Category Archives: Events

Kommers 2014 part 1

The Kommers competition for 2014 was held on Saturday June 21 at Madison Turner Hall. The competition began at 11:00; seven choirs performed – the Schwaben Maennerchor and Milwaukee Liedertafel performed together.

After the performances, we had a catered dinner.

Here are some photos – click on the image to see a larger version.

The Kommers traveling trophy

Who will win the competition in 2014?

Madison Turner Hall

Getting ready for the competition

Madison Turner Hall

At the welcome desk in the banquet hall

Traditional uniform sock photo

Well, they are dark socks, and it is the *Wisconsin* Saengerbezirk Kommers...

Madison Turner Hall

Just before the competition

MGV Harmonia Kenosha

Madison Turner Hall

Milwaukee Liederkranz is performing

Milwaukee Liederkranz

Madison Maennerchor

Getting ready to perform

Gesangverein Concordia Sheboygan

Replenishing fluids

Singing is thirsty work...

Milwaukee D.A.N.K. Chor

Milwaukee Damenchor

Schwaben Maennerchor & Milwaukee Liedertafel

Dinner buffet

Dessert table

cake from Clasen's Bakery

Dinner

Sauerbraten, red cabbage, mashed potatoes, spaetzle, spinach and gravy. Oh, and some sort of salad thing...

Dinner was enjoyed by all

Dinner

After dinner and dessert there was time to talk and replenish fluids as needed.

MMC Concert at Oakwood Village 2014-01-16

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Retired MMC singer Dick Layman invited us to perform at Oakwood Village. It was kind of memorial concert for Dick’s wife Gloria who passed away late last year. We performed at 7:00 p.m. in the main auditorium. We sang a selection of our songs, including some that were especially requested by Dick.

After the concert we adjourned to the dining hall and enjoyed sandwiches and beer. Naturally we did a little more singing!

Thanks again for inviting us Dick!

: In the restaurant for sandwiches and beer after the concert

: Our host Dick talking with some of the choir members

: Ralph leads the crowd in singing “I’ve been working on the railroad”

: Dark socks true, but the color…not a match…

MMC Christmas Concert 2013

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The Madison Maennerchor had our annual Christmas Concert & Dinner at Turner Hall on Sunday December 15, 2013. We had a pretty good turnout for the concert, and afterwards Sankt Nikolaus paid us a visit and then we had dinner, featuring ham baked in sourdough bread from Clasen’s Bakery.

Eric recorded the concert and has made the audio files available for listening and downloading. If I’ve done this correctly, clicking on the link below should take you to the folder containing the audio files. Then just click on a file to hear the song:

MMC Christmas Concert 2013

And here are some pictures!

: Sunday morning: the set up crew is just getting started

: The setup crew in action

: The hall is ready for the concert

: Warming up before the concert

: Technically these are dark socks, so there is no violation of our dress code

: Still warming up!

: We had a pretty good turnout for dinner

: Sankt Nikolaus makes a visit

: The children were excited to see Sankt Nikolaus

: A visit from Sankt Nikolaus

: Clockwise from the top: turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, ham baked in sourdough, cranberry sauce and green bean casserole.

: After dinner, time to relax, talk with friends and listen to the Packer game

: The clean up crew swings into action!

Cooking Class Oktoberfest 2013

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Ralph Clasen taught a cooking class at the Turner Hall Oktoberfest, and has provided the recipes for the dishes he made during the class. I apologize for the delay in posting them here; but it took me a while to reformat the recipes in a convenient form. Any typos or other problems you may find in the file are my fault, not Ralph’s. Please click on the link below for the Oktoberfest recipes in PDF format:

Cooking_Class_Recipes_Oktoberfest2013

Enjoy!

Lutefisk dinner 2013

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Last Saturday a couple of us attended a lutefisk dinner at Christ Lutheran Church in DeForest. For those who are unfamiliar with lutefisk, it is air-dried cod preserved with lye. It’s a traditional food in the Scandinavian countries, and in the Midwest lutefisk dinners are common in the fall, typically sponsored by a Lutheran church with a Norwegian heritage.

The lutefisk dinner at Christ Lutheran was quite good:

: This lutefisk dinner was held at Christ Lutheran Church in DeForest

: We didn’t have reservations so we had to wait about 50 minutes before being seated

: Clockwise from the top: mashed potatoes and gravy, rutabaga, meatballs, lutefisk with melted butter, cranberry sauce and coleslaw

: I didn’t get a picture of the lefse (which was quite good) but here’s dessert: pie. I choose the cherry pie which was very good.

If you are wondering why a post about a Norwegian lutefisk dinner is on the web site of a German mens choir, just consider it an exploration of the stinky foods of other cultures. Or perhaps it’s because the web master had two great-grandparents who were born in Norway. Skål!

