On the 13th March 2005 the choir took part in the South Australian Festival of Male Choirs. During interval a couple of members (Manfred Grafton and Bill van de Water) were chatting with a member of the Adelaide Metropolitan Male Choir. This man turned out to be a warden in the Adelaide Lutheran archives, and he revealed that the archives had in its possession a minute book of the Adelaider Liedertafel dating back to the 1850's. He offered to photocopy the book and give us the copy. Needless to say, we accepted his offer with alacrity.
Almost certainly, this book would have been given to the Lutheran church for safekeeping following the outbreak of World War I, with its attendant anti-German hysteria. That topic is dealt with elsewhere in these pages.
Manfred set about translating the old German gothic script into English. Bill then took Manfred's output, tidied it up and published it in these pages. It was a labour of love - all ALT members down through the years have heard about our "founding fathers" - first Conductor Carl Linger, first President J.W. Schierenbeck and our longest-serving President JFM Armbrüster (26 years). We are thrilled that through the fortuitous discovery of these irreplaceable records these men live and breathe again.
This first book contained priceless records of meetings between 4th October 1859 and 13th August 1861. These meetings have all been translated and published here. When that was finally finished, however, we were hungry for more and went looking for the next book. We were amazed to discover it in our very own store-room, which begs the question - what other artefacts are hidden in that room?
Certain liberties have been taken with the text in order to make it more readable. Dot points have been used to make meanings more clear. These do not appear in the original text. As well, certain words have been added in order to further increase clarity - these words appear in square brackets; thus: [and he said that]
The first recorded minutes is of a meeting on 4th October 1859. It seems that at this meeting the ALT decided to begin taking minutes of all their meetings, with the implication being that no formal minutes exist for meetings prior to this. At least initially, minutes were recorded for ordinary practices as well as committee meetings.
And just before we begin - it's interesting that the man who recorded these early minutes was Th(eo) Niehuus - a Dutchman, not a German! Finally, open up any South Australian telephone directory today and you're likely to find many of the names that are contained in these pages - Armbrüster, Schierenbeck, Ziegler, Maraun, Braun and Niehuus.
Click the year to go to the relevant page:
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It is decided to begin recording minutes |
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Herr Alerding leaves the choir because he gets a job in Black Forest |
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Herr Armbrüster resigns, but is readmitted a few weeks later |
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The ALT performs at a concert for the South Australian Institute |
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The ALT travels to Port Adelaide on the horse-drawn bus "Victoria" for a concert - but not without incident |
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Herr Bartels misses more practices |
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Herr Armbrüster gets married and presents the choir with its own banner |
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The ALT conducts a very successful jubilee evening, travels to the German Club's Christmas picnic in style, and celebrates New Year's eve at the Hamburg Hotel instead of a "distant" restaurant in Stepney |
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The German composer KF Zöllner dies and the ALT raises money for his estate |
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Some members get their noses out of joint because they weren't acknowledged in a letter to Germany |
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A professor lectures the ALT |
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Herr Kindermann is admitted as a member, does not turn up for practices and is booted out, but later returns |
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A comedy sketch "The Wax Works" forms part of an ALT entertainment evening and goes over very well |
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Herr Braun forgets the song books |
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The ALT and its guests show extraordinary stamina by dancing and celebrating until 5:30am at an "entertainment evening". |
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The ALT conducts an inventory, amends its constitution and clamps down on non-attendees and disruptive members |
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Herr Braun resigns as Treasurer |
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Carl Linger suffers from ill health and cannot attend practices |
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The ALT puts on another "entertainment evening", and the closing item "Witches' Sabbath" is received with "frantic applause" |
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The choir is concerned about Carl Linger's health and preliminary moves are made for his eventual replacement |
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The ALT celebrates New Year's Eve with a party at Mr Weidenbach's restaurant in Glen Osmond, featuring a torch parade |
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The ALT auctions off some obsolete inventory items, realising £2 |
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Carl Linger dies. The ALT accompanies his cortege to the West Terrace Cemetery |
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Life goes on - the choir performs at a member's wedding celebrations |
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The ALT performs at a "soiree" in White's Rooms but knocks back an invitation to sing at a festival in the parklands |
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Herr Hanhen, who left the choir under a cloud, apologises for his rude remarks and asks to be reinstated |
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Founding Secretary Theo Niehuus resigns his position, pleading an inability to get to future meetings on time |
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The choir's "landlord", Herr Wedemeier, announces a happy event |
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Herr Nettelbeck, a future president of the ALT, joins the choir as a 2nd tenor. |
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Secretary Niebour and the Mumme brothers resign from the ALT following an undocumented rift in the choir. Theo Niehuus, after a rest of only 3 months, once again takes on the secretary's job. |
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The choir organises a benefit concert for the survivors of a shipwreck |
This page was last updated
Monday, 19 July 2010
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