Men’s Chorus Sings Tune From Long Ago

A 100-year-old music society in Los Angeles is about as rare as a street corner without a mini-mall. Longevity, after all, is not exactly a local trademark.

So when a men’s choral association makes it to the century mark, the event is historically worth noting.

Tonight, 33 members of the Ellis-Orpheus Men’s Chorus, founded in 1888 and possibly the oldest men’s singing group west of Chicago, will observe the occasion with a centennial concert at 8:15 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre (a second concert is scheduled for Tuesday at the Norris Theatre in Rolling Hills Estates).

Although Ellis-Orpheus Club members are amateur singers, their biannual concert seasons, featuring well-known professional guest artists, have attracted loyal audiences and critical notice for years.

Such musical figures as conductor Alfred Wallenstein, band leader Xavier Cugat and Metropolitan Opera baritone Lawrence Tibbett, a former club member, have performed with the group, and Friday’s centennial concert, which will include works from the first club concert, will spotlight former Metropolitan Opera soprano Maralin Niska.

There are several factors that may account for the group’s durability. Back in 1888, when attorney Charles Ellis got together with seven friends to form a men’s singing club, Los Angeles was in the midst of a cultural boom.

Theaters and concert halls were proliferating to accommodate avid audiences. With railroad lines newly extended to the East Coast and San Francisco, increasing numbers of artistic companies included Los Angeles on their tours. Indeed, according to a 1919 article by critic Bruno David Ussher in the Pacific Coast Musical Review, the city’s proportionate concert attendance then was eight times that of New York City.

In addition, as Lance Bowling, founder of the society for the Preservation of Southern California Musical Heritage, notes, “There was a great choral music tradition at the time that continued well into the 1920s, with a large involvement in community, church and industrial choruses.

“I think the Ellis Club was able to continue for so long because of this interest and because of the excellent musical directors it appointed.”

Originally a social as well as a musical organization, the club roster, which often numbered 90-100 voices, included many prominent Angelenos, among them members of the Banning and Slauson families. Concerts were exclusive formal social events, and membership, which was much coveted, grew quickly.

By 1905, with a two-year waiting list to join, Joseph Dupuy, former club member, founded another choral group, the Orpheus Club, which became nationally known for performing all concert music from memory. For years the two clubs co-existed harmoniously, occasionally sharing concert stages.

In 1915 the new club, with the 19-year-old Tibbett as soloist, won first prize in international recognition in the San Francisco Pan-Pacific Exposition male choral singing contest.

The following year the Ellis Club made history of another sort when it participated in the country’s first transcontinental concert, sharing a telephone hookup with a New York City glee club. In 1939, with membership dropping and war threatening, the two clubs merged to combine membership and financial resources.

George Stevens, at 81 the senior club member, looks back from his 50-year membership perspective and observes that things have changed for the better, although he admits, with a chuckle, that he still gets nervous at concerts.

“I think the club does very well for a choir that doesn’t memorize,” Stevens says. “We had to do that in the Orpheus Club and, thank goodness, we don’t anymore or I’d have a heck of a time.

“It isn’t just a big social club anymore, it’s smaller and more intimate. We’ve sung together for many years, the new fellows who joined fit right in and the quality of work has picked up.”

Director Frederick Davis agrees. “The precision in the group is much better now than it used to be. When I first took over in 1952 the members weren’t interested in technical perfection, they just wanted to have fun. The people now are serious and interested in what they’re doing, and our concerts are better.”

Music and publicity chairman Bill Beck notes that a historic club tradition will be restored for the centennial concert.

“One of Ellis’ favorite songs was ‘The Long Day Closes,’ by Sir Arthur Sullivan. It was sung at the first concert and when Ellis died in 1907. For years after that it was sung as a prelude to concerts in memory of all departed club members. At the Ebell Theatre we’ll ask all ex-club members in the audience to come up and join us for that song.”