The Singing Irish

Michael Alan Anderson

Description

In The Singing Irish, Michael Alan Anderson brings to life the rich history and traditions of the Notre Dame Glee Club. Replete with nearly three hundred images, the stunning large-format book examines the early history of the ensemble before 1915, its robust membership, rehearsal and concert customs, and the contributions of its conductors through the decades. Anderson interviewed dozens of Glee Club alumni going back to the early 1940s to narrate the vibrant story of the group, while assembling a wealth of documents that detail the activities undertaken—and impressions made—by this extraordinary musical ensemble. The group’s famous appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show in the early 1950s marked the height of the Glee Club’s visibility; however, the ensemble continues to sell out concerts on national and international tours, having traveled to nearly every state in the United States and numerous countries in Europe, Asia, and Central America. Through its eclectic repertoire and polished singing, the Glee Club has achieved a lofty status among collegiate choral ensembles in the United States, beloved by students, members of the Notre Dame family, and friends and supporters of the university around the world. Combining the meaningful culture of Notre Dame with the highest standards of artistic excellence, The Singing Irish makes a wonderful keepsake for fans and alumni of the Notre Dame Glee Club as it enters its centennial year.

Sujets

• Musique
• Histoire de la musique
• Music
• Obermodern-Zutzendorf
• Notre-Dame
• History
• The Ed Sullivan Show
• General
• University of Notre Dame
• General officer
• Notre Dame
• Criticism
• Modern history
• Multiple signal classification
• EDUCATION
• Modern
• 20th Century

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268158842
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 328 Mo

Extrait

The Singing Irish
The Singing Irish
A HISTORY OF THE NOTRE DAME GLEE CLUB
MICHAEL ALAN ANDERSON
FOREWORD BY DANIEL STOWE
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, Indiana
Copyright © 2015 by the University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
undpress.nd.edu
All Rights Reserved Printed in Canada by Friesens Corporation -->
Joey Coleman (’95) was creative editor for this project. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Anderson, Michael Alan, 1975– The Singing Irish : a history of the Notre Dame Glee Club / Michael Alan Anderson. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-268-02045-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 0-268-02045-0 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. University of Notre Dame. Glee Club—History. 2. Glee clubs—Indiana—Notre Dame—History. I. Title. ML28.N66U554 2015 782.4206'077289—dc23 2015017668 ∞ The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. -->
E-ISBN 978-0-268-07485-2
This e-Book was converted from the original source file by a third-party vendor. Readers who notice any formatting, textual, or readability issues are encouraged to contact the publisher at [e-mail]
The author and the University of Notre Dame Press thank Glee Club alumnus
ROBERT S. “BOB” OPPOLD (’73)
whose generous financial support of this volume is made in memory of his parents.
In Memoriam
Robert L. and Patricia J. Oppold
Thank you, Mom and Dad.
Your loving son,
Bob
Contents
Foreword
Daniel Stowe
Preface
ONE. Introduction
TWO. Traces of a Glee Club
THREE. Membership and the Privileged
FOUR. Shaping the Sound I: Setting the Standards
FIVE. Shaping the Sound II: Continuing the Tradition
SIX. Concerts at Home
SEVEN. Touring Life: Beyond the Dome
EIGHT. Songs of the Singing Irish: A Century of Glee Club Repertoire
NINE. Recordings, Airwaves, and the Silver Screen
TEN. The Glee Club and the Gridiron
ELEVEN. Traditions Public and Private
TWELVE. Ladies Sweet and Kind: Women and the Glee Club
THIRTEEN. Sleeping with the Glee Club
Postlude: The Next Hundred Years
Notes
Image Credits
Photo Galleries
Yearbook
Campus Concerts
Tour
Programs
CDs
Helen and Home
Mugs
Sleeping
Audio Clips
Hike, Notre Dame!
Ave Maria
On Down the Line/Irish Backs
Clancy Lowered the Boom
Notre Dame, We Hail Thee
The Rocky Road to Dublin
L'ultimo di de Maggio
Notre Dame Our Mother
Notre Dame Victory March
Helen
Sincerely Dan
Untitled Song
Video Clips
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Andy Williams Show
The John Davidson Show
Asia Tour
Foreword
DANIEL STOWE


