The "Camelot Years" of Swedish Lindsborg and Swedish Bethany
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Their Bethany College Handel's Messiah Performances, 1882 on ...
- Bringing Music and Art to the Fore in the Kansas Smoky Valley -
- Bringing Music and Art to the Fore in the Kansas Smoky Valley -
More than any other ongoing event in Lindsborg having the greatest impact on Lydia's and Emil's lives as well as their friends and their contemporaries would have to be the Bethany College Oratorio Society Handel Messiah performances. Today, since its inception in 1881, and Bach's Passion since 1929, the Society continues to perform and celebrate the music of these two magnificent inspirational pieces during the Holy Easter Week; and, in addition, to celebrate "the arts" especially as found in the Midwest Art Exhibition, first organized in 1899 in Old Main by artists Birger Sandzén, Carl Lotavé and G. N. Malm. This Exhibition is now found annually at the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery during this most Holy and cultural week of the year for Bethany College and Lindsborg, Kansas.
Source: Lydia Sohlberg Deere
Fourth Swedish American Bethany College President Emory Lindquist gives us the background for these performances of this inspirational emotionally moving music in his book, Bethany in Kansas, the history of a college, in Chapter 10, The Lindsborg "Messiah" Tradition, pages 151-152 with the following:
"The achievement in music and art has identified Bethany College as a unique and distinctive collegiate institution with great cultural resources. National attention has come to the College and to the Lindsborg community through the annual “Messiah” festival and the Mid-West Art Exhibition during Holy Week. Thousands of people have made annual pilgrimages to the Smoky Valley of Central Kansas for decades in order to share in these religious and cultural events. Such designations for the college community as “America’s Bayreuth” and the “Oberammergau of the Plains” suggest symbols that are distinctive historically and currently. Twin-born with the founding of the College in 1881 was the Handel Oratorio Society which became known as the Bethany College Oratorio Society. The popular reference to this distinguished organization identifies it as the Lindsborg “Messiah” chorus. Endowing the music of the oratorio with deep meaning is the great spiritual message based upon the abiding promises of the Holy Scriptures.
"The threads of that story are associated like so many in the history of Lindsborg with Pastor Olof Olsson. The day was Friday, April 4, 1897, when the Lindsborg pioneer pastor, then on a trip to Europe, arrived in London. When reading a newspaper, he learned that Handel’s Messiah under the direction of Sir Michael Costa was to be presented in Exeter Hall that evening. Immediately he decided to attend the concert and engaged a room near Exeter Hall. Olsson had only modest financial resources and purchased the cheapest ticket available, which, however, gave him a good seat on the balcony directly across from the chorus.
"At 7:30 p.m. Sir Michael Costa picked up his baton and for almost three hours Olsson sat spellbound as the chorus and orchestra of six hundred presented Handel’s inspiring oratorio. An Englishman seated by Olsson shared his score of the Messiah so the visitor from America could closely follow the rendition. It was a thrilling experience from the “Overture” to the “Amen” as recorded by Olsson:
‘I will not even attempt to described it all for that is beyond my power. At times I was so carried away that I scarcely knew myself. Well, my friends may smile at my childishness. Let them smile. But I don’t know what sort of man he would be who had no feeling for beautiful spiritual music. Among other things sung were the names of our Saviour given in the ninth chapter of Isaiah: Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God. When the great chorus and the full orchestra intoned those words, I was so enchanted that I feared the shock would be too much for me. That evening in Exeter Hall will stand out, I can well say, as the most beautiful memory of the journey.’
"Olsson left Exeter Hall that evening with a great song in his heart. It was more than an episode, because his thoughts came back to it again and again. When he returned to Augustana College, he communicated his great enthusiasm for the Messiah to friends there. The response was encouraging. A small chorus we assembled for rehearsals. On April 11, 1881, the first rendition was presented at Moline, Illinois. A splendid oratorio tradition at Augustana College had been launched.
"Present in the audience, at the rendition of Handel’s great oratorio by the Augustana chorus at the First Congregational Church, Moline, Illinois, during the commencement activities in 1881, was Carl Swensson. When he returned to Lindsborg following this “Messiah” rendition, he was full of enthusiasm for Handel’s great composition. Mrs. Swensson, a talented musician, was also eager to bring the Messiah to Lindsborg. Plans were discussed in the first instance with the choir of the Bethany Lutheran Church, where the Swenssosns were dearly beloved by the membership. The possibility of organizing a chorus was suggested to the pastors and choir members of neighboring congregations. The response was encouraging although this seemed to be a big venture. Carl Swensson was accustomed to attempting great things, and plans moved forward with certainty."
