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     It is impossible for me to begin considering singers without having ONE singer come immediately to mind. Throughout most of my 28 years of tenure I was blessed to have Barbara Schmalz serving as what we now call “Chorus Manager.” It in no way diminishes the talents and dedication of Margie Wyand, Joan Nesbitt, or Julie Peterson who have held this role for shorter periods, to describe Barbara a having unique abilities to meet, get to know, and then remember people—and EVERYTHING about them! Would that I could call Barbara while writing this history, as I have dozens and dozens of times over the years, to ask about particular singers, but she has joined Martha Ramsey and others in singing the heavenly B Minor Mass.
     So I’ll proceed with my less perfect memory, aided by my ever-present lists. As a person who made a decision forty years ago, when it was time to choose a major in college, to become a professional musician, I have spent my career being blessed by nourishment from fellow travelers who made other career decisions. Oh, it’s true that the Choral Society has benefited tremendously from the small percentage of its membership who trained as musicians. But for me the miracle has been what this Society has accomplished as a community of dedicated human beings, most of whom spend their days in non-musical pursuits. I cannot even begin to count the number of Monday nights I have come to a Choral Society rehearsal certain I was too exhausted from all the heavy burdens of the day and week to conduct a two-hour rehearsal, only to find such reaffirming energy coming back at me from the assembled singers that I went away more refreshed than I arrived.
     Bym’s list of diverse occupations of Society members could be expanded many times over, I’m sure. For example, as an old Iowa farm boy I would certainly add agrarian professionals among my favorite folks. In fact, for several years after becoming Music Director of the Society one of the highlights of the Millers’ culinary year occurred the week after the spring concert when we enjoyed the content of a large package of beef provided as a result of the Neuberts’ spring butchering. And of course one enormous change on the professional front over the past two decades is the much larger number of sopranos and altos who are pursuing professions outside the home. The largest effect of this change on organizations such as the Choral Society has been on the number of hours volunteers are available for certain non-musical responsibilities.
     When we began thinking toward our fiftieth anniversary a year or so ago I decided to devote a significant amount of time to creating a database of all singers who have sung in the Society. By recording each singer whose name appears on the program from the major performance of each season, the data base of Appendix A has resulted.
     I cannot tell you how much pleasure it has brought me to remember singers as I entered their information in the data base. I can only hope its printing here provides such pleasure for others as well. Allow me here to first be a bit of a statistician in getting the big picture presented, remembering that each of these numbers represents living, breathing, singing human beings. Then perhaps we can reminisce a bit, particularly about those individuals with the greatest longevity in the Society.
     Because of the length of time required to accomplish the database entry work, I chose to list the personnel for only one concert each season, even though all seasons during the past quarter century have included at least two concerts, and some seasons have included three. In each case I selected the concert which had the largest chorus. In twenty-one of those concerts the choir consisted of over 100 singers and perhaps a list of those largest choirs would be of interest (I’m happy to report that our current spring roster includes 180 singers. They have already been entered into the database as having sung the May 2, 1999, B Minor Mass performance): 

