Cornell University Glee Club

Cornell University Glee Club
Cornell University Glee Club

Seal of the Cornell University Glee Club
Background information
Origin Cornell University in Ithaca, New York
Years active 1868–present
Associated acts The Hangovers
Website www.gleeclub.com

The Cornell University Glee Club (CUGC) is the oldest student organization at Cornell University, having been organized shortly after the first students arrived on campus in 1868. The CUGC is a sixty-member chorus for male voices, with repertoire including classical, folk, 20th century music, and traditional Cornell songs. The Glee Club also performs major works with the Cornell University Chorus such as Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Handel's Messiah, and Bach's Mass in B Minor.

Contents

Achievements

  • Performances at two American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) conventions as an auditioned choir: the 2008 ACDA Eastern Division Convention in Hartford, CT, and the 2009 ACDA National Convention in Oklahoma City, OK.
  • First American collegiate ensemble to tour the Soviet Union, traveled to the Soviet Union and England from December 1960 to January 1961.[1]:126
  • Performed for national television and radio on such networks as Television Moscow, BBC, Educational Television Network, Radio Leningrad, Frankfurt Radio Network, Television Singapura, PBS, NBC, and others. Notable appearances include:[1] the Kate Smith TV Hour (1951),[2] The Perry Como Show (1954),[2] Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion (1997),[3] and The Price is Right (1999).[4]
  • Frequent domestic and international tours have traveled to over thirty-five states and nearly thirty countries across four continents.
  • First group to bring the Franz Biebl Ave Maria from Germany to the United States after meeting the composer during a recording session on the 1970 tour of Germany.[5]
  • Three month tour through East Asia in 1966 on an all-expense paid tour sponsored by the U.S. State Department.[6]
  • 1989 tour of China was the focus of the PBS documentary Geographical Fugue.[7][dead link]
  • First published history of an American collegiate choral ensemble, Songs from the Hill: A History of the Cornell University Glee Club by Michael Slon, Class of 1992, was published in 1998.[1]

Directors

This list is complete and up-to-date as of March 2009.
  • 1889–1921: Hollis Ellsworth Dann
  • 1921–1942: Eric Sydney Dudley
  • 1942–1945: John Marinus Kuypers
  • 1945–1946: Paul John Weaver
  • 1946–1957: Thomas Brodhead Tracy, Class of 1931
  • 1957–1995: Thomas Andrew Sokol
  • 1995–present: Scott Arthur Tucker

A cappella subsets

The Glee Club spawned several spinoff a capella subsets in the second half of the 20th century as collegiate a cappella emerged as a popular form of music. The club currently has only one official a cappella subset—The Hangovers—but two other spinoff groups, Cayuga's Waiters and The Sherwoods, still exist independently.

This list is complete and up-to-date as of March 2009.
  • Cayuga's Waiters (1949–present)
    • disassociated from Glee Club in 1956
  • The Sherwoods (1956–1973)
    • removed from Glee Club in 1958
    • alumni still perform annually at Reunions weekend
  • Glee Club Eight / Glee Club Octaves (1958–1966)
  • The Hangovers (1968–present)
    • continue to tour and perform within the CUGC and separately as the official a cappella subset
  • Leftovers (1971–1972)

Cayuga's Waiters

Main article: Cayuga's Waiters

The Waiters formed as a subset of the Cornell University Glee Club in 1949 and debuted at the Glee Club's 1950 Junior Week concert.[1]:239 Although dressed in standard Glee Club attire (a tuxedo), they distinguished themselves from other Glee Club members by draping towels over their arms—a visual pun on their ensemble's name. Their repertoire included such popular songs as "Mood Indigo", "Mandy", "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye", and "Lord, If I Get My Ticket".[1]:239 By 1951, the group had become much in demand on campus for singing engagements, and they were also enthusiastically received by audiences when on tour with the Glee Club.[1]:239

The early 1950s were a busy and tumultuous period, as the young group had inadvertently stumbled into an entirely new industry. As Michael Slon wrote in his history of the Glee Club:

Prior to the Waiters the regimen of small group singing, traveling, and recording, completely familiar today, did not exist at Cornell. Not realizing they were pioneers, the new triple quartet set out by accepting local engagements on top of their Glee Club duties and soon found their popularity and activity were snowballing.[1]:240

In 1953, the Waiters conducted their first independent tour—to Bermuda's Harbor Castle Hotel—over the winter holidays, and in the same year, they recorded and cut their first record. In 1956, the Waiters decided they could no longer split their efforts between choral and small group singing and dissociated from the Glee Club. Despite the shock of disassociation, both organizations went on to enjoy enormous success throughout the remainder of the 20th century.

The Sherwoods

First appearing at the Glee Club's 1956 fall concert, The Sherwoods of Cornell gained prominence quickly among collegiate musical groups. They embarked on their first international tour in the summer of 1957 (with an itinerary including Hawaii and the Far East) and by 1958, they were a successful act in great demand both on and off campus.[1]:242 This enormous success came at a price, however, and led to conflicts with the Glee Club, which had nominally remained The Sherwoods' parent organization during these formative years. In the fall of 1958, the two organizations split officially. Glee Club director Thomas Sokol later recalled that The Sherwoods had been "twelve of [his] best singers," and that losing them was a difficult—but necessary—step for both organizations.[1]:242

The Sherwoods toured extensively, traveling to Hawaii, the Far East, Bermuda, the Virgin Islands, and Jamaica and on two extensive tours for the USO, entertaining troops in the Philippines, and throughout Germany (1964). They commonly wore dark (Sherwood) green jackets and ties for performances. Rather than sing stock arrangements, The Sherwoods wrote their own. They were known for rich 6-8 part harmony music unique among other acapella groups of their time. Four members accounted for most of their arrangements: Jack Wade '58, Frank Holden '62, Fred Kewley '65, and Dan Murray '70 whose arrangements are numerous on the final Sherwood LP, "Green" (1971). Holden (resident of Duxbury, MA) and Kewley (a manager of music professionals in Nashville, TN) are now both music directors for two large groups of alumni Sherwoods they call "The Founders" (singers from classes of '58–'63) and "The Youngers" (singers from classes of '64–'74).

