![\"\"](\"https:\/\/nbharmonie.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/prinzcarl.jpg\")
Prinz Carl Solms von Braunfels <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\nGiving\nup security and many comforts of the old country in Germany, these\nsettlers adapted to their new harsh environment, and soon formed\nsinging groups. Nostalgically remembering the good old days in the\n\"Vaterland\", they sang familiar folk tunes and songs handed\ndown from many great classical composers. In a mere five years, the\nNew Braunfelsers organized the first formal German singing group in\nTexas, the \"Germania\" male singing society, in March, 1850.\nOn October 15 and 16, 1853, New Braunfels hosted the first\n\u201cS\u00e4ngerfest\u201d (singing festival) of the \u201cDeutsch-Texanischer\nS\u00e4ngerbund\u201d (German-Texas Singers League), which continues to\nexist today. Almost every German community had a singing group and\nthey all came to celebrate with song, orchestral dances, dinners,\nplays, parades led by brass bands, and gleeful \"Gem\u00fctlichkeit.\"\nSo popular were these singing groups and festivities that new\numbrella organizations had formed, such as the West Texanischen\nGebirgs S\u00e4ngerbund in 1881.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe\nCivil War, WWI and WWII all caused membership declines, but German\nsinging societies bounced back with renewed fervor each time.\nEventually, New Braunfels had 16 singing groups. The last new one to\nbe formed was the New Braunfels Gemischter Chor Harmonie in 1937,\nwith 46 men and women singers. In 1938, Harmonie joined the\nTexanischer Gebirgs S\u00e4ngerbund, encompassing societies in San\nAntonio, Fredericksburg, and towns in between, as well as the Comal\nS\u00e4ngerbund. In 1952, Harmonie grew to 60 members, and was recognized\nas one of the strongest mixed choirs in the region. New members were\ncompetitively selected and voted on by the membership using a system\nof black and white balls secretively placed in a special box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nHowever,\nwith the aging of original singers, fewer families speaking German at\nhome, and the arrival of television competing for entertainment,\nmembership began to subside in the mid to late 50's. In 1985,\nGemischter Chor Harmonie experienced what could have been a fatal\nblow, when its original director, Gilbert Becker, died just a month\nbefore the Fall S\u00e4ngerfest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nFortunately,\nWilliam \u201cBill\u201d Kretzmeier, already established as a high school\nchoir director in the area, accepted the directorship on short\nnotice. Under his guidance, Gemischter Chor Harmonie remained small,\nbut viable, as the other local singing groups faded away, emerging in\nthe 1990's as the only remaining active choir in the New Braunfels\narea. By 1991, only 22 singers appeared for a festival in\nFredericksburg, and, according to Mr. Kretzmeier, \"talk was, we\nneeded more singers\". At the 1995 festival in New Braunfels,\nLola Engelke Schuman remained the sole charter member. At the 2001\nS\u00e4ngerfest, again hosted by New Braunfels, Klaus Rochwalsky was the\nonly performing bass singer on the roster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nMr.\nKretzmeier graciously provides his perspective of the history of\nHarmonie since 1985:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\"I\nbecame director of Harmonie upon the death of Gilbert Becker in 1985,\nabout a month before S\u00e4ngerfest. At the time, there were around 18 \u2013\n20 members. We met at S\u00e4ngerhalle each Wednesday at 7:30 PM. The\nschedule was to visit and drink beer from 7:30 to 8:00; sing from\n8:00 to 9:00; break, drink beer for 20 \u2013 30 minutes, then resume\nsinging until 10:00 or so. I told them I couldn't work with that,\nsince I had to get a decent night's sleep, having to teach the next\nday. So we began singing at 7:30 and stopped at 9:00 PM.\"<\/p>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/nbharmonie.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Saengerhalle1.jpg\")
\n\"Harmonie\nwas as much a social club as it was a singing society. The members\nhad known each other since childhood, several of them having been\nschoolmates, and many were related by blood or marriage. They had\ngrown up around singing societies, and when they came of age, they\njoined. The distractions of the modern culture; radio and television\nwere not there to dilute their culture, which has happened to the\nyounger generations, unfortunately.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\"At\nChristmas, we would have a party with 'covered dish' - what else?\nGreat food! We would sing Christmas songs in German, and exchange\ngifts. Some of the ladies insisted that we begin practicing the songs\nas early as October, which was silly because we sang the same songs\nevery year, and everybody knew them from memory. I tried to introduce\nsome new songs for Christmas and was told rather bluntly that \"We\nhave been singing these songs forever\" and \"We don't need\nall this new foolishness!\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\"We\nwould take January off because the Hall was uncomfortably cold, and\nthe frugal Germans were not about to turn the heat on. Sometimes\nDecember and February weren't much better. I remember more than a few\nrehearsals when the steam would come from the singers' mouths as they\nsang. Rehearsals during the summer, particularly in August, were also\nmiserable because of the heat. There was no A\/C, which brings us to\nthe problem of the Hall itself.