     As of the January 1999 roster of membership, a total of more than 1300 different singers have sung in at least one concert with the Society. (Actually there are probably considerably more since some singers will have sung only in a concert which was not recorded in the database.) Of these, several were listed in more than one section (for example, soprano some years, alto for others.) And although I am certain some singers whose last names changed at the time of their marriage haven’t been caught, we have identified several who appear in programs bearing both those names in different years. (Again, Bym Condee’s historical memory to the rescue!) In fact more than one romance has been cultivated partially through the Choral Society community, where a couple came to know each other. For example, I think of Dottie Poulos and Rev. Fred Sanford, Cecil Goodwin and Rev. Jean Hilton, Chip and Laurie Amos, Miriam and Ralph Locklin, and from earlier times Bym recalls Mim Dickey and Bill Pierce, and Elsi Meyer and Bill Ackerman.
     The Society has sung at least one concert in each of its 48 seasons with the exception of the 1955-56 season. That was the year between Martha Ramsey’s tenure as the Society’s Music Director and the beginning of Raymond Brown’s. Therefore, the listing is for forty-nine seasons of concerts, including this spring’s forthcoming B Minor Mass. One other clarification: For the Society’s first five years the annual concert was presented in December; thus the first concert is identified in the database as 1949. In the 1954-55 season the concert was shifted to the spring and is identified in the database as 1955. No concert is labeled as 1954. (See concert list below.)
     The relative balance of the voice parts of the full list of singers is roughly the same as the balance of the chorus on any given concert. Of the approximately 1350 singers, about 420 are sopranos, 420 are altos, 220 are tenors, and 290 are basses. It is not shocking to find that the singer who has sung in concerts the most seasons is the author of part one of this history, Norma Condee, whose name appears in 43 of the 49 programs. (She and Ralph spent a number of springs in Scotland; thus her lack of “perfect attendance!”) Second in longevity is another singer who is still a very active member of the Society, Miriam Locklin, who has also been a frequent soloist during her 38 seasons. Since the Society began rehearsing in Trinity Lutheran Church, where Mim serves as Choir Director, Mim and Ralph Locklin (26 years) have served as unofficial “hosts” for the Society’s rehearsals. (Ralph reconstructs the specially-designed conductor’s podium/gallows each Monday evening! Incidentally, sitting out here on “Miller Mountain” in my barn is another “specially designed” podium on which Martha Ramsey is pictured conducting during the earliest years of the Society and which I inherited in 1972. It would hardly transport well into the Penn State Room where the Society’s archives are stored, so I hereby report on its whereabouts, should any later historian wish to locate it.)
     Barbara Schmalz, introduced above, sang 33 years and Francoise Rosen sang 32, at least one of them in the company of Valerie, her daughter and fellow soprano. Such two-generational experiences have not been uncommon, though it goes without saying that Barbara and Tim Roberts, for example, did not sing in the same section! In fact the Choral Society provided an opportunity for the current Music Director, at various times, to make music with his spouse, his son, and his daughter. As Bym suggests, the Choral Society is clearly a family in many ways. I’ll allow myself to reminisce about only a few more names down the longevity list before I present it here. Gordon DeJong, at 28 years, should have been commissioned to write this portion of the history, since as one of the world’s foremost demographers he could put things into much clearer perspective than this amateur sleuth. And Herb McKinstry, also at 28 years, represents yet another “family” connection since his trumpet-playing son Herb has been a member of the Society’s orchestra.
     Mim Pierce converted her professional skills as a librarian into the role of Historian of the Society and was responsible for getting our original archival materials into the Penn State Room of Pattee Library. I will follow her lead and send a few more boxes once I have passed the baton. Reverend Donald Carruthers’ bass voice is one that still booms in my ears, and his thoughtful ministry to this Quaker was profound. Like those notes from Bym Condee and others which I have retained and treasure, I greatly value Rev. Carruthers’ deeply spiritual messages written after nearly every concert. His funeral was the first in which I was involved in which a group of singers from the Society shared our music as part of our memorial to a fellow singer. There have been several since. This fall we decided to do likewise to honor a living member as we sang for the Renaissance Banquet honoring 25-year singer Pat Farrell, whom Bym also notes as the first female member of the Brass Ensemble when she was a State High student. She’ll also figure prominently below in the history of the Madrigal Singers since she served as “Lady of the Manor” and in general kept us all in stitches laughing. Pat is a very special woman!
