University Singers and Troubadours
From GWUEncyc
Article
This article was written in 1998.
A History of Song
Who traveled to the South Pacific, Greenland and the Arctic to entertain the troops? Who represented The George Washington University in Ireland and Portugal? Who performs Handel's "Messiah" annually? Who won the 1930 Collegiate Glee Club competition at Carnegie Hall? Who has performed with Bob Hope in two different decades? The answer, to all these questions, is GW's amazing singing performers!
The Glee Clubs, the University Chorus, the University Singers, generations of the Troubadours and many other outstanding vocal groups have provided countless hours of student involvement at GW. These groups have entertained generations of listeners and numerous organizations and participated in many events and gatherings in Washington. They have generated enormous good will for the University.
Early Music
Prior to the 1890s there must have been many performances and informal gatherings by students. However, the earliest record of choral activity, found in The Columbiad yearbook, is of the 1899 "Male Octette," and the Columbian College Glee Club, a women's singing group. By 1914, the Women's Glee Club was presenting chapel exercises and singing at Panhellenic parties. The Men's Glee Club presented concerts and organized a mandolin section. The first Troubadours, organized in 1927, were musical comedy performers. The troupe wrote, produced and performed shows such as "Sharps and Frats" and "Sometime Soon." The first Troubadours organization ceased activities in the mid-1930s.
Harmon Era: 1921 - 1964
It was not until the 1920s that the Men's Glee Club developed into a strong organization. Dr. Robert "Doc" Harmon, who began with the group in 1921, became its director in 1925. From his student days at GW to his retirement in 1964 Dr. Harmon molded the lives of hundreds of GW students and friends through song. The club members quickly discovered their good fortune in having a good teacher and mentor in Dr. Harmon and a very patient accompanist in his wife, Grace. Although the University physician, Dr. Harmon devoted decades to choral music.
Under Dr. Harmon, the Men's Glee Club's activities were marked by various concerts in and around Washington, with its first theater engagement as headliners at the Rialto Theater in 1925. In addition to performances at Keith's Theater, the Annual National Vaudeville Actors Benefit Show and the Earle Theater, the club sang in a 1927 show at Poli's Theater to benefit victims of the Mississippi flood disaster. The 1929 Men's Glee Club began its activities by holding a smoker at the Thomas Circle Club, a club comprised mostly of working men who attended evening classes at the University.
In 1929 club members learned of a national collegiate competition for men's glee clubs. In order to be invited to compete nationally the GW Men's Glee Club needed to win a regional contest. Winfield Weitzel, a GW vocalist, helped to organize and became the executive secretary of the Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Glee Club Association and its regional singing contest. The GW Men's Glee Club won this contest, and then sang at Carnegie Hall, winning the national glee club title.
By the 1930s Dr. Harmon was also directing the Women's Glee Club and eventually created the combined men's and women's choruses. In May of 1935 the largest GW chorus to date sang in the eighth annual glee club concert held in the main ballroom of the Willard Hotel. This was the first year that alumni participated in the annual concert. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s the glee clubs performed an annual spring concert, performed at the Statler, the Mayflower and the Willard and participated in many major Washington events, including White House parties, summer concerts on the Potomac, Cherry Blossom Festivals, activities on the Ellipse and Christmas tree-lightings. During those years the glee clubs sang for Presidents Coolidge, Hoover and Roosevelt.
The Second World War had its effect on choral activities. Although many singers went to war, the glee clubs contribution to the war effort was constant. The groups sang for the local U.S.O. and the Stage Door Canteen. At the Canteen, rather than singing from a scheduled program, the groups took song requests from the troops.
