth to the GALA Choruses Network in 1982, which soon led to the subsequent name change to the GALA Choruses in the same year. This early success led to the Come Out and Sing Together (COAST) event in 1983 in San Francisco, which attracted 1200 individuals and twelve choruses to the first National Gay and Lesbian

Choral Festival. Thirty-nine choruses were registered by the end of that year. In 1992, the GALA

Choruses Festival IV, held in Denver, Colorado, involved sixty-four choruses and 3,400 delegates who participated in one or more of the 150 Festival concerts. Throughout the remainder of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century, the gay and lesbian choral movement has continued to flourish. The organization has received numerous grants including its first National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) grant in 1993, and has increased its operational

121 Information on the GALA Choruses can be found on its official website, available from http://www.galachoruses.org/ (accessed July 20, 2010).

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budget to over 1,000,000 dollars. In celebration of its twenty-fifth anniversary, GALA Choruses commissioned Shawn Northcutt, a film producer, to create a DVD of its history entitled Songs of

Courage in 2008.

GALA Choruses today serves as the leading association for promoting the

Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender (GLBT) choral movement in the United States and abroad.

Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, group membership now totals some 150 choruses and 7,500 individuals. Choruses range in size from five to 250 members. Of the total group members, gay male choruses represent more than half. The organization provides artistic and organizational support to its members through various publications, conferences, and festivals in addition to providing grants to member choruses in order to commission new works by prominent composers.

Professional Male Choruses

Two professional male singing ensembles have been vital to the advancement of the male choral art by providing educational outreach opportunities for schools and the public. These professional men’s ensembles that reach diverse audiences through live performance, media, and educational outreach programs are Chanticleer and Cantus. Both are Grammy Award-winning ensembles and present hundreds of concerts around the world each year commissioning new works and performing repertoire spanning many periods and genres.

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Chanticleer

Founded in 1978 by Louis Botto in San Francisco, California, Chanticleer is comprised of twelve singers. The original group consisted of ten singers and was conceived by Botto, a graduate student in musicology at the time, to fill a void in the oft-neglected performance of music from the Medieval and Renaissance eras, which was traditionally sung by male voices.

The ensemble’s premier performance occurred on June 27, 1978 in San Francisco and featured works of composers including William Byrd (ca. 1540-1623), Heinrich Isaac (ca. 1450-1517),

Johannes Ockeghem (ca. 1410-97), Cristóbal de Morales (ca. 1500-53), Thomas Morley (ca.

1557-1602), Guillaume Dufay (ca. 1397-1474), and Josquin des Prez (ca. 1450-1521). The source of the group’s name stems from the “clear singing rooster” in The Nun’s Priest’s Tale found in Geoffrey Chaucer’s (ca. 1343-1400) Canterbury Tales.122

Throughout Chanticleer’s thirty-two year history, the ensemble has been recognized as a premier male vocal ensemble around the world and has often been referred to as “an orchestra of voices.” Among the numerous accolades the group has received is the 2008 Ensemble of the

Year Award by Musical America, an international performing arts organization founded in 1898.

In addition to providing numerous educational outreach initiatives, another primary focus of

Chanticleer’s mission is to frequently commission and perform new works from some of the world’s leading composers.123 As a result of placing such a strong emphasis on commissioning,

Chanticleer received the inaugural Chorus America Dale Warland Singers Commission Award in

122 Information on Chanticleer is available on its website, available from http://www.chanticleer.org/ (accessed July 21, 2010).

123 “Among the seventy composers commissioned in Chanticleer's history are Mark Adamo, Mason Bates, Régis Campo, Chen Yi, David Conte, Shawn Crouch, Douglas J. Cuomo, Brent Michael Davids, Anthony Davis, Guido López-Gavilán, William Hawley, Jake Heggie, Jackson Hill, Kamran Ince, Jeeyoung Kim, Tania León, Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, Michael McGlynn, John Musto, Tarik O'Regan, Shulamit Ran, Bernard Rands, Steven Sametz, Carlos Sanchez-Guttierez, Paul Schoenfield, Steven Stucky, John Tavener, Augusta Read Thomas, and Janike Vandervelde.” Quoted from Chanticleer’s website, http://www.chanticleer.org/ (accessed July 21, 2010).

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2008 and the ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming in 2007. Although the exclusively-comprised male ensemble has been exalted as the “world’s reigning male chorus” by the New Yorker and has strongly influenced the advocacy and interest in male choral singing, the group includes countertenors, and the vast majority of their repertoire and commissioned works is written for SATB voicing.

Cantus

Cantus, founded in 1995 and based in Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, is recognized as one of the world’s premier male vocal ensembles. The group is comprised of nine singers and, unlike Chanticleer, presents only TTBB music. Within its relatively short fifteen-year history, the group has become a critically acclaimed chamber ensemble performing in prestigious venues and presenting broadcasts around the world. Similar to Chanticleer, the group is unique in that it has no music director or conductor with the singers taking a collaborative approach to the music- learning process. Their shared leadership philosophy is stated, “When we begin a new piece of music, we assign a producer to guide the chamber process for that piece. That person is in charge of successfully bringing the piece from the rehearsal room to the stage, while making sure that all opinions are heard and considered in the process.”124

Engaging audiences and singers of all ages and serving as advocates for music education are the primary missions of the group. Former founding member, singer, and Artistic Director of the group Erick Lichte stated “Each year we worked with over 10,000 students in outreach activities that ranged from in-school concerts, choral clinics, collaborations with school choirs,

124 Quoted from the official website of Cantus, available from http://www.cantusonline.org/music/philosophies.htm (accessed July 21, 2010).

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day-long festivals, and a week long summer camp.”125 Commissioning new works specifically for the male choral medium has also been one of the most important missions of Cantus. As

Artistic Director, Lichte was instrumental in founding the Male Chorus Commissioning

Consortium in 2006, which has had nine to thirteen male choruses participate in commissioning projects. In addition to Cantus’ involvement with the Consortium, the group has commissioned other works from leading composers including Kenneth Jennings, Peter Hamlin, Edie Hill, and

Robert Kyr. Additionally, the majority of the new works premiered by Cantus are composed, arranged, and self-published by members of the group including many by Lichte and current

Cantus member Timothy C. Takach.

Lichte commented on his philosophy of programming in a recent interview that is inspiring, educationally-based, and serves as a model statement for the manner in which conductors of all choirs should approach their own repertoire programming.

