Elmhurst’s oldest choir celebrates German-American culture

BY ANNA HUGHES | PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ELMHURST HARMONIE

Five years ago, Rev. Mark Bussert was searching for a choir to join as he approached retirement. He was first introduced to Elmhurst Harmonie through one of their holiday performances; soon after, he became the newest member of the German-American singing group. Today, he serves as their president.

“I’m of German ethnicity, although I’m a third-generation American,” Bussert said. “It just sounded like it would be a fun way to do music and enhance my German heritage.”

The choir — with some members participating for 40 years — has a deep-rooted history in the city of Elmhurst, although Bussert said that’s not widely known.

Members of the early Elmhurst Männerchor in 1911, capturing the choir’s formative years and strong German roots.

“I have commented on what a low profile they had in the community, even though they had been around for so long,” Bussert said. “They basically operated within the network of German immigrants primarily, which is a pretty small network, and they had not thought of or succeeded in making themselves known as a community organization.”

Early Elmhurst was populated with German immigrants, and many settlers found connection — to both their homeland and each other — through song. The Elmhurst Männerchor (German for “men’s chorus”) started in 1907, reviving a choir-based social club first attempted in 1894 that was abandoned a few years later due to economic hardship. In 1936, the Elmhurst Damenchor (women’s choir) was born and quickly became the largest women’s choir in the area. Thanks to dedicated leaders and members, the choirs flourished independently for decades — through the ups and downs of the 20th century — before joining together to form Elmhurst Harmonie in 2019.

“It just sounded like it would be a fun way to do music and enhance my German heritage.”

— Rev. Mark Bussert, President, Elmhurst Harmonie

Elmhurst Männerchor remains the oldest organization in Elmhurst, and Bussert hopes to add even more members to their current group of 30 during his presidency.

“The boats have stopped coming pretty much,” Bussert joked. “What we need to do is find people who would kind of like to reconnect with their German heritage, even though they are American-born and raised and take some pride and pleasure in… their heritage.”

The members’ German heritage inspires nearly all their repertoire. They sing primarily German cultural music — usually in German but occasionally translated into English — and sometimes adapt popular American songs into German. For non-German speakers, they will also add a medley of American songs just for fun.

“Our repertoire is everything from German folk songs, what they call ‘lieder,’ to more classical stuff like Beethoven or Strauss to pop music,” Bussert said.

Each October, Elmhurst Harmonie hosts its largest cultural performance of the year, followed by a St. Niklaus concert in December featuring a special appearance from St. Nick himself. Although the performances are polished, perfect pitch and trained voice are not requirements to join the choir — and neither is speaking German. In fact, Bussert said their group is more focused on fun than technique.

The Elmhurst Damenchor in 1939, then the largest women’s choir in the area and a vibrant part of the city’s German-American community

“We come out of a culture called the ‘Gesangverein,’ which was a singing club that German immigrants would establish for people who just wanted to get together to sing. They didn’t always perform. Sometimes they just came together to sing songs together,” Bussert said. “Well, you don’t have to be a great singer to do that, right?”

Outside of rehearsals and performances, the group has a monthly social gathering known as a  “Stammtisch,” a German custom known as the “regulars’ table.”

“Back primarily in villages, small towns in Germany, a family or a clan would have a regular table at a local pub, where they would gather on Sunday after church,” Bussert explained. “So some of the members, some years ago, kind of put that together for us to have a, more or less, monthly Stammtisch.”

For Bussert, the choir provides more than music — it offers connection.

“There are all these statistics out there today about loneliness, how loneliness is increasing, people are disconnected,” Bussert said. “Being in a choir is one way of addressing loneliness for people who don’t have enough social connections.”

And they get to make some music along the way.

“I think we sing pretty good and sound pretty good sometimes, but we sing for fun,” Bussert said.

To learn more about Elmhurst Harmonie and their rich history in the community, visit elmhurstharmonie.com.