In the summer of 1950, at the request of the chief of Personnel Services of the Military Air Transport Service, Dr. Harmon and Assistant Professor and baseball coach Vincent J. DeAngelis formed the Traveling Troubadours. Their purpose was to entertain U.S. military personnel on our remote overseas bases. Members were selected from the ranks of the Glee Club on the basis of vocal ability. The Traveling Troubadours, which numbered from twenty to thirty members, gave hundreds of shows in places like Thule (Greenland), Tokyo, North Africa and the Azores. Among their many trips they entertained a handful of GIs in a small unheated airplane hangar at Frobisher Bay on Baffin Island, and sang for a capacity audience in the Great Opera House in Reykjavik, Iceland. The Troubadours spent their vacations traveling to entertain troops in isolated areas. For the Christmas of 1951 they flew into Adak, in the Aleutians, during a snowstorm. The base radioed, "Come in if you can" --and in they went. At other times the Traveling Troubadours were greeted by winds up to 70 knots, snowdrifts and temperatures of 30 below zero, or constant tropical rains--depending on the location.
1960 was a particularly interesting year for the Traveling Troubadours. They sang their annual performance of Handel's "Messiah" at the Lisner Auditorium accompanied by the Air Force Symphony Orchestra and the Singing Sergeants. During the spring semester the Troubadours rehearsed three times a week to prepare for their month long summer appearance at New York's Radio City Music Hall. Because they were held over at Radio City, the Troubadours missed Fall registration. However they were allowed to register late and continue their studies.
During the early 60s the group also sang on the Marguerite Piazza, John Raitt, and Herb Shriner shows. They appeared at the "Singer Bowl" of the 1964 New York World's Fair, and many conventions and festivals throughout the eastern United States.
In Transition
Dr. Harmon retired as director of choral groups in 1964. That same year the University's Music Department began under the leadership of George Steiner. During the next 14 years, the University Glee Clubs, later named the University Chorus, were led by Jules Zabawa, Dale W. Krider and Stephen J. Prussing. Although such activities as the annual "Messiah" concerts and other annual performances continued, the University Chorus did not travel much outside of the Washington area.
The Pickar Years
In 1978, Professor Catherine J. Pickar became director of the University Chorus, which changed its name to the University Singers in 1981. The current Troubadours were reorganized under Director Pickar in 1981, with the assistance of Melissa Maxman. Choral activities at GW provided a source of cultural education and enjoyment for students and others through informal campus concerts and performances. This time, the Troubadours were based on the tradition of informal a cappella singing. The group numbers between twelve and fifteen members chosen from the University Singers. Most of the Troubadours repertoire is arranged by the members themselves. Like the Traveling Troubadours of the 1950s the current Troubadours have served as ambassadors for the George Washington University by appearing at numerous events in the city of Washington and traveled under the auspices of the United States Information Service to Portugal in 1984 and Ireland in 1985. The Troubadours have toured France, Bermuda, California, Italy and New England. On October 12, 1985 the Troubadours performed with Bob Hope at the University's Smith Center, as earlier Troubadours had done in the Harmon years. On some of their tours the group presented concerts for alumni, parents and prospective students. In 1985-86 the Troubadours recorded their first album. A second album was produced in 1994. (Contact the Department of Music for a complete list of recordings.)
The University Singers continue to perform Handel's "Messiah" every Christmas season in addition to annual concerts, and other selected functions. They have performed with well-known musicians, and, along with the Troubadours, continue to delight and entertain audiences.
Choral alumni are loyal to GW and its music tradition. In 1989 the Alumni Chorus was formed. In 1986 the first Harmon Associates reunion was held. This group of alumni was named for "Doc" Harmon. Three other reunions were held in 1990, 1994 and 1998. The George Washington University currently has several chamber ensembles and choral groups including the University Singers and the Troubadours. They now or have in the past represented every school within the university both part-time and full-time. They come from the ranks of graduates and undergraduates. The one thing they all have in common is a love of vocal music and a devotion to their University.
In 1998 The Harmon Choral Associates Through the Years: The History of The George Washington University Choral Program was published by the Harmon Choral Associates. For more information on this publication contact the Department of Music.
Document Information
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Author or Source: Materials for this article were taken from the Choral History Music Collection, University Archives, Department of Special Collections, The Gelman Library; Special thanks to Julie Mangis and Catherine Pickar
Document Location: University Archives
Date Added to Encyclopedia: January 24, 2007
Prepared by: G. David Anderson, University Archivist and Historian
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