The Notre Dame Glee Club is a 75-voice, all-male

choral A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

ensemble at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

. Founded in

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January *January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 * ...

in the tradition of English and American

glee club A glee club is a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs by trios or quartets. In the late 19th century it was very popular in ...

s, it is the oldest Glee Club at a Catholic University in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

History

Founding and development

Samuel Ward Perrott founded the Notre Dame Glee Club in 1915. Perrott had studied at Notre Dame (1912–1914, 1915–1916) as well as Harvard University (1914–1915). While at Harvard, Perrott joined the Harvard Glee Club under direction of Archibald Davison. According to the 1916 edition of Notre Dame's yearbook, the Dome, it was at Harvard that Perrott "got the idea of how a (glee) club should be run." Perrott returned to Notre Dame again as a student in the fall of 1915 and held auditions for a Glee Club. At these first auditions, one hundred young men tried out for fifty places. Thus the Notre Dame Glee Club was born. The Glee Club first took the stage on December 11, 1915 in Washington Hall on the campus of the University of Notre Dame and performed to a receptive audience. The student magazine, The Scholastic, called the performance "a triumph" and the Dome observed, "Before this time there had been grave doubts expressed about the success of the club," but with the first concert, the clouds of doubt were dispelled. Perrott began plans for a major concert tour. Although the major tour plans fell through, the Glee Club did perform its first tour concert in Indianapolis, IN on May 6, 1916.

The Glee Club today

For formal performances, the group members wear formal evening dress (

White tie White tie, also called full evening dress or a dress suit, is the most formal evening Western dress code. For men, it consists of a black tail coat (alternatively referred to as a dress coat, usually by tailors) worn over a white dress shir ...

). On other occasions the group performs in matching

blazer A blazer is a jacket worn as part of a smart casual or business casual look. Similar to a sport jacket, a blazer is not part of a formal suit, and the terms "sport coat" and "blazer" may be used interchangeably in daily life. A nautical bl ...

and necktie, matching polo shirts, or in street clothes. The club performs four annual campus concerts, one in Autumn, one at Christmas (three consecutive performances of the same program, the proceeds of which go to the South Bend Center for the Homeless and Food Bank), one in Spring, and one for commencement. All major concerts have been performed in the 950-seat Leighton Concert Hall in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center (DPAC). Before the construction of the DPAC, the concerts took place in Washington Hall, which can seat 550 people. The group or portions of it perform other concerts over the course of the year. These include ND in Revue (Saturday mornings before each ND home football game), joint concerts with other campus and outside ensembles, events in and around the South Bend area, and certain University functions. The group has partnered with visiting artists; in recent years, these have included

Ronan Tynan Ronan Tynan (born 14 May 1960) is an Irish tenor singer and former Paralympic athlete. He was a member of The Irish Tenors re-joining in 2011 while continuing to pursue his solo career since May 2004. In the United States, audiences know him f ...

Leon Fleisher Leon Fleisher (July 23, 1928 – August 2, 2020) was an American classical pianist, conductor and pedagogue. He was one of the most renowned pianists and pedagogues in the world. Music correspondent Elijah Ho called him "one of the most re ...

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

Vince Gill Vincent Grant Gill (born April 12, 1957) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He played in a number of local bluegrass music, bluegrass bands in the 1970s, and from 1978 to 1982, he achieved his first mainstream attention after ta ...

, and the

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classical musi ...

. The group also partners with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra; pieces they have performed together in recent years include

Symphony No. 2 (Mahler) The Symphony No. 2 in C minor by Gustav Mahler, known as the ''Resurrection Symphony'', was written between 1888 and 1894, and first performed in 1895. This symphony was one of Mahler's most popular and successful works during his lifetime. It was ...

, the

1812 Overture ''The Year 1812, Solemn Overture'', Op. 49, popularly known as the ''1812 Overture'', is a concert overture in E major written in 1880 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The piece commemorates Russia's successful defense against the ...

, and Alexander Nevsky. Every year the group sings at Mass in the

Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Notre Dame The Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Notre Dame, Indiana, is a Catholic church on the campus of the University of Notre Dame, also serving as the mother church of the Congregation of Holy Cross (C.S.C.) in the United States. The neo-gothic church ...

on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

In popular culture

The Glee Club performs in songs in the film

Rudy Rudy or Rudi is a masculine given name, sometimes short for Rudolf, Rudolph, Rawad, Rudra, Ruairidh, or variations thereof, a nickname and a surname which may refer to: People Given name or nickname *Rudolf Rudy Andeweg (born 1952), Dutch poli ...

, especially during scenes of football games at

Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame Stadium is an outdoor college football, football stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana, the home field of the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish football, Fighting Irish football team. It was built in 1930 under the guidance of Knute Ro ...

. These songs include the Notre Dame Victory March and Hike, Notre Dame. The Glee Club also performed on

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

on April 5, 1953. The songs that the group performed were

Home! Sweet Home! "Home! Sweet Home!" is a song adapted from American actor and dramatist John Howard Payne's 1823 opera ''Clari, or the Maid of Milan.'' The song's melody was composed by Englishman Sir Henry Bishop with lyrics by Payne. Bishop had earlier ...

When Johnny Comes Marching Home "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" ( Roud 6673), sometimes "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again", is a song from the American Civil War that expressed people's longing for the return of their friends and relatives who were fighting in the war. ...

, Hallelujah and Amen, and the Notre Dame Victory March.

References

External links

Notre Dame Glee Club

Notre Dame Glee Club. Department of Music
{{authority control Notre Dame Musical groups established in 1915 University choirs in the United States 1915 establishments in Indiana University of Notre Dame musical groups