F. Melius Christiansen: Study of His Life and Work as a Norwegian-American Contribution to American Culture

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F. KEMUS OHRISTIAUSEH: A SIUDY OF HIS M M AFP WOHK AS A SOOTESIAir-AMEHIOAH OOF2RIBtJ!IION to

Ammom QVLmm

le o la Marjorie Uelaon 3>ert

owe to Professor Austin Warren o f the Department of Sag-

^ liS h , who was kind enough to d ir e s t th is p ro je c t, sad Hwho farth ered i t s exeeation by valuable advice.

Profes­

sor S srrison John Thornton and Professor Louis P e lse r, in th e ir seeilnars, have taaght me to see those broader aspects of the Amerleaa soene which are indispensable for the understanding o f C h ristian sen 's work and l i f e . ^

Dr. Shaneth BJ^rk of St. ffiLaf College, e d ito r

% f the Berwsglaa-Amoriaan sta d le s and Reoorda. kindly h"

ire a d the manasoript to oheok on the sosaraey of the *v

* h is to ric a l baekgroand. a References to the nameroas in s titn tio n s and U|

^ fsrse n s who a ssiste d me in various ways are to be found >1 in the bibliography.

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C 0 B 3 E H IS

Chapter

Page B9 l&ggggOailft ................................................I t

ZatroAaotlon

X The Borwegl&n Baekgroand: Bsyhood end Youth of Ohrletlanaen (1871-1868) . ............................ XZ ZZZ

1

Borregiaa M igration to Ameriea: C hristiansen'a Em igrant » t n (1888-1808}........................................ 88 Christiansen la the Horceglaa-Amirlean Life at the Middle f l i t (1 8 9 8 -1 0 6 8 )............................

60

33m Work: St. Olaf XT C hristiansen as a aegional Worse (1908-1918). . 104 T

C hristiansen as a natio n al inflaenoe (1918-----) ..............................................

188

33M Kan TZ

C hristiansen ae a D ireotor ...................................... 806 Bibliography ....................................... . . . . . . .

888

Appendix .................................................................864 A. Xiat o f Pnbliehed CoiapoBltiona . . . . . . 866 8. Sears o f the St. Olaf Lutheran Choir (1980-1948).................................................. . . 870 0. Programs of the St. Olaf lathe ran Oholr (1918-1948)........................................... 871 S. Exaerpta from newspaper B a r lo w s ...................881 S. figure 1. Arrangement for a Oholr a t S i x t y ...................................... 885

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IHfBOBOaSIQH

"Borway gave me much, bat America has taught me hew te use i t . "

A mart of seventy i s speaking.

Everything

sto a t him in d isates a Berwogisn o rig in : h is speeoh, with the bread aosent and in fle e t ten of the tongas whioh he had spoken exclusively u n ti l m aturity: h is square Jaw, roaghhewn faee, proudly-carried head with i t s shosk o f s rls p white h a ir ; h is ro b a st, s o lid appearanoe. a r is te s r a t.

Be i s a n a tu ra l

fo r over h a lf a century he has liv e d in Amer-

isa , and for almost fo rty years in a quiet eellege town in southern Minnesota.

Who i s th is man and what has he done

th at he Should be w ritten about?

SO answer th is quest ion

we mast see him against the baekgroand in whioh he liv ed and worked.

Vith h is l i f e sto ry , in many ways ordinary,

be ooald be one among hundreds o f thousands of immigrants who earns te America to re a lis e the dream whioh they f e l t soold not be qaiekansd in the land o f th e ir b ir th .

Like

many o f h is Scandinavian countrymen and the people of oth­ e r northern European countries he earns to the g reat oant r a l Talley of Amerlea. Dutchmen planted th e ir tu lip beds and th e ir oom; Germans, swedes, and Borwegians, th e ir wheat.

Catholic,

Meanenlte, Lutheran, Methodist, seventh Day A dventist, each

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with h is own b e lie fs , observance a, and r i t u a l worked aide by aide to olear the wildoraeaa. f a ith la the land.

Common to a l l was th e ir

Where the te n ts of the Sioux and the

Osage had been pitohed, f i r s t sod sad log bosses, then frsse houses arose.

Courage, energy, fo rth rig h tn ess had

been with the pioneers as they plowed the v irg in wastes sad planted th e ir g rain s. A fter the farmers had s e ttle d , awrohaats, m ill­ e r o, mechanise, sto v e-, lamp-, and to servo and to supply them*

fhey too had need o f courage,

energy, and fo rth rig h tn ess as they b u ilt th e ir c i t i e s and la id Iron r a i l s on the p rairie*

And when the land had be­

gun to y ield and the fa c to rie s to tu rn out th e ir goods* the time had come for the pioneers of learning and o f the a r ts , for the Valley was not only f e r t i l e fo r oorn and for wheat, but benign to the unfolding o f the mind and to the refinement of the heart#

And these pioneers too had need

of courage, energy, and fo rth rig h tn ess when they erected a single building end called I t a college or a university* within the span o f a generation these same in s titu tio n s were te become the centers o f s c ie n tif ic research and cul­ tu ra l achievement whioh would draw the eyes of the whole nation to the Valley*

When g re a t symphonies are now per­

formed a t a midwest university by students who s t i l l r e ­ member th e ir grandmothers * ta le s of canvas schooners.

