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My name is George Brennauer and it is my great pleasure to
welcome you to the 80th anniversary celebration of
the Male Choir Harfentöne.
We have very special guests tonight and I am delighted to
introduce to you:
Fr. Karl Höppe from the German parish of St. Patrick, a good
friend and longstanding supporter of our choir.
Hans Förstel and his wife Alice, Hans is the president of the
German Canadian Choir Association.
Rosemarie Meyer, Deutsche Presse
Sybille Rentmeister, Echo Germanica
Both these fine publications have been a great help to our choir
through the years. Thank you for joining us tonight.
Alfred Schormann, the conductor of the Harfentoene since 1956!
My friends that’s 53 long years of hard work looking after the
angelic boys of the Harfentoene. It is impossible to properly
address Alfred’s accomplishments with the choir but it is clear
to all of us here, you are the heart and soul of this choir. We
are grateful for everything you have given to us.
Ladies and gentlemen -
- Alfred Schormann, Harfentoene
- Honoured Past President Bernie Joisten and his wife Barbara
- Honoured Past President Erwin Burchert and his wife Ria
Both Bernie and Erwin have been Presidents of the Harfentöne for
many years.
- Karl Wiker and his wife Anni, Karl is our Vice President.
We welcome the
- Germania Choir Hamilton and conductor Linus Press
- the Loreley Singers Oshawa and conductor Monica Cotton
- the Hansa Chor Brampton and conductor Dieter Wütherich
- the Edelweiss Chor Toronto and conductor Manfred Petz
- the Transylvania Chor Kitchener and conductor Ian Clark
- And we welcome choir delegations from: Concordia Choirs,
Kitchener
Before I carry on I want to thank all of you who have worked so
hard to make our celebrations possible. But two men made it all
come together:
Erwin Burchert and Wolfgang Trautmann
Thank you all.
I would like to give you a short history of our choir:
The Male Choir was brought to life by Pater Paul Stroh,
who on October 20, 1929 announced to the German congregation at
St. Patrick’s church that the first practice of a new Male Choir
would be held this very afternoon.
He named the choir "St. Patrickschor".
Eighteen men showed up and along with
conductor Carl Markerth our choir was born.
It seems that the early years were marked by much the same
activities which we participated in for the past 50 or so years:
Family picnics, choir dances, choir festivals and we also took
part in parades. During the Second World War the choir became inactive until
1947, when a very musical Pater Daniel Ehmann at St. Patrick’s took up the reigns of the Male Choir and renamed it "Männerchor Harfentöne".
The very first concert after the war was on Mother’s Day 1950,
32 singers took part.
In 1955 we found a new young fellow to be our
conductor – Alfred Schormann. From that moment on the choir took
on new life, expansion of repertoire and singing at places far
beyond the borders of Toronto. Many of the men you see here
tonight joined in those days. Alfred and Walter Joisten, our
first President, worked tirelessly to arrange travel to visit
places in North America and taking the choir to Germany on two
occasions.
Walter’s brother Bernie Joisten was also instrumental in
arranging most of the trips. Bernie then became president of the
Harfentoene in 1973, which position he kept for over 20 years.
He was liked very much by our choir as well as other choirs of
the DKSB (Deutsch-Kanadischer Sängerbund, German-Canadian Choir
Association). We gave him the nickname "Il Presidente". Under
his leadership and with the proactive participation of his
brother Walter, the choir went through a very active time at
home as well as abroad.
Other choir presidents were the late Tony Hegenauer and the late
Manfred Floren, who also presided over some fun years of the
choir and its families.
My predecessor, our Ehrenpräsident Erwin Burchert, was at the
helm of the Harfentoene for eleven years and worked tirelessly
for the good of the choir. He always had a nice word ready, no
matter how serious the situation and the choir enjoyed, and
still enjoys, his humour and jokes during most practice breaks
and at special choir events.
In September 2001, because of health reasons, our long-standing
conductor Alfred Schormann handed the baton to our late
vice-conductor Horst Hartmann, who conducted the choir until the
summer of 2005, when he had to abdicate for health reasons. In
September 2005, our conductor emeritus, Alfred, became our
regular conductor again.
When we look back today, we can be
proud of our accomplishments. But the true essence of our choir
goes far beyond. It is the friendship, the love of music, the
camaraderie we have with our singing friends far and near which
defines this choir - and I think I’m save to say - it is what
defines all of us in this room.
Rain, snowstorms, sunshine, no matter - we show up to practice,
sing at concerts and love to bring joy to our audiences.
Throughout the years we have been steadfast in our life together
with the German Parish of St. Patrick’s. This association has
been the backbone of our choir from the very beginning and has
carried on through the many years to the present.
Although we are not the church choir, it is our honour to
participate at many services throughout the year - singing our
music.
It is the music and words of our German forefathers which we
keep alive, it is the music which stirs our souls and makes us
happy.
My friends, it is the MUSE to which we have lost our hearts!
Thank you for being with us today.
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