My philosophy has always been a multi-tiered approach. I always strive to have all of the “usual suspects” represented in a program; early music, modern works, funny songs, pop music, larger-scale works, world music, etc. In other words, I always want the choral geek to look for a certain genre of music and find it on the program. Then, most importantly, I want to have a full gamut of emotional moments constructed in the program. I want people to both laugh and cry at one of my concerts and I want to construct the concert (perhaps thematically) in a way that makes sense for the emotional journey. . . . I also try to program the individual strengths and talents of the ensemble – allowing the concert to highlight a great soloist or special talent that may be in the choir.126

He offered the following advice at the conclusion of the interview:

125 Interview with Erick Lichte conducted in July 2010.

126 Ibid.

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The best male choirs I’ve seen allow men to explore ALL of their feelings and emotions as men; from being rude and raucous to being vulnerable and sensitive. Conductors must pick repertoire that lets their men explore all of those feelings. The conductor must also be a person that can facilitate and nurture those feelings. If you can do that, you’ll make great music and your singers will truly grow as people.127

The presence of Chanticleer and Cantus in the United States has tremendously impacted the advancement of the male choral art. Although the positive influence these two professional male choirs have made cannot be quantified, the results have certainly penetrated the academic and societal fabric of male choral singing. From the more elite professional men’s ensembles to the more inclusive community choirs, such as the Turtle Creek Chorale and the Washington

Men’s Camerata, presented below, the goal remains constant: to promote the awareness and expansion of male singing through artistic musical performance, to provide educational opportunities for singers and audiences alike, and to encourage the composition and performance of new music for male chorus.

Community Male Choruses

Turtle Creek Chorale

The Turtle Creek Chorale is one of America’s preeminent community gay male choruses and is a member of GALA Choruses. Based in Dallas, Texas, the Chorale has a current membership of more than 150 singers. With an impressive discography of thirty-six CDs to its credit, the group also was the subject of The Power of Harmony, an award-winning documentary produced in 2005. Committed to both music and service goals, members regularly volunteer more than 100,000 hours each year to rehearsals, recording projects, concerts, and community service. The group presents three subscription concerts annually and is comprised of several

127 Ibid.

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smaller ensembles within its ranks. Founded in 1980, the Chorale has been led by five directors including Harry E. Scher (1980-82), Richard L. Fleming (1982-84), Michael Crawford (1984-

86), and Timothy Seelig (1987-2007). Jonathan Palant, who received his doctoral degree in choral conducting from Michigan State University and served as the assistant conductor of the

Michigan State University Men’s Glee Club, was named Artistic Director in 2007.

The Turtle Creek Chorale has garnered impressive credentials in its thirty-year history.

Beginning in 1989 the highly acclaimed Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center became the chorale’s new home where it regularly performs to sold-out audiences. In 1990, Chorus!

Magazine voted the chorale’s 1990 recording From the Heart “Best Choral Recording” of the year. The group’s last four recordings are Songs of Our Nation (2006), Serenade (2007), A Fond

Farewell (2007), and Believe (2009). The group has performed in prestigious venues including

Carnegie Hall in New York City, and its appearance at the ACDA National Conference in San

Antonio in1993 marked the first time a member of GALA Choruses had ever performed at an

ACDA National Conference. Their second performance at an ACDA National Conference was in 1997. A 1995 European tour underscored the musical and performance dexterity of the chorale with appearances in Spain, Germany, and the Czech Republic. The Turtle Creek Chorale continues to refine and perfect the art of male choral singing garnering both high acclaim from the public and numerous awards acknowledging its musical and service contributions for over thirty years.

Washington Men’s Camerata

The Washington Men’s Camerata is among the numerous community male choruses created in the late-twentieth century providing further evidence of the continuous advancement

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and growth within the male choral community. Recently celebrating its silver anniversary in

2009, the Washington Men’s Camerata, based in Washington, DC, has an average annual membership of sixty-five men. Five men who still sing with the group founded the ensemble in

1984: Brad Spencer, Jeff Skeer, Ned Goldberg, Audi Peal, and John Polanin.128 Over its twenty- six seasons as an organization, the Camerata has been under the direction of five conductors:

Ron Freeman (1984), Michael Lindstrom (1985), Jack Jacobs (1986-89), and Thomas Beveridge

(1990-98).129 Frank Albinder, also current conductor of the Virginia Glee Club, has served as the

Camerata’s conductor since 1999. Since joining the Camerata twelve years ago, he has elevated the group’s national reputation. Albinder offers a wealth of knowledge to the male choral medium serving in numerous leadership capacities and with direct experiences with a wide range of male choruses. Currently the President of IMC, he served as the National ACDA Male R&S

Chair from 2004-10, as well as holding other leadership positions. His affiliation with male choruses is extensive. Prior to becoming the Camerata’s conductor, Albinder served as a singer and as associate conductor during an eleven-year tenure with Chanticleer appearing on seventeen of the group’s recordings. As Associate Conductor of Chanticleer, he was responsible for the recordings Wondrous Love (1997) and the Grammy Award-winning Colors of Love (1999). His leadership and contributions have been immense in transitioning the artistic movement of the male choral art into the twenty-first century. Internationally recognized composer Gwyneth

Walker comments about her numerous compositions for male chorus: “Many of my TTBB works were transcriptions of SATB works specifically requested by Frank Albinder, and the

128 Information on the Washington Men’s Camerata can be found on its official website, available from http://www.camerata.com/ (accessed July 21, 2010).

129 Thomas Beveridge is the founder and Artistic Director of the National Men’s Chorus, which he established in 1999. Information about the group can be located at http://www.nationalmenschorus.org/ .

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project of creating the new TTBB works took place mostly in 2008.”130 The commissioning and premiering of new works is a vital part of the Camerata’s mission. The Camerata is one of the charter members of the Male Chorus Commissioning Consortium and has commissioned a number of self-published works of composers including Thomas Bold (b. 1952); Elliott Grabill

(b. 1983), a member of the Camerata; Joel Hoffman (b. 1953); Christopher Marshall (b. 1956); and Stewart Wallace (b. 1960).

