Liedertafel Male Voice Choir History

A liedertafel was originally a round table, based on the King Arthur model, where like-minded friends of differing positions and professions joined together united in their enthusiastic love of singing. A large number of liedertafels were set up around the world – mainly in German-speaking countries – but many changed their name because of the negative connotations associated with the World Wars. The Christchurch choir has however continued with its original name despite a meeting considered to anglicise it in 1914.

The Christchurch Liedertafel Male Voice Choir (CLMVC) has a rich history, having begun in 1885 when a group of musically-inclined local men decided to formalise their casual singing and become a choir.

Soon after its formation, the choir performed its first concert and it’s now well on its way to 600 seasonal concerts as well as many festivals and other less formal performances. The original audience comprised invited guests but now the choir has a good base of subscribers who pay an annual fee to obtain discounted tickets.

Many of the original traditions have carried on but the practice of providing liquor at rehearsals has long since been discontinued as has an annual cricket match between the tenors and basses. At least, all concerts are now open to everyone when early smoke concerts were for men only!

Over the years the choir has used many different rehearsal and concert premises. Performances have taken place around the country including as far away as Auckland in the north and Dunedin in the south. There have been many famous guest artists at CLMVC concerts and the choir even acted as the backing group for Sir Harry Secombe in 1991.

That love of singing that was there at formation in 1885 has been maintained over the years and remains the reason why current members of CLMVC continue to rehearse and perform.

Christchurch Liedertafel

The first concert was presented by the Liedertafel’s founding fathers. Most of them had been born before the outbreak of the Crimean war and all lived through the heyday of the Victorian age, seeing as contemporary happenings the historic events which shaped the British Empire during its final ascent to the pinnacle of power. How sad it is that the photographic records of themselves which they have left us so often display such an austere and forbidding appearance for they were merry men with an abundance of fun. How could they have known when on the autumn evening in 1885, they launched their frail craft that would survive many a dark tide and , after so many decade, it would continue to sail its long journey from the penultimate decade of the 19th century to the third decade of the 21st century….and the handwritten invitation to the first concert would now be replaced by digital electronic ticketing and QR codes.

Liedertafel 1894