For more on "the beginnings" of this incredible story of "sacred music" in Lindsborg and at Bethany College, go HERE to "Swensson's Musicians' and Singers' "Messiah," 1882 on …"
For a list of the "world renown" national and international performers beginning in 1899 during the annual Messiah Festival of Easter Holy Week at Lindsborg's Bethany College during Lydia's and Emil's time and beyond to 1997 at New York's Carnegie Hall, click on Mrs. Swensson's portrait for "Messiah" Performers, Venues, Press, Broadcasts & Audiences.
"The achievement in music and art has identified Bethany College as a unique and distinctive collegiate institution with great cultural resources. National attention has come to the College and to the Lindsborg community through the annual “Messiah” festival and the Mid-West Art Exhibition during Holy Week. Thousands of people have made annual pilgrimages to the Smoky Valley of Central Kansas for decades in order to share in these religious and cultural events. Such designations for the college community as “America’s Bayreuth” and the “Oberammergau of the Plains” suggest symbols that are distinctive historically and currently. Twin-born with the founding of the College in 1881 was the Handel Oratorio Society which became known as the Bethany College Oratorio Society. The popular reference to this distinguished organization identifies it as the Lindsborg “Messiah” chorus. Endowing the music of the oratorio with deep meaning is the great spiritual message based upon the abiding promises of the Holy Scriptures.
"The threads of that story are associated like so many in the history of Lindsborg with Pastor Olof Olsson. The day was Friday, April 4, 1897, when the Lindsborg pioneer pastor, then on a trip to Europe, arrived in London. When reading a newspaper, he learned that Handel’s Messiah under the direction of Sir Michael Costa was to be presented in Exeter Hall that evening. Immediately he decided to attend the concert and engaged a room near Exeter Hall. Olsson had only modest financial resources and purchased the cheapest ticket available, which, however, gave him a good seat on the balcony directly across from the chorus.
"At 7:30 p.m. Sir Michael Costa picked up his baton and for almost three hours Olsson sat spellbound as the chorus and orchestra of six hundred presented Handel’s inspiring oratorio. An Englishman seated by Olsson shared his score of the Messiah so the visitor from America could closely follow the rendition. It was a thrilling experience from the “Overture” to the “Amen” as recorded by Olsson:
‘I will not even attempt to described it all for that is beyond my power. At times I was so carried away that I scarcely knew myself. Well, my friends may smile at my childishness. Let them smile. But I don’t know what sort of man he would be who had no feeling for beautiful spiritual music. Among other things sung were the names of our Saviour given in the ninth chapter of Isaiah: Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God. When the great chorus and the full orchestra intoned those words, I was so enchanted that I feared the shock would be too much for me. That evening in Exeter Hall will stand out, I can well say, as the most beautiful memory of the journey.’
"Olsson left Exeter Hall that evening with a great song in his heart. It was more than an episode, because his thoughts came back to it again and again. When he returned to Augustana College, he communicated his great enthusiasm for the Messiah to friends there. The response was encouraging. A small chorus we assembled for rehearsals. On April 11, 1881, the first rendition was presented at Moline, Illinois. A splendid oratorio tradition at Augustana College had been launched.
"Present in the audience, at the rendition of Handel’s great oratorio by the Augustana chorus at the First Congregational Church, Moline, Illinois, during the commencement activities in 1881, was Carl Swensson. When he returned to Lindsborg following this “Messiah” rendition, he was full of enthusiasm for Handel’s great composition. Mrs. Swensson, a talented musician, was also eager to bring the Messiah to Lindsborg. Plans were discussed in the first instance with the choir of the Bethany Lutheran Church, where the Swenssosns were dearly beloved by the membership. The possibility of organizing a chorus was suggested to the pastors and choir members of neighboring congregations. The response was encouraging although this seemed to be a big venture. Carl Swensson was accustomed to attempting great things, and plans moved forward with certainty."
For more on "the beginnings" of this incredible story of "sacred music" in Lindsborg and at Bethany College, go HERE to "Swensson's Musicians' and Singers' "Messiah," 1882 on …"
For a list of the "world renown" national and international performers beginning in 1899 during the annual Messiah Festival of Easter Holy Week at Lindsborg's Bethany College during Lydia's and Emil's time and beyond to 1997 at New York's Carnegie Hall, click on Mrs. Swensson's portrait for "Messiah" Performers, Venues, Press, Broadcasts & Audiences.
Source: Bethany College Forget-Me-Not 1902
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Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated, or obviously concluded it is not.
Copyright © 2018 www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated, or obviously concluded it is not.
Copyright © 2018 www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
