Berliner Lierdertafel as the name for a male-voice choir, was first used in December of 1808 by Carl Friedrich Zelter

Carl Friedrich Zelter

Carl Friedrich Zelter was a German composer, conductor and teacher of music.Zelter became friendly with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and his works include settings of Goethe's poems...

, who established the first north German prototype for such male-voice choirs. In 1819 another society was founded by Ludwig Berger, Bernhard Klein

Bernhard Klein

Bernhard Klein was a German composer.Klein was born in Cologne. He married Lilly Parthey , who was the sister of Gustav Parthey and the granddaughter of Friedrich Nicolai...

, Gustav Reichardt

Gustav Reichardt

Gustav Reichardt, also Heinrich Wilhelm Ludwig Gustav Reichardt, Gustav Reichardt, also Heinrich Wilhelm Ludwig Gustav Reichardt, Gustav Reichardt, also Heinrich Wilhelm Ludwig Gustav Reichardt, (b. 13 November 1797 in Schmarsow; d. 18 October 1884 in Berlin; was a 19th century German music teacher...

 and Ludwig Rellstab

Ludwig Rellstab

Heinrich Friedrich Ludwig Rellstab was a German poet and music critic. He was born and died in Berlin. He was the son of the music publisher and composer Johann Carl Friedrich Rellstab....

 and In 1884, Adolf Zander

Adolf Zander

Adolf Zander was a 19th century German composer, organist at the Church of St...

 founded the still active men's singing club Berliner Liedertafel e.V.

The (original) Berlin Liedertafel of 1809

The first Berlin choral society also known as "Zelter Liedertafel", named after its founder Carl Friedrich Zelter

Carl Friedrich Zelter

Carl Friedrich Zelter was a German composer, conductor and teacher of music.Zelter became friendly with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and his works include settings of Goethe's poems...

, was the first male choral society of its kind and a model for similar groups. Composed of 25 men who wrote and performed works for each other, used Das Englische Haus (The English House) on Mohrenstraße as their meeting place.

The (younger) Berliner Liedertafel of 1819

The 1819 "Younger Berlin Liedertafel" (or even younger Liedertafel of Berlin) founded by Ludwig Berger, Bernhard Klein, Gustav Reichardt and Ludwig Rellstab, continued tradition of popular choral music in the city. It differed radically from the elitist, romantic Zelter's Round Table, once it was also based on a democratic statute. Here the generation of young veterans of the World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 gathered, bringing their liberal and patriotic ideas.

The (new) Berliner Lidertafel of 1884

In 1884 the new Berlin choral society, established by Adolf Zander, came to existence through a merger of several smaller choirs. The choir counted already with 117 singers by the end of the founding year. In the Wilhelmian Liedertafel era, the Berlin Liedertafel counted with more than 250 singers, being the largest male-voice choir in Germany. The choir took long trips abroad (Austria, Romania, Sweden, France, Baltic states, Italy, Russia, Egypt, USA, Japan), and along with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

The Berlin Philharmonic, German: , formerly Berliner Philharmonisches Orchester , is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. In 2006, a group of ten European media outlets voted the Berlin Philharmonic number three on a list of "top ten European Orchestras", after the Vienna Philharmonic and the...

it gave great concerts. This society gave rise to another, the Lehrergesangverein of 1886.

Source

• Klenke, Dietmar (1998), Der singende "deutsche Mann": Gesangvereine und deutsches Nationalbewußtsein von Napoleon bis Hitler, ISBN 3-89325-663-6

Attribution

• This article is based of a translation of the article at the German Wikipedia. A list of contributors can be found at de.Wikipedia.org History).

External links

• The Berliner Liedertafel e.V Official Website