HARVARDGLFECLUB RADCLIFFEC:-rOPi,LSCCIETY

NORTHIJ-:IERICATNOUR

April 25, 1963

Proposal: This memorandumpresents the pl.cns for the proposed Harvard Glee

Club- Nor-th l..me:cicanTour in the summer'of 19640

This will be the second major tour to be undertaken jointly by the Har- vard Glee Club and the Radcliffe Choral SocietYe In the summerof 1954 the two choruses made a transcontinental tour which included most of the major cities west of the Mississippi. This venture came to a close at 'I'angl.ewcod, when the combined choruses jOll1ed the SymphonyOrchestra in a perfor- mance of Berlioz' La Damnation de Faust. This performance was described by

Tucker Keiser in the Boston Post of July 11:

~1aking Tanglewood a last stop in its first transcontinental tour, the Harvard Glee Club and Radcliffe Choral Society turned in a sterling traversal of the many choral passages, winning a collective summacum laude not only for precision, but for immaculate French diction.- -

Already in 1921, at the invitation of the Fr-ench government the Harvard

Glee Club had become the first American university glee club to sing an exten- sive concert tour in Europe. The Glee Club returned to Europe in 1956, where it sang 32 concerts in 50 days before Dutch, Belgian, French, Italian, German, and English audiences. In the summer of 1961, the Glee Club made its his- toric Far Eastern Tour. The members presented to audiences from Tokyo to

:.thens choral music 'ltJhichincluded not only the Glee Club's traditional repertoire of Western music, but also a number of pieces in the languages of the countries visited.

------._--_. TCT -2- April 15, 1963

Plans for the joint tour in the s~~er of 1964 now include several cities

in the western United States and the provinces of Canada. Directly following

commencement,the group will go to Portland, Maine, wher-e, after a few days

of final tuning-up, He Hill present our first concert , The chorus "ill then

travel ,-,restwith stops at the NewYork Forld s Fal ir, Chicago, St. Louis,

Denver, and Salt Lake City. On the "Jest coast the group will sing at Los

J•.ngaLes, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle. I.. trip to i.laska may be in-

c'Luded, .At this point the Canadian.portion of the tour will begin. Head-

ing east, we will sing in Victoria, Vancouver', Edmonton, Banff, Calgary,

Regina, Hinnipeg, Fort 'Tilliam-Port-i •rthur,. Toronto, ottaI,a, ~ontreal, and

Quebec. In mid-July the tour group vrill return to Cambr-Ldge,

Purpose: In Canada the tour will combine the enjoyment of performing cho-

ral music before widely varied audiences with the opportunity for interesting

travel. The tour 'tJill also help satisfy the need for greater understanding

between the l~erican and Canadian peopleo

Hhen college students travel abroad as memberof artistic performing

groups they are uniquely qualified to win friends for the United States.

i;-lhentheir art is choral music, the atmosphere for cultural communication

is particularly favorable; for the appeal of choral singing is immediate

to all people&

Hith this in mind, efforts are being made to arrange joint concerts

with Canadian universities; this will provide the greatest possible oppor- fof tunity inter-student exchange, i•.rrangements will also be made for members

of the"tour to stay in the homes of Canadian families. Friendships devel-

l------_._--- -- TCT -3- April 15, 1963

oping from this close contact can be an important contribution toward greater

understanding be tween the two count.r Lcs ,

The domestic portion of our teur has the Impor-tant advantage that the

ci ties to be reached are those not usually visited by gr-oups from Harvard

University. Visits to these cities can therefore strengthen interest in the local Harvard and Radcliffe Clubs. The concerts can be a means of raising money for scholarship funds and naturally they will demonstrate to the local

community some of the extra-curricular aspects of a HaM'ard education.

Harvard Glee Club and Radcliffe Choral Society:

v-Jith a repertoire embracing six centuries of music and as many languages, the Harvard Glee Club and the Radcliffe Choral Society are well qua.Li f'Led to fulfill the possibilities of such a tour. Revfews of performances in past years show that the Glee Club and the Choral Society have al.ways been well received. Lfter a performance in Por t.Jland, Oregon, in 1954, Hi.Lmar Grendahl

of ~ Oregonian wrote:

It is hard to recall this performance Hithout re.jo xc mg again in the special pleasure vrhich emanated from the stage dS a simple consequence of these singers' being of a certain af:e, 2. ce r-t.a in intelligence, and musically stirred by a sympathetic lC2der into making the ~ost of their native gifts.

