Today in History takes a look back at an article from April 4, 1915, about University of North Dakota’s Men’s Glee Club and their annual tour of the state. Read ahead to learn about the UND Men’s Glee Club, some of its members, and what their tour entailed.
University of North Dakota Men’s Glee Club which starts on tenth annual tour of the state tonight making ten cities in circuit
This evening (April 4, 1915), the University of North Dakota Men’s Glee Club will leave Grand Forks on its tenth annual tour of the state, which will include visits to ten cities, ending on the sixteenth with the home concert. In order to accommodate the number of cities that desired to hear the club this year, a short trip was made between semesters in February, which took in Mandan, Bismarck, New Salem, and Dickinson.
The annual tour is always made during the spring vacation as this is the only time that the men can absent themselves from their studies long enough to make the trip. The early trip was a valuable experience to the new men this year and the club that starts out tonight is one that is among the best that ever represented the school, well-balanced and rounded into excellent condition.
The club this year is composed of thirty-five men, twenty of whom have been selected for the tour, after tryouts held in quartets by Director W. W. Norton. The competition is always keen and this year it was unusually so. The men are chosen on the following basis:
- Knowing the songs and their rendition.
- Work as soloists or readers.
- General value to the club.
The men of the different sections are as follows:
First Tenors – Howard Flint, J. J. Webber, McLain Critchfield, Joseph Snowfield, H. H. Schlafer.
Second Tenors – Orval McHaffie, Walter S. Tostevin, John Muir, R. W. Manuel, Meecham.
First Bass – S. Cuyler Anderson, Louis G. Telner, Howard Bertelson, Alvin Stommer.
Second Bass – McKinley Tubbs, John Fraine, Clarence Lee, John Moore, W. W. Norton.
The club is particularly fortunate this year in its soloists. There will be two tenors who will appear on the present trip, Rowland Philip Manuel, associate professor of voice in Wesley College, whose group of three songs will be one of the features of the concerts, and Registrar Schlafer, whose work is of the highest class and who never fails to please an audience.
The baritone soloist, S. Cuyler Anderson, of Jamestown, is making his third tour with the club and is well known to audiences of the state. He has a wonderfully musical voice of great range, and his rendition is most pleasing.
Director Norton appears as a bass soloist and also on the violin. His work needs no comment. He is familiar to every music-loving audience in the state and is always enthusiastically welcomed wherever he appears.
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