When I arrived on the Notre Dame campus in August of 1993, I had just an inkling of the dynamic of a men’s glee club. Having spent a year as graduate assistant for the Cornell Glee Club, I had witnessed social and musical bonds and the commitment of alumni also characteristic of our group, but I was unprepared for the singular intensity of the Glee Club experience as manifested here at Notre Dame. Now, as I reflect on the nature of that experience as we enter our centennial year, it strikes me that it might be a product of the many simultaneous journeys, many arcs, in our group’s life, ranging in length from a single day to the entire century-long span of the Glee Club’s continuous existence.
The kernel of our journey together is the single rehearsal. Every weekday afternoon, for an hour, we gather together, sharing in the mysterious cycle of departure, challenge, and ultimate arrival at a new destination that define any voyage. I find the fact that we meet on a daily basis to be the core reason for the strength of our unity. Immersed in the details of ensemble music, we clean up muddy passages, trying to sculpt and refine our performance. Alongside our musical work, there is the day-to-day management of the group, tended to principally by the Club officers. These are the daily acts of trimming the sails, of staying the course, while we keep our focus on our longer-range goals.
An academic term has its own trajectory, as we aim for our two major concert events each semester. The initial meetings of the fall, first with returning members before classes begin and then the first rehearsal with the new members, pulse with anticipation of the adventure of building a new group. We set off together, focusing on the core “rookie” material, using it to demonstrate the technical principles common to all the music we’ll encounter. We find ourselves addressing problems that have crept into our performance, and it’s here where the truly gifted members begin to emerge. I am particularly delighted when a new singer points out an error of long standing, hitherto unnoticed by any of us. After a few weeks, and about a month out from our fall break tour, new folders appear in the rack and we apply our newly won skills to the pieces on our fall program. The plan is always to learn the new music methodically, but sometimes our measured (if rapid) pace devolves into more of a sprint in the final push before the trip, particularly if a gig requiring new, individualized material pops up.
We certainly can also hit the doldrums. About four weeks into a term, the newness has worn off somewhat; as academic demands increase, absences tend to rise. At that point, my job is to try to make every rehearsal worth the time for each Clubber: “if you miss, you miss out.” Dangling the carrot, I plead, “the more you come, the less we all have to rehearse.” I realize I am echoing a universal lament from the conductor’s podium.
Intensity always increases as mid-semester approaches with telescoping academic tasks and the approach of our tour. Then we depart: with equal parts excitement and relief, we start a real road trip set within our metaphorical journey together. Musical growth between each tour concert seems like a week of rehearsal. New members learn the expectations of musical professionalism, and they experience a new degree of fraternal camaraderie. We unfailingly receive tremendous hospitality on the road, and I am continually amazed at the size of our audiences. The strength of the university’s name gives us an audience base unmatched among collegiate choruses, a fact I never allow us to take for granted or accept as routine. The fatigue of long days and long nights can weigh us down toward the end, but the young men always finish strong. We return to campus, perhaps not rested, but still recharged, and there is the chance for us to present our handiwork in a performance at Leighton Concert Hall. Of late, I have tried to suggest that while singing for a home audience is a precious opportunity, we will give a looser performance if we approach it a bit more clinically, channeling our excitement through the lens of the professionalism we developed on the road.
Each term, fall or spring, has its own particularities, and the differences between them are inscribed in a larger arc, that of the entire academic year. The rhythm of our fall is of course inextricably linked with the season on the gridiron, which helps sustain the energy through any mid-semester ebb; in the spring, the prospect of warmer days ahead can serve the same purpose. The impending Christmas season provides a new burst of wind in the sails. (Scarcely after the final note of the fall concert is sung, the guys serenade the departing crowd in the lobby with holiday tunes.) Then, in late fall, the seniors receive my voting request for Commencement Concert music, perhaps their first realization that the conclusion of their own Notre Dame journey draws nigh. Throughout the fall, their “lasts” pile up: last hayride, last “ND in Revue,” last caroling, last Christmas Concert . . .
In the spring, after the tour and the campus concert, the pace is more leisurely; this is the best time of year for an orchestral collaboration. Offstage, Glee Club life peaks with the formal in late April. Finally, senior week: the time between the end of the academic year and Commencement exercises. This is as close to a summer camp environment as the Glee Club gets. Rehearsal in the morning, activities in the afternoon; bonds that will last a lifetime deepen, and at last we bid farewell on stage to our graduates Saturday evening, singing the music they’ve chosen. They invariably choose well, shaping an eclectic program of challenging works and old favorites, a testament to their sophistication as musicians and performers.
Where did those graduates begin? Here traces another arc, that of each individual Clubber. Some come fully formed, as it were, with their capacity for musical and administrative leadership immediately apparent. Others begin more timidly and gradually unfurl as they gain confidence and discover their gifts. It’s hard to say which type is more gratifying to observe—we couldn’t function without the former group, but to see a mousy rookie metamorphose into a senior soloist and concert-announcement raconteur is nothing less than thrilling. Of course, these arcs are common tropes for the university experience in general, but I think the unique opportunities that the Glee Club provides for personal growth propel all of us to a higher trajectory of achievement.
And on to the largest arc, that of the Club itself as a student organization with more than a century of history, from the initial meetings through the moments of brilliance under Samuel Ward Perrott and each of his successors. In my short time at the helm, we’ve literally had a new keel laid beneath us: our move to the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center ten years ago provided a propulsive boost that has scarcely faded. We’ll continue to push forward, trying to keep our Club a destination where young men can deepen their awareness of aesthetic beauty, unlock their own talents, and be part of a larger whole. Glee Clubber and chaplain James Foster (’77) beautifully terms thi