     Lois Cowan ought to get credit beyond her listed 27 years since she also contributed not one but two sons, a tenor and a bass, to both the Choral Society and the Madrigal Singers. Tim and Bob were both “wearers of the tights” during the Madrigal Singers’ earliest years.
     And also at 27 years is the woman who holds at least two Society records, both of significance. Sigrid Byers has sung more Madrigal Dinner performances as a Madrigal Singer than any other singer (and has collected, by far, the most thrown peanuts in the process.) But she is also the member who has the most years of service on the Society’s Board, having served in nearly every important leadership position including multiple years as the Board’s President. At present she not only serves as the Board’s Vice-Chair but also as Chair of the Committee which will recommend the Society’s next Music Director.
     Special memories attach to each of the other quarter-century members:
     Evelyn Bartsch’s pure soprano voice has provided dozens of solos with the Madrigal Singers and Nova Consort during Madrigal Dinners and elsewhere. I guess I’ve sung more duets with Evelyn than with anyone else in my life! And like many of us, those evenings in the “Great Hall” are among our most precious memories of the Choral Society.
     Ellen Trumbo and Vivien Griffith, with their Choir Director Charlotte Dunham, welcomed the Society to Park Forest Methodist for rehearsals for a few years. Ellen also served as Madrigal Dinner Chair for several years. Charlotte holds a very, very special place in the life of the Society as Chair of the Board for two different two-year terms, Madrigal Singer, and passionate envisioner of its future. Cancer took her from us far too early and we miss her!
     Bill Bemis is a unique presence in any organization of which he is a part, and the Choral Society is no exception. For many years he followed up on the tradition begun by Ernie Pollard of providing lemon drops or their equivalent each rehearsal. I can still ser his Santa Claus-like demeanor in distributing them, and his puckish pleasure in saying, sure he could bring a pizza oven to Sig’s farm for a Choral Society Pizza party. I think he has one of everything ever invented in his basement!
     Paul Grun, who was originally part of the Society in Raymond Brown’s first season, went on to serve as one of the Society Board’s Presidents.
     Nydia Finch served as the Society’s Managing Assistant for many of its early years. And I can remember her unmatched success in promoting ticket sales. Singers would come to rehearsals proud of having sold 2, 4, or 10 tickets only to find that Nydia had sold 97!
     And two other members join Norma Condee as Charter Members who have sung over half of the Society’s seasons. I can recall Elin Nielsen’s gracious presence in my early years with the Society. And Kay McNall will join Bym as the two Charter Members standing on the stage as singers this May when we sing the work they both began rehearsing with Martha Ramsey in 1949. I’ll bet they have the notes learned by now! Kay spent her career teaching music (wonderfully) in State College’s elementary schools, and thus also represents dozens of teachers who have been responsible for helping teach State College to sing! I know my two children were the beneficiaries, as was her daughter Jessica, a former member of both the Choral Society and the Madrigal Singers and also a teacher of singing.
     Well, “twenty-five year members” is a rather arbitrary place to stop reminiscing, especially when I see that significant group of singers in the “almost-25 list:” Eight additional Madrigal Singers are among the 20-25 year folks: Joan Page, Julie Peterson, Elizabeth Specht, Charlotte Dunham, Ernie Hawk, David Richards, Leonard Herzog, and Jean Slates Hawk, several of whom were also significant contributors to the Society in other ways as well. But I think the reader must be getting the idea: the journey down memory lane for this Music Director which this exercise has called forth has been and is one of great nostalgia. Certainly I cannot put face to name for all 900(??) singers who have sung in the Society during my 28-year tenure. But I must say that nearly every name on the 10-and-more-years list which follows brings back very special memories, and I do indeed feel blessed by how these people’s lives have enriched my own, and the life of the Choral Society.
     So, to summarize and then list: One person has sung with the Society more than 40 seasons, three additional singers have sung more than 30 seasons, 16 additional have sung 25 seasons or more, 17 additional have sung 20 or more seasons, and 96 additional have sung for 10 or more seasons. This totals 133 singers who have sung with the Society for 10 or more seasons. They are listed below. The remaining singers have sung for approximately the following number of years:

Singers who have sung for 10 or more seasons

THE REPERTOIRE

     It is not by accident nor without significance that the logo of the State College Choral Society is the seal of Johann Sebastian Bach. The seal, consisting of a crown below which the scripted letters JSB are twice interwoven, was adopted by the Society on its second program in 1950 and has been associated with the Society thereafter.
     The reason for the seal’s use in the Society’s early years is immediately evident as one peruses the repertoire choices of those years in the complete listing that occurs in Appendix B-1. Every piece which was sung by the Society during the Martha Ramsey tenure was composed by the great Leipzig Cantor. Each of those concerts contained one or more excerpted movements from the B Minor Mass. Additional movements were selected from the Christmas Oratorio, the Magnificat, and/or the St. Matthew Passion.
     As the past half century’s repertoire is further reviewed we find that music by Bach has been included as a part of exactly twenty-five of the fifty seasons. Only three works have been performed four times in their entirety by the Society over the half century; two of them (the St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion) are by Bach. And the number of different works by Bach performed over that time is by far the greatest representation by any composer. (See Appendix B-2.) Finally, Bach is the only composer whose works have been selected for performance by all four of the Society’s Music Directors.
     The B Minor Mass holds a very special place within this history. As indicated, movements of Bach’s masterwork were a part of each of the six seasons’ concerts conducted by Martha Ramsey. Bym Condee’s wonderful quote of Martha Ramsey’s heavenly desire (“When I get to heaven, I hope they’ll let me sing all four or five parts of the B Minor Mass at one time, and all SIX of the ‘Sanctus’”) appeared in part one of this history, making clear what the work meant to our founder. A larger excerpt of the Mass was also performed by the Society in 1961. So when the present young Music Director was asked to propose the 1973-74 season’s repertoire to celebrate the Society’s twenty-fifth anniversary the choice seemed preordained. We would climb the Mount Everest of choral repertoire together here in central Pennsylvania for the first time in its entirety. Sometimes youthful naivite (mine in this case) makes people believe they are capable of extraordinary accomplishments. They (the singers and players) were and we did climb the peak!
     After another decade of music making the Society celebrated its 35^th anniversary with its second complete performance of the B Minor Mass. And the reader can readily imagine the Music Director’s thought processes when it came time to consider the work with which we would celebrate this golden anniversary year. In spite of “maturity-induced” significant internal battles (within my head and heart) regarding the appropriateness of performing Baroque music with a choir approaching 200 singers, my heart won out and told my head that we WILL serve Bach and his style to the best of our ability. We WILL confront the challenges of clarity of performance practice and will balance the result against the opportunity for all of us to experience one of western culture’s great creative accomplishments. So on May 2, 1999, it will be through the vehicle of the B Minor Mass by Johann Sebastian Bach that the Society will celebrate its half-century heritage.
     However, a quick glance at the repertoire listings in Appendix B will readily clarify that the State College Choral Society is far from being a Bach Choir. In fact the past twenty five years have provided our singers and our audiences with the opportunity of experiencing a very wide range of the choral repertoire. Most of the works that would be considered the “great choral masterworks” appear within that listing, many of them in multiple performances. But also present are lesser-known works, shorter works, and even a cappella works. This selection has been very purposeful and reflects the Music Director’s philosophy that adult singers in Central Pennsylvania deserve the opportunity to have a lifelong “music education” based on the great works of great composers in many different genres.
     So during the past quarter century the Society has evolved from a tradition of presenting one concert per season to a tradition of two or even three concerts per season. One of those concerts has continued to be the presentation of one or two large choral/orchestral works. But the second and third concerts have sampled repertoire which spans from Renaissance to contemporary and from short unaccompanied works to longer challenging works, both accompanied and unaccompanied.