Indian attack s, and tka coming o f the ra ilro ad to the Val­ ley , th is la more than a atory o f epic proportion#; i t la one of tka bopaa o f mankind.

La a t th is be miaondaratood —

the symbol o f tk ia kopa does not l i e so much in tka suc­ cessful emulation of tka old, aa in tka fa c t th at tka lev el of the old baa been reached so quickly by a c iv ilis a tio n , young and not overshadowed by tka dusk o f deoadenea. Ik 1890 P. MeHas C hristiansen came to tk ia Val­ ley .

With him he brought the tra d itio n s and folkways of

hie earn people, the t r a i t s and the tu rn o f mind whioh bad bean th o ira .

He did not discard them in h is new environ­

ment, nor did he clin g to them aa some s t i l l do, thus iso ­ la tin g him self from the thought and the l i f e o f the Ameri­ can community in which he found him self.

Be came to Amer­

ica with a single purpose: to become a musician.

Borway'a

folk songs, her lu lla b ie s, her dance tunes, the sturdy chorales of her In theran Church ware alive in him.

In the

Middle west, barren of tra d itio n , there was need for th is treasure of song and poetry.

I f he had remained on the

eastern as aboard, th is atory o f h ia l i f e might never have been w ritte n .

Ait he came to the Middle West, and th e re ,

absorbing the ways of a sew land, he learned how to uao the ric h es ho already posseased. She saw environment demanded powers from him; i t asked fo r ta le n ts Which l i f e in an o ld e r, mere rig id so cia l

se ttin g might never Have called te r the sourceful te liv e on the fro n tier#

0m had te be re ­

m the f i r s t job he

took direoting a hand in a Wisconsin lumber tom# he foand, too, without knowing it* a church ehoir aw aiting h is a r riv ­ a l.

lo had to learn how to tr a in sin g ers; he had to w rite

music fo r them to sing*

Wherever he went th e re a fte r, he

was compelled by circumstances to draw upon h is o rig in a lity , to try new methods, to make h is way alone, had thus the Middle west formed him and melded him fo r the work in whioh he was to make h is g re a te s t con­ trib u tio n , th a t o f a eheral d ire c to r, while he in ta rn through th at tra in in g was te e a rle h a growing c iv ilis a tio n with g i f t s from an eld e r one.

When he earns te St* Olaf

College in 190S, he was young and the college was young* fhey grew together*

And slowly e a t of the years, out of

the Middle West the St, Olaf lathe ran Choir emerged,

sens

and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters o f the pioneers same to the college, and Christiansen taught them to sing Hash and Brahma, as well as the chorales and the fo lk melo­ dies of th e ir aneestars*

drained and groomed, they went

out from the college to sing in America's c i t i e s , and from the impetus of th a t a cappella ehoir and i t s tours a move­ ment was sta rte d and a standard fo r a cappella singing was set which has made a contribution to American music, recog­ nised and in flu e n tia l from coast to coast*

I , boo* sang in C h ristian sen 's ohoir and fox four years watched him i a h i a work.

33m account o f bio

l i f e aad U i work baa boon to ld te me by C hristiansen hims e lf , by bio children, aad by b is frienda.

g » background

of JJorwegiaa-Aaoriean U fa baa oome from d ia rie a , l e t t e r s , college reoerds, some o f i t eeU eated ia books, some o f i t told or made accessible to me by people obese l i f e spaa covers the Horwegian-American epic from the sod house to tbs pro seat day.

Per the la te rp re ta tlo a of O h rlstlaasen 's

work 1 alone am responsible.

Uy purpose i s so t to assume

the role of masle o r ltio , but to ac t as a biographer and also as tbs recorder o f a phase ia the so c ia l aad c u ltu ra l histo ry o f the Middle Vest.

Chapter I she booteciab wkomsxmDt boyhood ahd y o tih Or CHBlSTXAilSEU (1871-1888) His fath er was Anders C hristiansen; h is mother was Cleans Whilhelmine Jensen.

3fcey same from the region

of Hurdal1* Lake in the d l s t r i e t of Eidsvold, Borway,

if,

on a summer's evening in Y8d®» one chanoed to he passing Hor&braaten, the itasrd1 belonging to Cleans* a fa th e r, one might have heard the masie o f a small strin g group float-* lug through the open windows o f the salon on seoosd flo o r. Homily tra d itio n has i t th a t there Is a gypsy s tr a in in th e ir blood,

Perhaps in the days of wandering m instrels

aaeh a one found h is way to Berw&y's southern co ast, stay­ ed end beoame the anoestor of the sons and daughters o f Hordbraatea*

Legend i t may be; nevertheless, musio was

deep in the souls of these people. Hot many kilom eters from Hordbraaten was Smedhaugen,2 a home b u ilt generations before by a stalw art smithy on the mold of a gentle h i l l .