The Camerata has performed in many prestigious venues with annual performances at the

Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, since 1994. It has collaborated with internationally renowned ensembles including appearances with the National Symphony

Orchestra under guest conductors Christopher Hogwood and Marvin Hamlisch. The group has released six critically-acclaimed CD recordings under the Gothic record label since 1993:

Masters in This Hall (1993), Over the Sea to Skye (1997), The Spirit of Freedom (1999), Sing We

Noel (2001), Brothers, Sing On! Classics for Men’s Chorus (2006), and When I Was a Young

Man: More Classics for Men’s Chorus (2010). The group also has been featured on numerous nationally syndicated radio broadcasts of All Things Considered, Performance Today, and Pipe

Dreams on National Public Radio (NPR).

One of the Camerata’s most significant contributions to the male choral art was instituted in 1998. In an initiative to preserve music for male choirs, and with the assistance of the NEA, the Washington Men’s Camerata established the National Library of Men’s Choral Music, also known as The Demetrius Project, in Washington, DC. In February 2003, the Camerata created an online search browser on its website of the available men’s choral music in the Library. Upon

130 Correspondence with composer Gwyneth Walker about her male choral music during July 2010. Information about Walker’s compositions can be found on her website, http://www.gwynethwalker.com/ .

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request, conductors of male choirs across the nation can borrow available music. The initial holdings of the Library are described on the Camerata’s website as follows:

Many of the works come from the distinguished men's choral music collections of Yale University, the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Georgetown University. Contained in the collection are many ‘hidden treasures,’ including original works and arrangements for men's chorus by Charles Ives, Marshall Bartholomew, Fenno Heath, and other American composers - some of which were written especially for male choruses at Yale University and which may never have been performed elsewhere.131

Since the initial gifts of music scores to the Library, other institutions have also begun to donate numerous titles including Colgate University, Davidson College, Gay Men’s Chorus of

Washington, Georgetown University, Lafayette College, Princeton University, State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany, Temple University, University of Michigan, the U.S. Army

Chorus, and the Washington Men’s Camerata. The Library welcomes donations of male choral compositions to its repository. The collection currently includes 1,500 titles with over 80,000 octavos. The notable efforts of this national repository of male choral music are one of the many contributions the Washington Men’s Camerata has given to the male choral art.

Male Choral Singing in the United States: Preserving the Tradition and Anticipating the Future

The 2003 Chorus Impact Study conducted by Chorus America on the benefits of choral singing and its impact on communities found strong correlations between singing in a chorus and a successful life. “When compared to members of the general public, choral singers report being significantly more philanthropic, civic-minded, and supportive of the arts.”132 This study determined that in the United States an estimated 23.5 million adults were singing weekly in one

131 http://www.camerata.com/library.php (accessed July 21, 2010).

132 “How Children, Adults, and Communities Benefit from Choruses: The Chorus Impact Study,” Chorus America, 2009, which can be found on the official website of Chorus America, available at http://www.chorusamerica.org/ (accessed July 21, 2010): 8.

109

or more of some 250,000 choruses. In the Chorus Impact Study conducted in 2009 by the same organization, the estimated number of singers and choruses had both increased to 42.6 million and 270,000 respectively. The choral art form is so prevalent in the United States that “choral singing continues to be the most popular form of participation in the performing arts.”133

In a 2004 article published in the International Journal of Research in Choral Singing, author Cindy L. Bell of the Aaron Copland School of Music cites multiple studies that have indicated women outnumber men as choral singers by as much as a 2:1 ratio among community choirs. The studies that Bell cites also suggest that men who sang in a choir as students in elementary and secondary schools are much more likely to continue singing in collegiate and community male choruses.134 Men’s choruses, glee clubs, quartets, and ensembles not only contribute in immense ways to the local and national artistic and cultural tapestry but also provide men with unique opportunities for self-expression that might be denied in other settings.

For 175 years since the first official establishment of a male singing society in the United States, singing among men has played essential and beneficial roles in the society of the nation.

Embedded in its own unique traditions, the male choral art movement in the United

States owes much of its early heritage to the male choral groups that began over two centuries ago in England and Germany. Male choruses of all ages and abilities have burgeoned in the

United States since the establishment of the first German-American Gesangverein in 1835, the first collegiate glee club in 1858, and the first American male singing society in 1866. It is remarkable that these three types of male singing organizations were each formed within a thirty- one-year span of time. The programs of professional choral art organizations offering

133 Ibid., 4.

134 Cindy L. Bell, “Update on Community Choirs and Singing in the United States,” International Journal of Research in Choral Singing 2, no. 1 (2004): 39-52. Available from http://www.choralresearch.org/ (accessed July 20, 2010).

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educational outreach initiatives, scholastic research, networking, collaboration, and performance opportunities have provided innumerable and invaluable assistance in the expansion of the male choral art. With continued work and advocacy by established organizations, researches, and choruses themselves, male choruses can continue to make their unique contributions to men as individuals and in the roles they play in their families, their communities, and their world.

Guided by the past while enjoying the present, the future of male choral singing among collegiate, community, and professional male choral ensembles in pursuit of achieving high standards of artistic excellence is both promising and exciting. Continued research into the rich histories of male choral singing and collegiate male glee clubs, in particular, is needed and will help provide important historical perspectives on the male choral movement in the United States.

111

TABLE 2

IMC MARSHALL BARTHOLOMEW AWARD RECEIPIENTS

RECEIPIENT YEAR AFFILIATION Clayton Parr 2010 DePaul University Donald Caldwell 2008 Pasadena, CA (retired, Cal Tech Glee Club) Leonard Riccinto 2007 Measure for Measure Jerry Blackstone 2006 University of Michigan Jameson Marvin 2004 Harvard University Gerald Polich 2002 Kansas State University

112 Bruce Trinkley 2001 Penn State University Rev. Richard H. Trame 2000 Loyola Marymount University/IMC Executive Secretary, Emeritus Leonard de Paur 1998 DePaur Chorus Walter Gould 1996 Lawson-Gould Publishers Simon Carrington 1994 King’s Singers, founder John Low Baldwin 1992 Hamilton College/University Glee Club of New York Carl Zytowski 1990 University of California, Santa Barbara Morris Hayes 1988 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Wendell Whalum 1987 Morehouse College Bruce McInnes 1986 Amherst College and Mastersingers USA Robert Cutler 1985 Lehigh University

TABLE 2 – Continued

RECIPIENT YEAR AFFILIATION Elliott Forbes 1984 Harvard University Fenno Heath 1983 Yale University F. Austin Walker 1982 Rutgers University William L. Dawson 1981 Tuskegee Institute Allen C. Crowell 1980 University of Georgia