     Among the large-scale choral masterworks sung during the past half century are works of Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Bruckner, Verdi, Vaughan Williams, Brit ten, and Stravinsky, among others. And many of these received multiple performances over those years: Handel’s Messiah (1966, 1985), Vivaldi’s Gloria (1958, 1998), Haydn’s Creation (1968, 1979, 1990), Mozart’s Requiem (1957, 1973, 1982, 1996), and Confessor Vespers (1974, 1987), Beethoven’s Mass in C (1980, 1993) and Choral Fantasia (1970 and 1993), Schubert’s Mass in G (1971, 1987), Mendelssohn’s Elijah (1976, 1988, 1997), Brahms’ German Requiem (1972, 1981, 1992), the Verdi Requiem (1986, 1994), and Stravinsky Symphony of Psalms (1958, 1977).
     Other significant accompanied works which received only single performances have included Handel’s Joshua, four of Haydn’s late masses (Harmoniemesse, Creation Mass, Paukenmesse, and Nelson Mass), Mozart’s Great Mass in C Minor (K427), Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, Mendelssohn’s St. Paul, Bruckner’s Mass in E Minor, Brahm’s Nanie, the Duruflé Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and the Kodaly Missa Brevis.
     Over the past twenty-five years second or third concerts of the year have often included works for chorus and smaller accompanying forces, and also works for unaccompanied voices. Among the accompanied works are several settings by Heinrich Schütz including the Musikalische Exequien, two Magnificats, and three settings of “Jauchzet dem Herrn,” Carissimi’s Jephte, Purcell’s Te Deum and Jubilate, Handel’s Utrecht Jubilate, Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Randall Thompson’s Frostiana, Flor Peeter’s Te Deum, Pinkham’s Wedding Cantata and Christmas Cantata, Dello Joio’s To Saint Cecilia, John Rutter’s Gloria and Magnificat, and Ramirez’ Missa Criola and Navidad Nuestra.
     This Music Director is especially proud of the Society’s accomplishments in singing a cappella repertoire, since this requires a very different set of listening and singing skills as an ensemble. Among the larger works in this category which have been sung are Josquin des Pres’ Missa Pange Lingua, Renaissance motets by Palestrina, Lasso, Byrd, Gabrieli, Monteverdi, and others, motets by Anton Bruckner, and such twentieth-century works as Randall Thompson’s Peaceable Kingdom, Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G, and Aaron Copland’s In the Beginning in addition to dozens of shorter a cappella works. Of very special meaning was the Society’s 1992 All-Russian concert in which we sang sacred and secular works by Rachmaninoff, Gretchaninoff, Tschesnokoff and others only months after the Iron Curtain most of us had known for our lifetimes had come down, and the music of those cultures which had been closed to us was shared.
     By the early 1970’s State College’s community orchestra had gotten its start as the State College Symphony Orchestra, and over the past three decades it has grown significantly as another of the Centre Regions artistic treasures, now known as the Nittany Valley Symphony. Although most of the Choral Society’s choral/orchestral performances have involved an orchestra specially selected and hired for our performances (see the next section of this history) occasionally we have joined forces with the Nittany Valley Symphony in some memorable performances. The first of these occurred in my first year with the Society when sixteen women of the Society became the “Sirens” in the last movement of the Debussy Nocturnes. In later years we combined for performances of Brahms’ Shicksalslied, Mozart’s Confessor Vespers, and Vaughan Williams Fantasia on Christmas Carols. Even larger collaborations in recent years have included Mahler’s Second Symphony (1993) and Third Symphony (1998), Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony (1995), and our collaborative premiere of Bruce Trinkley’s Keystones as a part of the Mountain Laurels celebration of State College’s Centennial in 1996.
     As was true for the list of Society personnel in Appendix A, a leisurely reading through the repertoire list in Appendix B is bound to bring forth many memories to any of us who have been a part of this living history. We can certainly rejoice that the Society has allowed singers and audiences in rural central Pennsylvania to experience these great works of art, and the level of those performances is, in my unbiased opinion, one in which we can also take great pride.

