At our last Stiftungsfest, Tim gave a great presentation about the Maennerchor as it was in 1924. The presentation has been converted to a flip book and embedded here. You can close the “ad window” and there is an option to display it full screen in a new browser tab. Enjoy!
On May 6, 2012 we sang at the Wisconsin State Capitol in celebration of the 160th anniversary of the Madison Maennerchor. We had a video recording made of the concert which was available on DVD. We’ve converted the DVD to MP4 format and posted the video of the concert on YouTube. The link is below:
Enjoy!
Finding Our German Ancestors in Europe:
a Workshop for Genealogists
| Sound Salon – Alpine Dreaming
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November 17, 2018 – 7:00pm
University Club, 803 State St., Madison, WI
Join us for this lively CD release party featuring the Grammy award-winning owners of Archeophone Records Meagan Hennessey and Richard Martin, accordionist Deb Krauss Smith, and folklorist and Professor Emeritus James P. Leary.
In 1920 Ferdinand Ingold, a poor but visionary Swiss settler in the small Wisconsin town of Monroe, audaciously launched a record label, Helvetia—invoking his homeland’s ancient name and celebrating its musical heritage. Praised in the immigrant press yet beset by fiscal challenges, Helvetia issued a scant 36 sides. Illuminating one of the first American record labels established by an immigrant for his own community, Alpine Dreaming both recalls a bygone era and resonates with all who seek better New World lives while remembering their homelands.
Co-sponsored by the Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies, Mills Music Library, and the Mayrent Institute for Yiddish Culture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
More information at: https://mayrentinstitute.wisc.
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Gemuetlichkeit Bucky on the Capitol Square
Those of you who live in the Madison area have probably seen or heard of the “Bucky on Parade” public art project. This involves 85 different Bucky Badger statues in the Madison area, each one 6 feet tall and 160 pounds. Every statue is transformed by a local artist into a unique representation of Bucky. Here is a link to the WMTV story.
Tim found the “Gemütlichkeit Bucky” near the Capitol and took this picture. Click on the thumbnail to see the larger image.
For more information on the art project, here is the official Bucky on Parade web site. There are maps on the web site showing the location of all 85 of the Buckies. The project runs from May 7, to September 12, 2018.
When the Monona Terrace was being built, the public was offered the opportunity to purchase commemorative tiles for placement on the Terrace Roof Garden.
The other day I finally had a chance to locate (again) the tile purchased by the Madison Männerchor at the time.
It is located in the southeast corner of the Roof Garden, near the sign for the Lake Vista Cafe (see picture).
Wisconsin Public Television’s new documentary on the polka traditions of Wisconsin was shown this month. It is really well done and a pleasure to watch. If you missed it, you can watch it online. Here is the link: Polka!
Most of the documentary was filmed in 2016, and there is some footage of the Essen Haus Oktoberfest, including some music from the Madison Maennerchor!
Guenther has written an article on the history of the Madison Maennerchor for the Friend of the Max Kade Institute’s Fall 2016 newsletter. Here’s a link to the PDF version of the article:
On Sunday September 11, 2016 we took part in the Annual Service at First Lutheran Church in Middleton. The church is no longer used for regular church services, it’s used mostly for weddings in the summer, but every fall there is an annual service. This year it was a special anniversary: the current church building was constructed in 1866 so this is the 150th anniversary! An addition was built in 1884 with the steeple and a new church bell. The church was added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 1988.
The congregation was founded in 1852, which coincidentally is the same year that the Madison Maennerchor was founded.
It was a beautiful day for the service and it was great to be there and to sing during the service. Below are a few photos; as always click on the thumbnail to see the larger image.
The Madison Männerchor was mentioned in two places in the Winter 2015-2016 edition of the the “Wisconsin Magazine of History”.
In the article, “Green Turtle Soup, Lobster Newburg and Roman Punch”, the MMC is referred to as “Suitable entertainment…” on page 19 and listed on the reproduced menu from 1901 on page 21.