113

TABLE 3

BARBERSHOP MEN’S CHORUSES

NAME STATE YEAR FOUNDED IF LOCATED Crimson Pride Chorus (Tuscaloosa) AL 1948 Pride of Mobile Chorus AL 1956 Rocket City Chorus (Huntsville) AL 1950s Pride of the Ozarks (Rogers) AR Phoenicians (Phoenix) AZ 1943 Masters of Harmony (Santa Fe Springs) CA 1985

114 Denver Mile High Barbershop Chorus CO 1975 Singing Capitol Chorus (Washington) DC 1954 Suncoast Chorus (St. Petersburg) FL 1954 Atlanta Vocal Project GA Firehouse Harmony Brigade (Roswell) GA Heart of Georgia Chorus (Macon) GA 1958 Chordbusters (Davenport) IA New Tradition (Northbrook) IL 1982 Capitol City Sound (Indianapolis) IN 1944 Cody Choralaires (Leavenworth) KS 1970 Cavemen (Bowling Green) KY 1971

TABLE 3 – Continued

NAME STATE YEAR FOUNDED IF LOCATED Chorus of the Chesapeake (Dundalk) MD 1961 Portland Downeasters ME 1949 Kalamazoo Barbershop Chorus MI 1941 Rochester Music Men Chorus MN 1960 Tristatesmen (Joplin) MO Magnolia Chorus (Jackson) MS Possumtown Barbershop Choral Society (Columbus) MS Sea Chords Chorus (Mississippi Gulf Coast) MS 115 Gold Standard Chorus (Charlotte) NC 1950 Land of the Sky Chorus (Asheville) NC Tarheel Chorus (Greensboro) NC Valley Chordsmen Chorus (Grand Forks) ND The Contestoga Chorus (Nebraska City) NE Dapper Dans of Harmony (Livingston) NJ 1967 The Men of Independence OH Charleston Barbershop Chorus SC 1967 Main Street Harmonizers (Lexington) SC 2004 Palmetto Statesmen (Spartanburg) SC 1951

TABLE 3 – Continued

NAME STATE YEAR FOUNDED IF LOCATED Mitchell Barbershop Chorus (Mitchell) SD Choo Choo Chorus (Chattanooga) TN Memphis Men of Harmony TN 1946 Music City Chorus (Nashville) TN Smokyland Chorus (Knoxville) TN Sound of Tennessee (Cleveland) TN Heart of Texas Chorus (San Marcos) TX 1994 The Vocal Majority (Coppell) TX 116

TABLE 4

COMMUNITY MALE CHORUSES

NAME STATE YEAR FOUNDED IF LOCATED Warblers Club (Birmingham) AL 1988 Orpheus Male Chorus Phoenix) AZ 1929 Sons of Orpheus (The Male Choir of Tucson) AZ 1991 Ellis-Orpheus Men’s Chorus (El Segundo) CA Grass Valley Male Voice Choir (Grass Valley) CA 1990 Men in Blaque (Irvine) CA 1997

117 Nordisk Sangkor of Sacramento CA 1998 Normanna Glee Club (Oakland) CA 1913 Norwegian Singing Society (San Francisco) CA 1885 San Diego Mannskor CA 1993 Slavyanka Men’s Slavic Chorus (San Francisco) CA 1979 Sounds of the Rockies (Denver) CO 2000 Cappella Cantorum Men’s Chorus (Deep River) CT 1977 Hartford Sängerbund Chorus CT 1858 North Star Singers (Fairfield) CT 1933 National Men’s Chorus (Washington) DC 1999 Slavic Male Chorus of Washington, DC DC

TABLE 4 – Continued

NAME STATE YEAR FOUNDED IF LOCATED Washington Men’s Camerata DC 1984 Heedless Hoarsemen Male Choir (Largo) FL Bjornson Male Chorus (Elgin) IL Chicago Swedish Male Chorus IL Naperville Men’s Glee Club IL 1988 Ft. Wayne Maennerchor IN Germania Maennerchor (Evansville) IN 1900 Indianapolis Maennerchor IN 1854 118 Michiana Male Chorus (South Bend) IN 1985 Lexington Men’s Chorus KY Franco American Male Chorus (De Lowell) MA Mastersingers USA (Amherst) MA Saengerfest Men’s Chorus (Boston) MA 1992 Baltimore Deuteronomy Choir MD Blandin Male Chorus (Grand Rapids) MI 1994 Flint Area Knights of Columbus Male Chorus MI 1964 Flint Male Chorus (formerly Chevrolet Flint Male Chorus) MI 1943 Forsyth Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Singers (Gwinn) MI

TABLE 4 – Continued

NAME STATE YEAR FOUNDED IF LOCATED His Men (Spring Lake) MI Kalamazoo Male Chorus MI 1928 Measure for Measure (Ann Arbor) MI 1988 Men of Orpheus (Lansing) (REO Automobile Male Chorus) MI 1926 Munising Vanguard Singers (Chatham) MI Negaunee Male Chorus MI Norton Male Chorus (Flint) (formerly Buick Male Chorus) MI 1921 Port Huron Schubert Male Chorus MI 1907 119 The Gentlemen Songsters (formerly Chevrolet Glee Club of Detroit) MI 1932 The Men of Music (Midland) (formerly Dow Male Chorus) MI 1936 3M Male Choir (St. Paul) MN 1947 American Swedish Institute Male Chorus (Minneapolis) MN 1936 Apollo Male Chorus (Minneapolis) MN 1895 Cold Spring Area Maennerchor (Cold Spring) MN 1937 Concord Singers (New Ulm) MN 1931 Eagan Men’s Chorus MN 1963 Lockheed-Martin Chorus (Eagan) MN Marshall Area Men’s Chorus MN

TABLE 4 – Continued

NAME STATE YEAR FOUNDED IF LOCATED Minneapolis Knights of Columbus Male Chorus (Brooklyn Park) MN Nordkap Male Chorus (Minneapolis) MN 1909 Rochester Male Chorus MN 1930 South St. Paul Male Chorus MN 1943 Southwest Minnesota Men’s Chorus (Marshall) MN 1979 Staples Area Men’s Chorus MN 1935 The South Saint Paul Male Chorus MN 1943 Cole Camp Maennerchor (Cole Camp, Benton) MO 120 Marquette Male Chorus MO 1981 Voices of America (St. Joseph) MO Westport Chorale (Kansas City) MO Missoula Mendelssohn Club MT Jamestown Choralaires ND 1955 Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus (Ridgewood) NY 1809 Rheinicher Saengerbund (North Bergen) NJ 1847 Saengenchor Newark NJ 1925 The Chopin Singing Society (Passaic) NJ 1910 Amherst Glee Club NY 1948