ORCHESTRA FOR CHORAL SOCIETY PERFORMANCES

     With the exceptions of those concerts in which the Choral Society either became the guest of or collaborator with the Nittany Valley Symphony (or the earlier State College Symphony Orchestra), as described above, the orchestra for our concerts has always been an invited/hired orchestra. This has resulted in the Society’s being able to hire outstanding instrumentalists from throughout the Centre region and we have been blessed with excellent ensembles with which to make music.
     For many years the hiring of the orchestra was accomplished by the Music Director. This was still the case for many of the years of my tenure, and sometimes led to challenging last-minute solutions if personnel changes occurred just before the concert. In its wisdom the Board of the Society agreed in the 1980’s to hire an orchestra manager/contractor and since then several excellent managers have provided the Society with outstanding ensembles. Among these have been Daryl Durran, Russell Bloom, Gregory Woodbridge, and our current Orchestra Manager Trina Gallup.
     After first thinking that a synopsis of the numbers of orchestral players for each concert would have to do, I changed my mind as I began perusing the programs’ listings of orchestra members. I have created, in Appendix C-l, a full list of all instrumentalists who have performed with the Choral Society Orchestra from 1949 through our current season. And I must say that the trip down memory lane has been as fascinating here as it has been with the singers. For the first 14 years of my Penn State appointment I served as Director of Orchestras, and as such I came to know the orchestral players in central Pennsylvania very well. The list below includes literally hundreds of instrumentalists (770 to be exact) and I discovered that for at least one-half of them I could affix a face and recall some special experiences over the decades.
     I hope that someone someday will create a history of the orchestral life of State College and Penn State. In nearly all ways the constitution of the Choral Society Orchestra would parallel that of those traditions. During the first decade and a half the Society Orchestra was made up of talented players in the community and on campus. Those players were offered a small token payment from at least the 1950’s, though there contributions of time and talent were largely being donated to this community enterprise.
     In the mid-1960’s, with the arrival at Penn State of the four members of the Alard String Quartet, a new presence began to contribute to the artistic life of our area. Professional musicians with training in the country’s most prestigious schools of music Joined with other talented members of the community and an increasingly large number of outstanding School of Music performance students to alter the orchestral scene of the State College area.
     Over the three decades I have lived in Happy Valley the number and quality of outstanding professional and semi-professional instrumentalists who live and work amongst us has increased significantly. An informal chamber orchestra from the Music Club evolved into The State College Symphony Orchestra, which then evolved into the Nittany Valley Symphony. Penn State’s Departments of Music and Music Education evolved into the School of Music, with full-time resident artist-teachers on each orchestral instrument. And those artist-teachers have attracted some of the most talented young musicians from Pennsylvania and beyond.
     By hiring the Choral Society Orchestra from this increasing pool of talented community instrumentalists, professional artists working in State College, and talented young musicians, the Society has had the opportunity to perform with orchestras which would be highly regarded in cities far larger than ours. And I can only hope that reading down the list which appears in Appendix C-1 will allow others, as it has me, to reflect on the many outstanding instrumental musicians we have had and continue to have in our community.
     (An aside: As a musician who has chosen to spend part of my life in the world of instrumental music and part in the world of vocal music, I have been one to rail strongly against the common reference to “singers and musicians.” I have tremendous regard for musicians who have cultivated their artistic expression through an instrument, be it a violin, an oboe, or an organ. I have just as high a regard for musicians who have cultivated that expression through the human voice. So when the “singers and musicians” phrase appears I lose no opportunity to suggest the use of “vocal musicians” and “instrumental musicians” or “singers and instrumentalists” as a more accurate description. Sermon ended.)
     In addition to creating the list of individual instrumentalists, I have also created, as Appendix C-2, another list showing the size and constitution of the orchestra for each year’s primary choral/orchestral performance. The size of the Choral Society Orchestra (for its major performances) ranges from 20 members in the inaugural concert to 56 in the “Almost Fifty Retrospective Concert” in the spring of 1998. In addition to these concerts, smaller ensembles of four to twenty members have often been hired for second or third concerts in several seasons. Those players have been included in Appendix C-1.
     I am tempted to add a few paragraphs here reminiscing about individual instrumentalists. Bym’s preface again rings true: it’s NOT possible to only present objective lists when what we’re really recalling are human beings with whom we have made music over the years. But instead I will live with my private memories of these valued colleagues, and thank each of them, on behalf of the Society, for the many hours of dedicated music-making which they have contributed to the enrichment of citizens of Central Pennsylvania.

