"19th-century German Male Choral Societies in the United States, or Singing and Drinking in America."
During the nineteenth century, waves of immigrants from the German-speaking European lands arrived on the shores of the United States, bringing their love of music with them. Wherever they settled—whether in New York or New Orleans or Cincinnati or Austin—they founded male choral societies, usually around a table in a tavern. These societies put on concerts (and sometimes operas) for the members and their families, organized excursions in the summer and balls in the winter, and participated in choral festivals. They enriched the musical culture of their communities, and had a great deal of fun while doing so.
Mary Sue Morrow received her PhD in musicology from Indiana University and is currently a professor of musicology at Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Her publications include The Eighteenth-Century Symphony (co-edited with Bathia Churgin, 2012), German Music Criticism in the Late Eighteenth Century (1997), and Concert Life in Haydn’s Vienna (1989) as well as numerous articles in scholarly journals and collections. A specialist in eighteenth-century music, she focuses on instrumental music and aesthetics as well as on the intersection of music and society, but has also slipped into the nineteenth century to study German Männerchöre in the United States. She has held fellowships from the Fulbright-Hays Foundation, the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. received her PhD in musicology from Indiana University and is currently a professor of musicology at Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Her publications include The Eighteenth-Century Symphony (co-edited with Bathia Churgin, 2012), German Music Criticism in the Late Eighteenth Century (1997), and Concert Life in Haydn’s Vienna (1989) as well as numerous articles in scholarly journals and collections. A specialist in eighteenth-century music, she focuses on instrumental music and aesthetics as well as on the intersection of music and society, but has also slipped into the nineteenth century to study German Männerchöre in the United States. She has held fellowships from the Fulbright-Hays Foundation, the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.