TABLE 4 – Continued

NAME STATE YEAR FOUNDED IF LOCATED Bayside Glee Club (Queens) NY 1944 Catskill Glee Club NY 1927 Dynamics (Williamsville) NY Hendrick Hudson Male Chorus (East Greenbush) NY 1968 Huntington Men’s Chorus NY 1949 Male Glee Club of Yonkers NY 1926 Mendelssohn Club of Albany New York NY 1909 Men’s Glee Club of New York NY 121 University Glee Club of New York City NY 1894 Young Men’s Chorus of the YPC of New York City NY Columbus Maennerchor OH 1848 Millstream Singers (Findlay) OH 1980 Youngstown Slowak Male Chorus OH OKC Metro Men’s Chorus (Oklahoma City) OK Satori Men’s Chorus (Portland) OR The Norsemen (Eugene) OR 1939 The Thorsmen Chorus (Salem) OR 1975 Treasure Valley Men’s Chorus (Malheur) OR

TABLE 4 – Continued

NAME STATE YEAR FOUNDED IF LOCATED Harrisburg Men’s Chorus PA 1987 Spirit (Yardley) PA Summer Harmony Men’s Chorus of the Lehigh Valley (Allentown) PA Carolina Chordsmen (Rock Hill) SC Charleston Men’s Chorus SC 1988 Palmetto Mastersingers (Columbia) SC 1981 Arion Maennerchor (Fredericksburg) TX Beethoven Maennerchor (San Antonio) TX 1867 122 Ft. Worth Men’s Chorus TX 1993 Hamilton Park Men’s Chorus (Dallas) TX Midway Men’s Chorus (Hewitt) TX San Antonio Liederkranz TX 1982 Vocal Majority Chorus (Dallas) TX 1971 Port Huron Schubert Male Chorus VA 1948 Normanna Male Chorus (Tacoma) WA 1888 Norwegian Male Chorus (Bellingham) WA 1916 Norwegian Male Chorus (Everett) WA 1902

TABLE 4 – Continued

NAME STATE YEAR FOUNDED IF LOCATED Norwegian Male Chorus (Seattle) WA 1889 Skagit Valley Mannskor WA 2000 Vestre Sund Mannskor (Poulsbo) WA 2003 Bay City Chorus (Green Bay) WI Clark County Male Chorus (Neillsville) WI 1947 Eau Claire Male Chorus WI 1946 Legion of Song (Milwaukee) WI MacDowell Male Chorus (Appleton) WI 1934 123 Madison Maennerchor WI 1852 Männergesangverein Harmonia 1967 (Kenosha) WI 1967 Milwaukee Male Chorus (Oak Creek) WI 1950 Nicolet Male Chorus (Rhinelander) WI 1946

TABLE 5

GALA MALE CHORUSES

NAME STATE YEAR FOUNDED IF LOCATED Phoenix Metropolitan Men’s Chorus AZ 1991 Reveille Men’s Chorus (Tucson) AZ 1995 Caballeros-The Gay Men’s Chorus of Palm Springs CA 1999 Colla Voce (San Francisco) CA 2004 Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles CA 1979 Golden Gate Men’s Chorus (San Francisco) CA 1982

124 Men Alive-The Orange County Gay Men’s Chorus CA 1991 Oakland-East Bay Men’s Chorus CA 2000 Sacramento Men’s Chorus CA 1984 San Diego Gay Men’s Chorus CA 1985 San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus CA 1978 Silicon Valley Gay Men’s Chorus (San Jose) CA 1983 Denver Gay Men’s Chorus CO 1982 Out Loud-The Colorado Springs Men’s Chorus CO 2006 Connecticut Gay Men’s Chorus (New Haven) CT 1987 Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC DC 1981 Ft. Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus FL 1985

TABLE 5 – Continued

NAME STATE YEAR FOUNDED IF LOCATED Miami Gay Men’s Chorus FL 1999 Una Voce (Tampa) FL 2002 Atlanta Gay Men’s Chorus GA 1981 Puna Men’s Chorus (Pahoa) HI 2007 Des Moines Gay Men’s Chorus IA 2001 Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus IL 1983 Windy City Gay Chorus (Chicago) IL 1979 Indianapolis Men’s Chorus IN 1991 125 Quarryland Men’s Chorus (Bloomington) IN 2002 Heart of America Men’s Chorus (Wichita) KS 2002 New Orleans Gay Men’s Chorus LA 1982 Boston Gay Men’s Chorus MA 1982 Maine Gay Men’s Chorus (Portland) ME 1992 Detroit Together Men’s Chorus MI 1982 West Michigan Gay Men’s Chorus (Grand Rapids) MI 2008 Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus (Minneapolis/St. Paul) MN 1981 Gateway Men’s Chorus (St. Louis) MO 1987 The Heartland Men’s Chorus (Kansas City) MO 1986 Missoula Men’s Chorus MT

TABLE 5 – Continued

NAME STATE YEAR FOUNDED IF LOCATED Cantarìa (Asheville) NC 1997 Gay Men’s Chorus of Charlotte NC 2006 Triad Pride Men’s Chorus (Greensboro) NC 1998 Triangle Gay Men’s Chorus (Research Park Triangle) NC 1995 New Hampshire Gay Men’s Chorus (Manchester) NH 1998 New Jersey Gay Men’s Chorus (Princeton) NJ 1991 New Mexico Gay Men’s Chorus (Albuquerque) NM 1981 Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus NY 2001 126 Long Island Gay Men’s Chorus NY 2008 New York City Gay Men’s Chorus NY 1980 Rochester Gay Men’s Chorus NY 1982 Cincinnati Men’s Chorus OH 1991 Columbus Gay Men’s Chorus OH 1990 Dayton Gay Men’s Chorus OH 2003 North Coast Men’s Chorus (Cleveland) OH 1988 Council Oak Men’s Chorale (Tulsa) OK 1997 PlainSong (Norman) OK 2008 Portland Gay Men’s Chorus OR 1980 Harrisburg Men’s Chorus PA 1987