Oktoberfest at Turner Hall

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The choir took part in the Oktoberfest activities at Madison’s Turner Hall on Saturday October 26, 2013. The keg was tapped at 1:00 by the Burgermeister Dick Blatter. Music was provided by Jerry Stueber and The Music Vendors – we sang at around 4:00 during the break between the bands.

Other highlights include Ralph Clasen’s cooking demonstration and the supervised open gym for the younger guests. Check out the pictures below:

: Burgermeister Blatter opens the festivities at 1:00

: The volleyball folks showed up for their free beer and left

: Plenty of good food was available

: Jerry Stueber provided the music for the first half of the afternoon

: One of the highlights was a cooking class with Ralph Clasen

: preparing Wiener Schnitzel

: Clockwise from the top: creamed carrots, savoy cabbage, Wiener Schnitzel and roesti potatoes. It was delicious!

: The Madison Maennerchor sang a few songs around 4:00

: We were too lazy to get up, so we sang from our seats

: Two young guests taking a break from the gym

: Actually they had to be bribed with cookies and cupcakes to leave the gym for these pictures

: Prosit!

: The Music Vendors provided the entertainment later in the afternoon and evening

Kommers 2013

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The 2013 WSB Kommers was held in Sheboygan on Saturday October 19. We tied for third place with the Milwaukee Damenchor. Milwaukee Liederkranz was second and MGV Harmonia from Kenosha took home the traveling trophy.

The Gesangverein Concordia did a great job of organizing the competition and the dinner. Next year it will be our turn to host Kommers.

Here are a few pictures:

: Leaving Turner Hall

: The beverage service on the bus was excellent

: Arriving in Sheboygan

: Social chairmen past and present

: After a brief warmup, we got down to business

: Parade of flags

: The competition was in the gym of the Christ Child Academy

: Dinner was pretty good.

: At least they weren’t white socks this year…

: Another triumph of engineering – all those years in college finally paid off.

: And the crowd goes wild!

: Kenosha got to take home the trophy this time…

Choral Concert – Die Erste Walpurgisnacht (Mendessohn)

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The University of Wisconsin Choral Union and UW Chamber Orchestra will present a concert containing two works, Dona Nobis Pacem by the English composer of Welsh descent Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Die Erste Walpurgisnacht by German composer Felix Mendelssohn. The concert will be presented on Saturday November 23rd (7:30 pm) and Sunday November 24th (2:00 pm) in UW Mills Hall, Mosse Humanities Building. Please call the School of Music’s Concert Line (608) 265-2787 for tickets. You can also purchase tickets on line at the UW Choral Union web site. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $8 for students/seniors.

Die erste Walpurgisnacht (The First Walpurgis Night) is a secular cantata for soloists and choir composed by Felix Mendelssohn. The words are taken from a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The text involves Druids in the Harz mountains The piece is about 36 minutes in length. Sung in German.

The sections are titled:

Es lacht der Mai (May is in full bloom) Tenor & chorus of Druids & people.
Könnt ihr so verwegen handeln? (Could you be so rash, so daring?) Alto, old woman, & chorus of wives of the people.
Wer Opfer heut zu bringen scheut (Whoever fears to sacrifice) Baritone, priest, & chorus of Druids.
Verteilt euch, wackre Männer, hier (Divide your forces, valiant men) Chorus of Druid watchmen.
Diese dummen Pfaffenchristen (Christians and their priests are witless) Bass, watchman, & chorus of watchmen.
Kommt mit Zacken und mit Gabeln (Come with prongs and pitchforks) Chorus of Druids and people.
So weit gebracht, dass wir bei Nacht (It’s come so far that now by night) Baritone, priest, & chorus of Druids and people.
Hilf, ach hilf mir, Kriegsgeselle (Help, oh help me, comrade) Tenor & chorus of Christian watchmen.
Die Flamme reinigt sich vom Rauch (The flame is purified by smoke) Baritone, priest, & chorus of Druids and people.

Dona Nobis Pacem (Give Us Peace) by Ralph Vaughan Williams was composed in 1936 to mark the hundredth anninversary of the Huddersfield Choral Society. The texts are taken from Walt Whitman poems, speeches and excerpts from The Bible. It was intended to be a plea for peace. It is scored for soprano and baritone soloists with chorus and orchestra. Sung in English.

References
“Die erste Walpurgisnacht”, p. 226 in The World of the Oratorio, Kurt Pahlen. Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1990.
“Die Erste Walprugisnacht”, retrieved from Wikipedia, accessed September 24, 2013. “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_erste_Walpurgisnacht”
“Dona Nobis Pacem”, retrieved from Wikipedia, accessed September 24, 2013. “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dona_nobis_pacem_(Vaughan_Williams)”

Middleton Good Neighbor Fest 2013

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The choir didn’t sing at the Middleton Good Neighbor Fest this year, but several of us took part in the 5 K race. And naturally we had to “replenish fluids” after the race.

We’re looking for a second tenor for next year’s race, to complete the quartet.