This article appeared in a 1977 issue of “Madison Magazine” and was written by Betty Schlimgen Geisler.
Madison Maennerchor sets “Gemutlichkeit” to Music
Every time I pass that old depot on West Washington Avenue, I like to imagine the excitement there when the first train rolled into Madison loaded with 2500 emigrants from Europe. The date was May 18, 1854. That train had two locomotives steaming away and 32 crammed cars with bedraggled children hanging out every window, waving and shouting. Bands were playing and cannons shooting in welcome. Everyone who lived in or near the little village of Madison was on deck for the excitement, many to greet relatives or friends coming to a new land. After appropriate speeches, all 2500 passengers walked up the avenue, were treated to a huge picnic in the Capitol Park, and proceeded to camp there … and STAYED!
SAENGERFEST of the Maennerchor coming up soon here in Madison on September 10th, to celebrate the 125th anniversary of its founding, this seems like a good time to delve into the interesting history of this unique singing society. Members of the 1977 chorus, with Paul Essert as president, are busily planning a fabulous weekend flavored with mellow music and lots of “Gemuetlichkeit.”
Since Madison’s population was almost 95% foreign born in the 1850′s, those who came from Germany were happy to find many new friends they could understand. History tells us that that trainload of new families caused the “little brick school house” on Butler Street to burst its seams, from 23 pupils to 267 overnight. The Methodist Church basement accepted the overflow, temporarily. The worst of is was that most of the new youngsters couldn’t speak a word of English! A lot of them DID speak German. You can bet that members of that first Maennerchor did some active recruiting at that picnic … probably started a sing-a-long to make everyone feel “at home” while giving them a chance to detect any mellow baritones or deep basses among the crowd!
Back in 1852, twelve pioneer Madisonians of German descent started the singing society, patterned after similar groups in the “old country.” Most Germans love to sing and many are good musicians as well, so it wasn’t hard to find an excuse to sing together on a regular basis. The founders, under Francis Massing as director, included Theodore and August Herfurth, Ernst
and A. P. Dorschlag, Gottleib Grimm, Cristian Hinrichs, Fred Sauthoff, C. Zwicky, John George Ott, and John Eberhard. Who knows, these gentlemen may have had their first organizational meeting at one of the friendly German saloons then flourishing on King Street.
According to that beautiful book, Wisconsin, A State For All Seasons published by the editors of Wisconsin Trails, the “German saloon was a neighborhood meeting place, a social institution.” Taverns competed with each other by serving fantastic free lunches along with beer,which went for two steins for a nickel. Imagine the free-loading that went on! One place served liverwurst sandwiches on rye, hot potato salad, colt slaw, and pickles, all you could eat for 5 cents. No wonder so many pioneer gentlemen lost their waistlines at an early age. It must have kept “mama” very busy in the back kitchen!
Phillip Best, who owned the Milwaukee Vinegar Works, made the first beer in Wisconsin in 1844, and by 1848 there must have been plenty available in Madison. That was the year Madison had its own brewery, Fauerbach’s, conjured up in that large brick building still standing on Williamson Street near the old depot. The free lunches served there are a pleasant memory to lots of present Madisonians.
According to Paul Essert, who has been president since 1972, the Madison Maennerchor is “alive and well”, still holding forth in the same Turner Hall that has been the “practice place” since its founding, every Thursday night at 8 from September to May. He says enthusiasm and dedication are high, so there is practically NO absenteeism.
Paul lives at 622 S. Segoe Road with his wife and two little daughters, Caroline, five, and Beatrice, three. (Another addition to the Essert family may make it in time for the big September celebration.) He came over from Miltenberg am Main, near Heidelberg in Bavaria, in 1967 to join his brother Edmund in his custom tailoring business located in the Hilidale Arcade. Edmund has been in Madison for 22 years and, since good tailors are scarcer than ever, why not recruit your own brother to help out? The chorus sports beautifully tailored light blue suits when they are “in concert”, and you can bet they were maneuvered by the Essert brothers!
The singers have had a busy schedule this spring, performing in concert in Sheboygan on May 14, and at the outdoor festival in Waunakee on July 31 to benefit the new Art Center to be located in the old historic railroad station. They even serenaded at the graves of departed members in Forest Hill and Resurrection cemeteries on June 5, a practice they have continued over many years.
But the big excitement coming up is the anniversary SAENGERFEST to celebrate 125 years of fun singing together. It will be held on September 10 and 11, beginning with a joint concert in MATC Auditorium, and it will be open to the public so we are all invited. The Madison group will host Maennerchors from Wausau, Sheboygan, Manitowoc, Kenosha, and three from Milwaukee! All the “chors” h practicing the same selecti Beethoven, Schubert, Mozart Grieg; and they will have combined rehearsal that afternoon to be sure they will all come out even that night. It should sound tremendous!
Most of the selections will be sung German, with two in English, and the University Brass Choir will add to the effect with an overture and introductory music between numbers. The’ Madison group will get to sing one solo, a medley of beautiful songs by Robert Schumann, accompanied by French horns.
The big concert will just be the beginning of a real old-fashioned German, style week-end. A dance following the’ concert will be held at the handy Concourse Hotel across the street, The next day, a family picnic at Warner Park will be much like that first picnic for, those pioneer Madisonians in 1854. I’ll bet lots of beer will be guzzled to the melodies of a real 16 piece “Um-PahPah” Bavarian band under the direction of Max Drexler!
The first formal Maennerchor concert in Madison was held in 1853 in the old Baptist Church, a beautiful white frame edifice which stood for many years on Carroll Street next to the Park Hotel. It was a favorite place for early entertainment before Madison provided any type of theater facility. Apparently, they were so good that they soon recruited many new singers of different nationalities, and also many “backers”. Over the years, they were sponsored by such old established firms as the Fitch Funeral Home (1849), Herfurth Insurance Co. (1854), Frautschi’s Furniture Co. (1869), American Exchange Bank (1871), First National Bank (1849), Park Hotel (1846), Monona Hotel (1849), Rentschler’s Flower Shop and theWisconsin State Journal, founded in 1852. Colonel William Vilas, Senator and Governor Robert M. LaFollette, Frank Blied, Judge George Kroncke, and even Robert Niemann, the World War I flying ace, have been singing members in the past. Now 85, he sports a fantastic 8-inch long white beard and dotes on playing Santa Claus for the children in Lodi every Christmas.
I called George Kroncke to see if he remembered anything about the Turner Hall fire, and he did. He watched the whole thing! He was in the “chor” for about five years before going off to World War II, and he recalled watching Marshall Straus combing through the ashes trying to salvage some of the music. This was in 1940.
The historic building, one of the first built in Madison, burned down to the foundation, and all music and mementoes of past glories went with it. Up to this time, the Maennerchor merely rented space, but when the present building was put up on the old foundation, a special room was added just for the singers to give them a real home. I know George’s deep bass and Marshall ‘s gorgeous baritone notes must have been much appreciated by Alexius Baas, who directed the choir for about 15 years. Both singers became valuable additions to the Shrine Chanters after the war.
I will never forget a lovely party Jane and George Kroncke gave years ago, because it ended with a “sing-a-long” to end all. I played the piano and, with Perry Armstrong, Sr. on the guitar (he was a pro from the big band days), Marshall on the solos, George (who unearthed his fiddle to go with his bass), and everyone else joining in, we held forth ’til after two a.m. A wonderful evening!