TABLE 5 – Continued

NAME STATE YEAR FOUNDED IF LOCATED Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus PA 1981 The Lehigh Valley Gay Men’s Chorus PA 1994 Providence Gay Men’s Chorus RI 1995 Alamo City Men’s Chorale (San Antonio) TX 1986 Capitol City Men’s Chorus (Austin) TX 1990 Gay Men’s Chorus of Houston TX 1979 Turtle Creek Chorale (Dallas) TX 1980 Salt Lake Men’s Choir UT 1984 127 Hampton Roads Men’s Chorus VA 1996 Richmond Men’s Chorus VA 2001 Seattle Men’s Chorus WA 1979 The BEARaTones (Seattle) WA 2005 Perfect Harmony (Madison) WI 1997

TABLE 6

RELIGIOUS MALE CHORUSES

NAME STATE YEAR FOUNDED IF LOCATED Alabama Singing Men (Montgomery) AL 1973 Arkansas Baptist Men’s Chorus (Little Rock) AR California Singing Churchmen (Fairfield) CA 1982 Sons of Jubal (Atlanta) GA 1954 The Kansas-Nebraska Singing Men (Topeka) KS 1978 Kentucky Baptist Men’s Chorale (Louisville) KY 1965

128 Louisiana Baptist Singing Men (Alexandria) LA 1974 Missouri Music Men (Jefferson City) MO 1970 Mississippi Singing Churchmen (Jackson) MS 1965 North Carolina Baptist Singers (Cary) NC 1957 Singing Churchmen of Oklahoma (Oklahoma City) OK 1960 Singing Churchmen (Columbia) SC 1958 Tennessee Men’s Chorale (Brentwood) TN Singing Men of Texas (Dallas) TX 1976 Norfolk District United Methodist Men’s Chorus VA Virginia Baptist Male Chorale (Richmond) VA 1963 Two Rivers Area Catholic Men’s Choir (Two Rivers) WI

TABLE 7

MILITARY MALE CHORUSES

NAME STATE YEAR FOUNDED IF LOCATED U. S. Army Male Chorus (Washington) DC 1956 U.S. Naval Academy Male Glee Club (Annapolis) MD 1861 U.S. Military Academy at West Point Cadet Glee Club NY 1893

129

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Strimple, Nick. Choral Music in the Twentieth Century. Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 2002.

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Thomas, Arnold Ray. “The Development of Male Glee Clubs in American Colleges and Universities.” Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1962.

Thompson, Randall. The Testament of Freedom. Boston, MA: E. C. Schirmer Music Company, 1943.

Thomsen, George E. “The Harvard Glee Club and the Development of Musical Taste.” Senior Honor Theses, Harvard University, 1952.

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APPENDIX

REPERTOIRE REFERENCE GUIDE

OF TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY WORKS FOR MALE CHORUS

Introduction to the Guide

The following repertoire reference guide is an effort to supplement guides currently available to conductors searching for quality literature for male choruses. It includes forty-five representative works commissioned by or written for male choruses at the high school, collegiate, community, and professional levels during the first decade of the twenty-first century.

Though not comprehensive, the intended purpose is to provide a list of recently written works that are appropriate for performance consideration among many levels of male choirs. Another objective is to help conductors narrow their search for works of musical value because of the vast amount of music being published. A dedicated commitment to the commissioning of quality music by male choruses is in itself an advocacy statement for advancing the male choral art. As stated in Chapter I, it is the intent of this author to expand the following list in the future to help provide a more comprehensive resource guide of music for male choruses. The compositions in this guide are arranged alphabetically by composer with each entry containing the following information: composer, title, voicing, accompaniment, text source, approximate duration, year of publication, publisher information, commissioning ensemble or organization, and the occasion or dedication of the commission, if known. A subjective level of difficulty for each composition is not included.

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ADAMS, BRANT (b. 1955)

Down by the Riverside

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment Piano

Text Source American Folk Song

Approximate Duration 5:30

Year of Publication 2006

Publisher Information Santa Barbara Music Publishing – 678

Commissioning Ensemble Ohio State University Men’s Glee Club

Musica!

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment Piano

Text Source Latin poem, author unknown

Approximate Duration 5:30

Year of Publication 2006

Publisher Information Santa Barbara Music Publishing – 653

Commissioning Ensemble Ohio State University Men’s Glee Club

The Ohio State University Men’s Glee Club premiered this work at the 2006 IMC National Seminar with Robert Ward conducting.

138

AMES, JEFFERY (b. 1969)

Tshotsholoza

Voicing TTBB with Tenor Solo

Accompaniment Optional Percussion

Text Source Traditional South African Freedom Song

Approximate Duration 2:00

Year of Publication 2005

Publisher Information Walton Music Corporation – WLG114

Commissioning Ensemble Florida Music Educators Association

The Florida MEA commissioned this work to be premiered at the Inaugural 2005 Florida TTBB All-State Chorus with Jeffery L. Ames as conductor.

Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho

Voicing TTB

Accompaniment Piano

Text Source Traditional South African Freedom Song

Approximate Duration 3:00

Year of Publication 2003

Publisher Information Colla Voce – 18-96780

Commissioning Ensemble Florida ACDA

The Florida ACDA commissioned this work for the 2003 Florida ACDA Male Honor Choir with Jeffery L. Ames as conductor.

139

BOLCOM, WILLIAM (b. 1938)

Searchlight Soul

Voicing TBB

Accompaniment Piano

Text Source Poetry by University of Michigan Students and Alumni

Approximate Duration 10:00

Year of Publication 2009

Publisher Information Self-Published

Commissioning Ensemble University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club

This work was written for the Sesquicentennial Celebration of the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club and premiered in November 2009 under conductor Paul Rardin.

BRUNNER, DAVID (b. 1953)

At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source John Donne (1572-1631)

Approximate Duration 5:30

Year of Publication 2001

Publisher Information Boosey & Hawkes 48004979

Commissioning Ensemble Michigan State University Men’s Glee Club

The Michigan State University Men’s Glee Club premiered this work at the 2001 ACDA National Conference under the direction of Jonathan Reed.

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BRUNNER, DAVID – Continued

Brothers of the Singing Void

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment Piano

Text Source James Broughton (1913-99)

Approximate Duration 4:30

Year of Publication 2010

Publisher Information Boosey & Hawkes (# TBA)

Commissioning Ensemble ACDA Southern Division

Commissioned by the ACDA Southern Division, this work was premiered at the 2010 Conference Men's Honor Chorus with Jonathan Reed as conductor.