The popularity of a cappella singing faded for a period in the early 1970s and The Sherwoods stopped auditioning new members in 1973. 1973 also marked the final year in which the Sherwoods were featured in The Cornellian, Cornell University's annual year book.[1]:242

In 1985 The Class of '65 invited the 'Younger' Sherwoods back to Cornell to entertain them at their 20th reunion. It was the first time in twenty years The Youngers had met to re-learn their songs and practice their entertaining introductions. The 'Younger' Sherwoods have been returning to Cornell's Ithaca campus to perform at reunions every year since 1985, celebrating their 26th annual shows in 2010, once again entertaining the Class of '65, this time at the class's 45th reunion.[1]:242

The 'Founders' Sherwoods gather at various times during the year, continuing to practice and perform the repertoire they sang during their era at Cornell. Between the two Sherwoods groups there are about 45 active Sherwood singers performing today.

The Sherwoods released seven albums during their undergraduate years; more recently they have produced two re-mastered compilation CDs entitled "Try to Remember - The Reunion Album" and "Old Friends". The Sherwoods continue to look for opportunities to perform. Business manager is Ron Johnson '68 of Hingham, MA.

Noted hit singer/songwriter Harry Chapin sang with the Sherwoods for several years, writing two songs for the group, 'Let me Down Easy' and 'Winter Song'. As an undergraduate, Chapin was preoccupied with his prolific songwriting, and he eventually dropped out of Cornell University to focus on his early career as a successful singer-songwriter.

Hangovers

Main article: The Hangovers

International tours

This list is complete and up-to-date as of October 2010.

The CUGC has performed as an ensemble in twenty-five different countries.

Miscellaneous

The seal

Adopted as the official emblem of the Glee Club by Thomas A. Sokol shortly after he became director, the CUGC seal features the head of Apollo, the Greek god of music and poetry. It also recalls the well-known glee Glorious Apollo by Samuel Webbe.[1]:261–262

Quotes

"The excellent impression made by the 60 young men was of a finely finished vocalism from beginning to end of their a cappella program."

Robert P. Commanday, music critic of The San Francisco Chronicle from 1965 to 1993, in a San Francisco Classical Voice review of the Glee Club's performance at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music on January 8, 2011.[8]

"Throw out all stereotypes. The Cornell University Glee Club has developed a virtuosic choral sound that has far more in common with the King's Singers than 40 guys with a keg."

Alfred Thigpen of the Washington Post in a review of the Glee Club's performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. on January 9, 2010.[9]

"I want to send you my heartiest congratulations on your superb singing...I do not exaggerate when I say you made choral history, and I hope sincerely that before long we can again make music together."

Eugene Ormandy, in a letter to the Glee Club and Chorus, after conducting a performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony by the Glee Club, Chorus, and Philadelphia Orchestra on October 9th and 10th, 1962.[1]:130

"This is the most exciting moment in my eight years as Governor of New York."

Nelson Rockefeller after hearing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony performed by the Cornell Glee Club, Chorus, and the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Eugene Ormandy for the opening of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, August 4, 1966.[1]:131

Notable CUGC alumni

See also: List of Cornell University alumni

Premieres

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

The Glee Club has given the world and American premieres of many works for male chorus, written by a variety of notable composers.

World premieres include works by:

American premieres include works by:

Commissioning Endowment

In 2005, the Glee Club established the Thomas A. Sokol Commissioning Endowment in recognition of the 75th birthday of Director Emeritus Thomas Sokol. The proceeds help fund an annual commission from a well-known composer of a new work (or works), typically premiered by the Glee Club during the fall Homecoming weekend concert. Sokol Commission recipients to date include:

This list is complete and up-to-date as of December 2009.

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Slon, Michael (1998). Songs from the Hill: a history of the Cornell University Glee Club. Cornell University Glee Club. ISBN 9780962010316. http://books.google.com/books?id=Vy9LAAAAYAAJ. Retrieved 5 October 2010. 
  2. ^ a b "Guide to the Cornell University Glee Club Records, 1890-1986" (Correspondence, programs, scrapbooks, photographs, notebooks, recordings, miscellany.). Collection Number: 37-6-2399. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library. 1890-1986. http://rmc.library.cornell.edu/EAD/htmldocs/RMA02399.html. Retrieved 2006-12-18. 
  3. ^ Prairie Home Companion Episode Guide
  4. ^ View the Glee Club on The Price is Right
  5. ^ Program notes by Dr. Wilbur Skeels detailing the Ave Maria's history
  6. ^ "1966 Cornell Glee Club alumni celebrate historic Asian tour with Homecoming performance"
  7. ^ Link to the bio of writer/producer/director Dan Booth
  8. ^ "Alive, Awake, and Singing". San Francisco Classical Voice. January 8, 2011. http://www.sfcv.org/reviews/san-francisco-conservatory-of-music/alive-awake-and-singing. 
  9. ^ "Cornell University Glee Club hits plenty of high notes at the Kennedy Center". The Washington Post. January 11, 2010. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/10/AR2010011002389.html. 
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