In Lpril, 1958, the Boston Herald spoke of the Centennial Annivers.ary Con-

cert, conducted by Nadia Boulanger.

I"ll the evening Has characterized by a superb pr-ogr-am and excellent per- formance, which occaai.ona.l.Ly, as in the Las cLatemi, Norire of Monteverdi, achieved absolute perfection~ In apprGis~ng the college-performances, it usually goes without saying that the standard applied is different than that applied to professional pcr-f'orman ces , But in speaking of the Harvard Glee Club and the Radcliffe Choral SOCiety, one must apply pro- fessional standards, so high is their quality, Ihe i.r freshness, vitality, their tone and the kind of programs they sing, make them the peer of the best choral singing anywher-e, TCT ...4- April 15, 1963

And on l.pril 30, 1960, Cyrus Durgin of the Bo~ton G~o!?ei-irote:

The accomplishments of Elliot. Forbss in his f'Lr-s t t·FO years as conduc- tor of the Har'aard Glee Club and Radcliffe Choral Society were impres-

sively exhibited last night, 0 Q Professor Forbes has brought his chor-

isters to a stage of ul tra-cle,rity and super-refinement_ 00 he has worked up agility of technique, shad.ings of extreme subtlety, a thoroughg cdng flexibility in rhythm and phrase. He dr-aws a fine ..spun t.one , 1'1:(;11 blended, not ,·Iith a wide dynami,c rnngo ~ but possessing an extra·.ordinary

luminous char-ac'ber , , 0 The effect was of super-nal, beauby, both of musical conception and of tone ••

The Harvard Glee Club and the Radcliffe Choral Society begnn collab- orating under the direction of Dr, I"rchib:}ld T. Davison in order to per- form the classical repertoire for mixed voices" The two groups have per- formed with the Boston Symphony under Karl Mucl{, Pierre Honteux, Serge

Koussevi tsky, Charles Munch, and most recently, Erich Leinsdorf', The earliest joint effort was in 1917 under Dr. Huck; in 1924, at the invi- tation of Serge Koussevitsky, the corbined shorus began a series of annual performances whi.ch continues to this day. The series has included perfor-

No.2; Vaughn Hilliams! Fantas):,".££ Psalm 104; and Stravinsky! s .§Z~phoE;l of

Psalms. In the most recent of these joint productions on JI1arch 8 and 9,

1963, the combined chorus performed Brahms! Ein Deutsch~s under the direction of Dr, Leinsdorf. Robert rraylor of the Boston Herald wrote of this performance:

The collaboration be tween Erich Leinsdorf and the student ensemble associated closely vri.t.h the Symphony for generations, -shoued every sign of extending em admirable t.r ad.it.Lcn, The choral ba Lance was excellent, the discipline and pr-cpar-at.Lon under Elliot Forbes reflec- ted env iab'Le st.andaz-ds, Tcxt.ur-es ·'"'t diverse dynami.c levels held a clarity where, even at pianissimo, the enuncLab i.on of the German lfTO.S criSp, attacks and releases clean, ilnd volume commendable. TCT -5- l•.pril 15, 1963

Finanoes:

Since concert fees will cover only Pi re.La t ive.l.y small portion of our expenses, u larg:epercentage of opr funds must come from other sources.

Sources of Funds:

a) Cmncert fees will provide about one fourth of the money needed. b) The families of members of ~ tour will be asked to give what they feel they can afford. Of course, members of the tour will be selected on the basis of musical ability, No one will be excluded for financial reasons.

c) We count on raising the balance among Glee Club and Choral Society

alumni, Harvard and Radcliffe alumni and friends, us we have done in the past. l1ithout their continuing support, a great portion of the music- making undertaken by the Harvard Glee Club and the Radcliffe Choral

Society could not take place.

The estiml'ltedbudget that tollows shows that the expenses for the

trip are not unusually Larve , We hope, therefore, to find a few indi- viduals who will be willing to underwr-Lte personally a major portion of the cost of this tour. ESTIM1~ 'lED BUI\}ET PI)]. NmT::-:I M'lERICAN TOUR

EXPENSES

Travel $36,500

Pretour 2,000

Conductor 2;1000

Assistant Conductors 1,000

Insurance 2,200

Secretarial 200

Solici tation Material 1,000

Tour Books 500

Tel. & Tel. 400

Postage 250

Publicity 200

Office Supplies 350

Hiscellaneous 400

~47,000

INCOME

Concert fees ;iP12,000

Families of tour members 18,000

Outside support 17,000

$47,000

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