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\"The\nmenfolks ran the Hall, kept the books (secretly helped by wives and\nchildren) kept the hall clean, mowed the grass, handled the renting\nof the hall for special occasions, etc. The rentals went a long way\ntoward paying for taxes and other expenses.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nIn\ntoday's world, non-air-conditioned halls are difficult to rent out,\nso for the most part, the Hall wasn't bringing in any income from May\nthrough September. Also, the men weren't getting any younger, and\nfound it more and more difficult to handle. These people were trying\nvery hard to hold on to the way things were, but time, age, and\ncircumstances made that impossible. So eventually, the old\nS\u00e4ngerhalle was sold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\"We\nhad one year to move out of the Hall and wound up having our meetings\nat Eden Home. It was quite an adjustment, especially for those who\nliked their beer. From my perspective, it was a good thing for\nseveral reasons: 1) We didn't freeze in the winter and sweat in the\nsummer, and 2) Everybody stayed sober! Some of the members used to\nshow up at the hall an hour early and by meeting time they were\npretty well \u2018snockered\u2019\".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\"Membership\nhad been slowly, but steadily dwindling. At one time, we were down to\nnine singers. Some passed away; others became 'passive members'\nmeaning they kept their membership but didn't sing. We were not\ngetting new members! Then in 2000, a new guy named Roy Knippa began\nrecruiting younger people. They started coming, and most of them\nstuck. That pattern of growth has been going on for the past five\nyears.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\"With\nthe influx of new people, several problems arose. The older members\nresented this intrusion and the aggressiveness of the 'new' people\nmade the 'oldies' nervous. Several of the new people were big\n'huggers' though, and their open expressions of affection melted the\nice. As a result, our group has become much more active. From 1985 to\n1999, the only performances we did were the yearly S\u00e4ngerfests. Now,\nwe sing for local and regional audiences quite often, as well as\nsinging at two S\u00e4ngerfests each year.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
Serving as Presidents of Gemischter Chor Harmonie since 1937 have been:
Chris Herry, 1937 - 1959
Amo Bartels 1961
Frau Egon (Lola) Engelke, 1952, 1953, 1959, 1966 and 1978
Agnes Lehmann, 1981 - 1984, 1993 - 1995, and 2001
Raymond Porter 1988,1990 - 1991
Carrol Belton, 1997 - 1998
Rev. Albert Buhl, 2000 - 2001
Roy Knippa, 2002 - 2004
Erna Dietert, 2005 - 2007
Troy Tidwell 2008 - 2009
Linda Coker, 2010 - 2013, 2016 - 2020, 2025 - Present
Eric Tennyson, 2013 - 2016
Tommy Daum, 2021 - 2022
Rebecca \"Becky\" Luft, 2022 - 2024 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Directors\u00a0who\u00a0have lead Gemischter Chor Harmonie\u00a0are listed below:
Gilbert Becker,\u00a0serving\u00a0faithfully from the founding of the choir in 1937 until his death in 1985
Bill Kretzmeier,\u00a01985\u00a0-\u00a02010 and 2016\u00a0-\u00a02017 with\u00a0great\u00a0dedication and distinction
Dr. Arlis Hiebert,\u00a02010\u00a0-\u00a02015\u00a0
Rick Bowen,\u00a0May\u00a0-\u00a0December\u00a02015
Denise Wayne-Damron,\u00a02015 - 2018
Michael Bade, 2018 - 2019
Roger Steckly, 2019 - present<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pianists who have played for Gemischter Chor Harmonie are listed below:
Roma Koepp Martin, 1939
Jane Wiedner, 1941
Hilda Schwamkrug, 1952 - 1953
Lillian Wunderlich, 1958 - 1966
Heidi Reeh, 1971 - 2002
Grace Dwyer, 2003
Helen Mittenzwei-Fesler, 2003 - 2016
Dion Kruczek, 2018
Denise Wayne-Damron, 2016 - 2022
Dr. Eric Thompson, 2022 - present<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\nREFERENCES:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Zentenarfeier des Deutschen Gesanges in New Braunfels, 1853 - 1953.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n100th\nAnniversary edition of NeuBraunfelser Zeitung, Vol. 100, No. 53.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nSelected\nS\u00e4ngerfest Festschrifts since 1937.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Images: Google Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nPersonal\ninterviews and thanks to: Viola Porter, Lillian Wunderlich, Raymond\nand Lulu Salge, Agnes Lehmann Buhl, Rev. Albert Buhl, Alice Schaefer,\nVirginia Baker, Marijane Stafford, and especially, Bill Kretzmeier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In 1845, German immigrants led by Prince Carl Solms of Braunfels, Germany, came to Texas by way of Indianola following a difficult passage along the Guadalupe River and settled near the Comal Springs as the community of New Braunfels. Along with the Native Americans, new animals and plants \u2013 and severe weather \u2013 survivors remained ...continue reading \"About\"<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-33","page","type-page","status-publish","h-entry","hentry","h-as-page"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nbharmonie.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nbharmonie.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nbharmonie.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nbharmonie.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nbharmonie.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nbharmonie.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":290,"href":"https:\/\/nbharmonie.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/33\/revisions\/290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nbharmonie.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}