I Am in Need of Music

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment Piano

Text Source Elizabeth Bishop (1911-79)

Approximate Duration 4:00

Year of Publication 2008

Publisher Information Boosey & Hawkes – 48019728

Commissioning Ensemble Turtle Creek Chorale

This work was commissioned in honor of the inaugural concert of Jonathan Palant as Artistic Director of the Turtle Creek Chorale and premiered at the Myerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Texas, October 2007.

141

BRUNNER, DAVID – Continued

The Circle of Our Lives

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment Piano (Orchestra parts also available)

Text Source Wendell Berry (b. 1934)

Approximate Duration 4:00

Year of Publication 2006

Publisher Information Boosey & Hawkes 48019111

Commissioning Ensemble Turtle Creek Chorale

Occasion/Dedication of Commission The Turtle Creek Chorale premiered this work in March 2004 at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Texas, under the direction of Timothy Seelig.

BRYARS, GAVIN (b. 1943)

A Golden Age

Voicing TTBBBB

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source Edwin Morgan (b. 1920)

Approximate Duration 5:00

Year of Publication 2008

Publisher Information Schott Music

Commissioning Ensemble Male Chorus Commissioning Consortium

142

BRYARS, GAVIN – Continued

The Mirror

Voicing TTTTBBBB

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source Edwin Morgan (b. 1920)

Approximate Duration 5:00

Year of Publication 2008

Publisher Information Schott Music

Commissioning Ensemble Male Chorus Commissioning Consortium

Post-Glacial

Voicing TTTTBBBB

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source Edwin Morgan (b. 1920)

Approximate Duration 5:00

Year of Publication 2008

Publisher Information Schott Music

Commissioning Ensemble Male Chorus Commissioning Consortium

143

CLAUSEN, RENÉ (b. 1953)

At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source John Donne (1572-1631)

Approximate Duration 4:00

Year of Publication 2008

Publisher Information Santa Barbara Music Publishing – 874

Commissioning Ensemble Tennessee Music Educators Association

The Tennessee MEA commissioned René Clausen to compose this work to be premiered by the 2008 Tennessee All-State Men’s Chorus under the direction of Clausen.

COBB, NANCY HILL (b. 1951)

Sea Fever

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment Piano

Text Source John Masefield (1878-1967)

Approximate Duration 3:00

Year of Publication 2007

Publisher Information Santa Barbara Music Publishing – 727

Commissioning Ensemble Ohio State University Men’s Glee Club

144

CONTE, DAVID (b. 1955)

An Exhortation

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source President Barack Obama (b. 1961)

Approximate Duration 2:00

Year of Publication 2009

Publisher Information E. C. Schirmer Music Company – 7393

Commissioning Ensemble Turtle Creek Chorale

The Turtle Creek Chorale premiered this work on June 25, 2009 at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, Texas.

Crossing the Bar

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-92)

Approximate Duration Unknown

Year of Publication 2010 (to be released in the fall)

Publisher Information E. C. Schirmer Music Company – (# TBA)

Commissioning Ensemble Cornell University Glee Club

145

CONTE, DAVID – Continued

Eos

Voicing TTBB with TB soli

Accompaniment Piano (Orchestra parts also available)

Text Source Nicholas Giardini

Approximate Duration 35:00

Year of Publication 2000

Publisher Information E. C. Schirmer Music Company – 5690

Commissioning Ensemble Boston Gay Men’s Chorus

This work was commissioned by Richard L. Babson for the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus, under the direction of Reuben Reynolds III.

Love

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment Piano or Chamber Orchestra

Text Source Philip Little

Approximate Duration 4:00

Year of Publication 2008

Publisher Information E. C. Schirmer Music Company – 7279

Commissioning Ensemble San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus

The San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, under the direction of Kathleen McGuire, commissioned this work in celebration of its 30th anniversary.

146

EAKIN, JAMES GRANVILLE III (b. 1974)

Stargazing

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment Celesta and Strings

Text Source Plato (ca. 428 B.C.-ca. 347 B.C.)

Approximate Duration 15:00

Year of Publication 2003

Publisher Information Lux Nova Press – 0143

Commissioning Ensemble Turtle Creek Chorale

The Turtle Creek Chorale premiered this commissioned work at the 2003 MENC Southern Regional Conference in Savannah, Georgia, with Tim Seelig conducting.

HATFIELD, STEPHEN (b. 1956)

Ka Hia Manu (Little Birds)

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source Chants and texts from various Polynesian and Micronesian islands

Approximate Duration 7:00

Year of Publication 2008

Publisher Information Boosey & Hawkes – 48019909

Commissioning Ensemble Turtle Creek Chorale

147

HILL, EDIE (b. 1962)

From Me and America Sent

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment Piano

Text Source Walt Whitman (1819-92)

Approximate Duration 5:00

Year of Publication 2008

Publisher Information Hummingbird Press

Commissioning Ensemble University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club

HOIBY, LEE (b. 1926)

Last Letter Home

Voicing TBB (divisi)

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source Letter by Private First Class Jesse Givens

Approximate Duration 6:00

Year of Publication 2006

Publisher Information Schott Music Corporation – ED 30013

Commissioning Ensemble Male Chorus Commissioning Consortium

This is the first commissioned work of the MCCC and is dedicated to the fallen in Iraq. PFC Jesse Givens of the U.S. Army died in Iraq on May 1, 2003. The letter was written to his wife Melissa, five-year-old son Dakota, and unborn son Carson. He asked his wife not to read the letter unless he was killed in action.

148

LICHTE, ERICK (b. 1975)

Wassail English Song

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source English Wassail

Approximate Duration 3:00

Year of Publication 2007

Publisher Information Self-Published

Commissioning Ensemble Cantus

Will Ye Go to Flanders?

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source Scottish Folksong

Approximate Duration 3:00

Year of Publication 2007

Publisher Information Self-Published

Commissioning Ensemble Cantus

149

MARTIN, JOSEPH M. (b. 1959)

The Arrow and the Song

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment Piano

Text Source Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-82)

Approximate Duration 4:00

Year of Publication 2010

Publisher Information Shawnee Press – HL 35026671

Commissioning Ensemble Orpheus Club of Ridgewood, NJ

This work was commissioned for the 100th anniversary of the Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus of Ridgewood, New Jersey, under the direction of John Palatucci.