SOLOISTS

     Over its fifty-year history the State College Choral Society has provided the opportunity for many of the area’s most talented singers to be featured as soloists with the Society. Its Music Directors and Boards have also believed that a part of our mission has been to bring to our community professional soloists, for the pleasure both of our audiences and of our singer-members. The lists which follow indicate all soloists from our fifty years. Those soloists who we know were not from the Centre Region are indicated by an asterisk; it is very possible that others from the earlier years were also non-residents and the compilor would welcome receiving clarification in this regard from any reader.
     Nestled within these lists of soloists are some Dames that would be welcomed on any stage in the world. In fact Sherrill Milnes, Jon Humphrey, Seth McCoy, Shirley Love, Gwendolyn Killebrew, Marvin Hayes, and Daniel Lichti, to name the most famous, have probably collectively sung in nearly every significant opera house and important concert hall in the world. Their appearances with the Society during the tenure of Raymond Brown and since have certainly elevated the musical experience for our audiences and for our singers as well. And to a person they have been high in their praise of the music-making they found here in central Pennsylvania.
     Also prominent in these lists are many very talented professionals who have sung with the Society over many years who happen to have lived significant parts of their careers here in Happy Valley. We are fortunate, indeed, that artists such as Robert Trehy, Richard Kennedy, and Janice Wilson (again to name only three of the most frequent Society performance participants) have agreed to share their talents with our community of music makers.
     Here, then, is a list of all soloists who have sung with the State College Choral Society from 1949-1999:
     (NOTE: It will be recalled that concerts during the Society’s first five seasons were held in December, whereas thereafter, from 1955-1970, the seasons’ single concerts were held in the spring. Therefore the 1953 concert means fall of 1953 but the 1955 concert occurred the following season in the spring. The one season during which a concert did not occur was In 1955-56, between the Music Director tenures of Martha Ramsey and Raymond Brown.)

SOLOISTS FOR EXTENDED SOLO MATERIAL

(Note: a, b, and c refer to the Society’s 1st, 2nd, or 3rd concert of that season)

65:       other St. Matthew roles: Miriam Corl, David Watkins, Myra Lynch, Jane Leslie, William Miller
67:       other St. John roles: Michael Bouman, Tommie Irwin, Trucilla Sabatino
70:       other St. Matthew roles: Joseph Jumpeter, Miriam Corl, James Ford
71a:      narrators: Walter Kolonosky, Norma Condee
75b:     other St .John roles: Rex Warland, Evelyn Bartsch
78b:     other St. Matthew roles: Gregory Lozier
83a:      other St. John roles: Chip Amos, David Richards, Pat Farrell
85a:      other Musikalische soli: Evelyn Bartsch, Shirley Donovan, Charlotte Dunham, Don Breon, Chip Amos, Ernest Hawk, Gregory Lozier
86a:      other Schütz soli: Theresa Smith, Evelyn Bartsch, Suzi Hess, Max Birtcil, Fred Benner, Chip Amos, Ernest Hawk
87a:      Purcell soli: Evelyn Bartsch, Suzanne Nagle, Asa Carns, Andrea Yoder, Janice Wilson, Chip Amos
89a:      American soli: Elizabeth Ball, Alex Hill, Susie Kleinert, Rogers McLane
89b:     “Heavens are Telling” soli: Evelyn Bartsch, John Nesbitt, Gregory Lozier
91a:      American soli: Susie Kleinert, Evelyn Bartsch, Cecil Goodwin, Miriam Locklin, Jean Hilton, Kathleen Haefliger, Gregory Lazier, Suzanne Nagle,  Jan Carpenter-Sparrow, Leonard Herzog
93a:      Schütz soli: Margaret Hayes, Miriam Locklin, Sharon Conner, David Richards, Gregory Lozier
93c:      Choral Fantasia additional soli: Susie Kleinert, David Richards
95a:      Dello Joio solo: David Yocum
96a:      Rutter soli: Miriam Locklin, Susan Heim, Susie Kleinert, Sara Kelley
98b:     “Heavens are Telling” soli: Miriam Locklin, David Richards, David Yocum

Accompanists

     It is impossible for a Music Director to exaggerate the importance of its rehearsal accompanists to the musical success of the Society. Talented accompanists can literally save the chorus hours of time through their efficient work, and can save the conductor with whom they work significant ulcers. I am happy to report that in my 28 years I have not had a single accompanist-induced ulcer: how’s that for a tribute to talented musician co-workers!
     As will be seen below, we are still lacking documentation of the rehearsal accompanist for some seasons in the fifties and sixties. Again we would welcome any assistance in this area from knowledgeable readers. In our recorded history Jean Slates Hawk holds the longevity record as accompanist. Several talented accompanists moved from our area, but happily we have been blessed with excellent successors! With a huge “bravo” from this Music Director on behalf of my three predecessors, here is the honor roll of our Society’s accompanists:

Others from Bym Condee history:

Gwen Byers
M.L.J. Eyer (Mary Lee Johnson)
Jeffrey Fox

Years not indicated in program:

58        (Barry Brinsmaid and Dorothea Roscoe played piano in concert)
59        (Barry Brinsmaid played organ in concert)
60        (Barry Brinsmaid played organ in concert)
61        (Barry Brinsmaid played organ in concert)
62        (Barry Brinsmaid played organ in concert)
63        (Barry Brinsmaid played organ in concert)
64        (Dorothea Roscoe played organ in concert; Leonard Raver played harpsichord)
65        (Leonard Raver played harpsichord in concert)
67        (June Miller played continuo for performance)
68        (Diane Gold played piano in concert)
69
71a
 

The Society’s Management

     One of the aspects of the State College Choral Society which I have most appreciated has been the organizational structure of the Society. It has always been clear to me, from my first courting lunch with representatives of the Society that I was given full responsibility for matters of the Society relating to music. But just as clear was that the officers of the Society accepted responsibility for all other matters so that I could be free to do so. Dozens and dozens of singers and several non-singers have led the Society on the steady path that has allowed it to be such a healthy institution fifty years after its origin.
     Through about four decades of the Society’s history the leadership was elected or solicited annually from within the Society. It has been my life experience that singers as a group are unique among musicians in the degree of their willingness to contribute their time to organizational matters as well as musical participation. Thus the list of Choral Society Presidents or later Chairs of the Board are predominantly singers, as would be the very long lists of other officers were there room to recognize them here.
     After more than three decades of this Society member-only leadership a group of visionaries spent considerable time creating a new model which would allow the Society to take advantage of leadership qualities of non-members as well as members. Out of those discussions by such folks as Charlotte and Bob Dunham, Barbara Schmalz, Sigrid Byers, Miriam Pierce, and others came the creation of the Choral Society Board and a new Constitution and By-Laws. The currently nine-member Board now includes generous volunteers who bring a different perspective to the table. And the rotating three-year terms provide a stability of leadership which is much appreciated by this Music Director for one.
     Whereas the only positions within the Society to receive compensation for most of its history were the Music Director and the Accompanist, the Society now employs a part-time General Manager and compensates several other positions enough to at least express thanks monetarily as well as in words. Clearly every contributor to the leadership of the Society does it out of a love of the Society, not for the modest compensation. Most serve strictly as volunteers. In the short history of General Managers we have been blessed with three very well-organized and energetic leaders. Russell Bloom was our first General Manager. Annette Mattiuz served for two years before moving from our community. And Paulette McLane currently serves in this position with grace, thoroughness, and efficiency.
     The role of Chorus Manager, as currently described, was for a long period in fact also the role of General Manager. Bym Condee’s history identified Nydia Finch and Barbara Leetch Schmalz as “Managing Assistants of the Society.” As acknowledged above Barbara served in that capacity through most of my tenure as Music Director, with Joan Page, Julie Peterson, and currently Margie Wyand also serving with the excellence they each bring to all they do.
     Bym’s history also acknowledges the Presidents of the Choral Society through its twenty-fifth year. I take great pleasure in listing here all those Presidents of the Society, now called Chair of the Board, during my 28-year tenure. I do it with pleasure because this is also my opportunity to thank, with my most sincere and enthusiastic gratitude, all these outstanding leaders during my life with the Society. Through naming each of these persons I also thank the dozens and dozens of others who have served on the Board and in the various other positions of the Society. THANK YOU!

Choral Society Board Presidents (Chairs): 1972-1999

CONCLUSION

      There is no conclusion. There is only a moment in time when we pause to honor half a century of music making by hundreds of human beings here in Central Pennsylvania. I hereby charge appropriate historians, or music directors, or interested singers to write the next two chapters of this history in the years 2024 and 2049.
     Until then, “Take time while time is—.” There is no loftier way to elevate the human spirit than by collectively raising our voices in recreating the great masterpieces from the spirits/talents/brains of Bach and Brahms and Stravinsky. May the State College Choral Society continue to enrich the lives of singers and audiences here in Central Pennsylvania as long as any have voice or ear or soul.