German Song in America

All immigrants to America bring artistic traditions with them that both unify them as a group and contribute to the wider society. Historian Heike Bungert describes one example from the nineteenth century: German American choirs.

In Europe’s German-speaking states, Bungert writes, male choir organizations started popping up around 1810 and grew in number and prominence over the next half-century. Most were open to people of different social classes and focused on the idea of educating people and spreading middle-class values—though, by the 1860s, some were specifically “workers choirs,” affiliated with socialist and labor movements.

German Americans founded their own choirs starting in the 1830s in cities including Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Cincinnati. As German immigration accelerated through the 1880s, more singing groups popped up, and they united to put on regional festivals.

Bungert writes that the festival organizers had to consider several potentially conflicting goals. More highbrow features, including the performance of complex, difficult pieces, were intended both to unite German Americans in pride and to impress their Anglo-Americans with their sophistication. Organizers identified music as a bridge reaching Americans and elevating US culture. It was also important to minimize any disturbances to avoid providing fodder to local nativists.

However, for many regular German Americans, this wasn’t really the point of the festivals. They showed up to enjoy romantic or humorous folk songs, eat childhood foods, drink beer, and reminisce about the old country. Another popular feature of the festivals was balls, which functioned as mixers for singles who might otherwise have few opportunities to mingle with other German Americans.

The choirs and festivals grew in number and size as German immigration increased. By the 1880s, one choir, the Liederkranz in New York, had 1,557 members, though most weren’t actually active. Some festivals drew as many as 6,000 singers.

And the festivals were successful in introducing Anglo Americans—who often represented a third of festival attendees—to aspects of European culture with which they were unfamiliar. Like the choirs back home, the German American singers performed classical compositions by Handel, Haydn, and Mozart, as well as contemporary songs. German American choirs and festivals also became a model for glee clubs and city festivals, and they inspired the building of concert halls and other music venues.

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