MARVIN, JAMESON (b. 1941)

All Through the Night

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source Sir Harold Boulton (1859-1935) Welsh Folksong/Ar Hyd Y Nos

Approximate Duration 3:00

Year of Publication 2010

Publisher Information G. Schirmer – HL 50489862

Commissioning Ensemble Harvard Glee Club

150

MARVIN, JAMESON – Continued

Barb’ra Allen

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source Old British Isle Ballad

Approximate Duration 4:00

Year of Publication 2000

Publisher Information Neil A. Kjos Music Company – 5577

Commissioning Ensemble Harvard Glee Club

Danny Boy

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source Irish Folk Song

Approximate Duration 3:30

Year of Publication 2001

Publisher Information Shawnee Press – MF 1503

Commissioning Ensemble Harvard Glee Club

151

RARDIN, PAUL (b. 1965)

I’m A-Rollin’

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment Piano

Text Source Spiritual

Approximate Duration 4:30

Year of Publication 2002

Publisher Information Santa Barbara Music Publishing – 474

Commissioning Ensemble University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club

Rardin composed this spiritual for Jerry Blackstone and the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club.

Walk in Jerusalem

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment Piano

Text Source Spiritual

Approximate Duration 4:30

Year of Publication 2000

Publisher Information Santa Barbara Music Publishing – 348

Commissioning Ensemble University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club

Rardin composed this work for Jerry Blackstone and the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club.

152

SAMETZ, STEVEN (b. 1954)

Be We Merry

Voicing TTBB with TB Soli

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source James Ryman (written in 1492)

Approximate Duration 2:00

Year of Publication 2010

Publisher Information E. C. Schirmer Music Company – 7222

Commissioning Ensemble Lehigh University Men’s Glee Club

Dulcis Amor (from Amo!)

Voicing TTBB divisi with TB Soli

Accompaniment A cappella with optional harp

Text Source Ad mecum absentem suspiria Alcuin of York (c. 735-804) (Latin), S.S., tr.

Approximate Duration 9:00

Year of Publication 2010

Publisher Information E. C. Schirmer Music Company – 7272

Commissioning Ensemble Harvard Men’s Glee Club

The Harvard Glee Club Foundation commissioned this work for the Harvard Glee Club under the direction of Jameson N. Marvin.

153

SAMETZ, STEVEN – Continued

We Two

Voicing TTBB with TTBB Soli

Accompaniment A cappella with optional harp

Text Source Walt Whitman (1819-92)

Approximate Duration 10:00

Year of Publication 2010

Publisher Information E. C. Schirmer Music Company – 6900

Commissioning Ensemble Male Chorus Commissioning Consortium

Zinga

Voicing TTBB with TTBB Soli

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source Nonsense words by Steven Sametz

Approximate Duration 2:30

Year of Publication 2010

Publisher Information E. C. Schirmer Music Company – 7360

Commissioning Ensemble Lehigh University Men’s Glee Club

154

SARSANY, TIM (b. 1966)

Solstice

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment Drum and Flute

Text Source American Indian

Approximate Duration 9:00

Year of Publication 2006

Publisher Information Santa Barbara Music Publishing – 672

Commissioning Ensemble Ohio State University Men’s Glee Club

SHATIN, JUDITH (b. 1949)

Jabberwocky

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source Lewis Carroll (1832-98)

Approximate Duration 5:30

Year of Publication 2006

Publisher Information E. C. Schirmer Music Publishing – 6977

Commissioning Ensemble Virginia Glee Club

The Virginia Glee Club and conductor Frank Albinder commissioned Judith Shatin, a faculty member at the University of Virginia McIntire Department of Music, to compose this work for the group.

155

SPERRY, ETHAN (b. 1971)

Ramkali

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source Indian Raga

Approximate Duration 5:00

Year of Publication 2006

Publisher Information earthsongs – S 251

Sperry composed this work for the Miami University Men’s Glee Club and dedicated it to Srinivas Krishnan, founder of Global Rhythms at Miami University. It can be found on the Global Rhythms Series at earthsongs under the editorship of Sperry.

Zikr

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment Guitar and Percussion

Text Source Indian

Approximate Duration 4:00

Year of Publication 2005

Publisher Information earthsongs – S 254

Sperry composed this work for the Miami University Men’s Glee Club and it can be found on the Global Rhythms Series.

156

STROOPE, Z. RANDALL (b. 1953)

Cloths of Heaven

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment Piano

Text Source William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

Approximate Duration 4:30

Year of Publication 2003

Publisher Information Colla Voce – 48-96760

Commissioning Ensemble Turtle Creek Chorale

Dies Irae

Voicing TBB

Accompaniment Piano

Text Source Latin

Approximate Duration 4:30

Year of Publication 2005

Publisher Information Alliance Music Publications, Inc. – 0616

Commissioning Ensemble University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Singing Statesmen

157

TAKACH, TIMOTHY C. (b. 1978)

Things I Didn’t Know I Loved

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source Nazim Hikmet (1902-63)

Approximate Duration 5:30

Year of Publication 2006

Publisher Information Graphite Publishing – GP T009

Commissioning Ensemble Cantus

What Child is This?

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source William Chatterton Dix (1837-98)

Approximate Duration 2:30

Year of Publication 2000

Publisher Information Neil A. Kjos Music Company – 5584

Commissioning Ensemble Cantus

158

WALKER, GWYNETH (b. 1947)

Love Came Down at Christmas (from Rejoice!)

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment Piano/Organ

Text Source Christina Rossetti (1830-94) adpt. composer

Approximate Duration 3:00

Year of Publication 2010

Publisher Information E. C. Schirmer Music Company – 7643

Commissioning Ensemble Boston Gay Men’s Chorus

Tell the Earth to Shake

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment Piano (orchestra parts also available)

Text Source Thomas Merton (1915-68)

Approximate Duration 4:30

Year of Publication 2009

Publisher Information E. C. Schirmer Music Company – 7553

Commissioning Ensemble Boston Gay Men’s Chorus

159

WHITACRE, ERIC (b. 1970)

Lux Aurumque

Voicing TTBB

Accompaniment A cappella

Text Source Edward Esch Charles Anthony Silvestri (b. 1965), Latin Translation

Approximate Duration 3:30

Year of Publication 2004

Publisher Information Walton Music Corporation – WJMS1064

Commissioning Ensemble Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles

This work is dedicated to Bruce Mayhall and the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles.

160