Here four C hristian­

sen boys grew to be strong and t a l l lik e th e ir anoestor. then Anders, one of the four, orossed the meadowlands to *A Horwegian farm ^srned (smith) haugen ( h ill)

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Hordbraaten to see tbs dark-haired Oleana.

Cleans' s fa th e r,

a v io lin is t of sens a b i l i t y , had an in fle x ib le ra le in r e ­ gard to the young non who sane to court h is daughters: they n ast know how te play eons ansioal instrum ent.

Shoe i t was

th at from the father aad sons in the Jensen henaehold Anders learned to play several instrum ents, and in time earns to be a s k illf u l s o rn s tis t aad bass v io l player.

She singing

s tra in s of a v io lin , the s o ft thump o f a bass v io l, aad the aprigbtlinss8 o f e la r ln s t tones were often joined ia playing maslo th a t hinted of BOrway's foaming w a to rfa lls, the w istfo l l i l t of the r a s te r g i r l ’s1 song, and the gay tones of daaoing peasants in th e ir bright-colored s k ir ts and bodiess. Anders aad Oleana were married and fo r the f i r s t few years they lived a t the old C hristiansen home on smedhasgsn.

trained to be a meohaaio, Anders was employed in

tide Sidsvsld glassworks as a glaapuator. 2 A son Shrl was born to them, aad two years l a t e r on April 1, 1871, Prodrib Melina was bora,

to the Sorwegiaas Eldevold i s hallowed

groant, for i t was in th a t d i s t r i e t on the Oarsten Anker estate th at Primes C hristian Frederiek and h is Cabinet, merOhsats, bOnder.g and m ilita ry lead ers had gathered in 1814 to frame the C onstitution th a t deolared H eresy's independ■Haisrd g i r l 2Classblower Norwegian farmers

earn from Denmark.

Xa th is same pariah, te e , WergelenA,

the fie ry young p ast s f lib e rty , liv ed sad worked daring tine 't h i r t i e s te earry on the id eal of lib eralism th a t had dominated the group a t Sidsvold in 1914.

In the shuroh

whioh Wergelamd's fa th e r had served as p a sto r, the in fa n t Predrik Melius was baptised. sines the days o f the Deformation when Danish was iatreduesd into Borway as the S tate, Chnroh, and lite r a r y language, Borway has sustained two ra tio n a l tra d itio n s , the ru ra l and the urban.

Between these two tra d itio n s there

has existed a ohrenio antagonism whioh was sharpened in­ tensely during the middle o f the nineteenth oentury.

ib is

eleavage haa been s o c ia l, eooramio, o u ltu ra l, aad in the l a t t e r h a lf of the l a s t oentury, geographic as w ell. As a reaction against the ratio n alism whioh crept into the Ohuroh during the period o f the enlightenment, a powerful re lig io u s re v iv a l had been se t i s motion through­ out Norway ea rly in the nineteenth osntury by Baas Hielaen Bangs, a lay preacher o f remarkable a b ility .

Fighting the

lif e le s s formalism in the s ta ts Chnroh with the "liv in g word" of S cripture, he sought to revive and p u rify the r e ­ lig io u s f a ith o f tbs people. e lle d .

Prom guard to aaard he tra v ­

Xu v illa g e a fte r v illag e he preaohed.

I t is not

strange th a t Bsage found h is strongest support in the ru ra l population, which was ready and eager t e l i s t e n to a gospel

th a t taught o quality of a l l ra n . Xa the 1830*8 the binder found a loader in the ra d ic a l young fforgeland, who urged th a t Bereay should break away from a ll foreign (Danish and german) influence, both e u ltu ra l sad p o litic a l.

Borway, ho deolared, had a rio h

p ast, and i f aim would re ly on the in s tin c ts of her own peo­ p le , she. oould rear a national c u ltu re , Independent sad pe­ c u lia r to h e rse lf,

la te r the ardent n a tio n a lis t, BJlrnson,

l e f t h is imprint on the p o litic a l as well as the lite r a r y l i f e o f tbs age with h is charming p o r tr a it o f the binder in Sanaalve gelbskksa.

Sot only b e ll e t r i s t l o w rite rs o f the

middle decades, but f o lk lo r is ts , h isto ria n s, and lin g u is ts so well began to study the bonds, and, seeing in him the true s p ir i t of Borway, they drew him to the oenter o f the c u ltu ra l stage.

She b in d e r. s tir r e d into actio n by the

a tte n tio n directed upon them by the in te lle c tu a ls , began to clamor for the p o litic a l and so c ia l rig h ts th a t had th e o re t­ ic a lly belonged to them since the adoption of the Constitu­ tio n a t Sidsveld.

She time had corns, said the lead ers, for

the old order of beauoratio co n tro l to give way to a new order of g reater freedom aad opportunity for a l l people. She urban group oaa bo eharaeterised as the mere s ta tic element in Norway' e so cial p attern ,

fhey looked with

d ista ste on the emotionalism sad pietism of the gauge oners, as the follow ers of gauge were c a lle d ; they sent th e ir sons

to to educated a t Copenhagen, s t i l l considered the center of culture and learning for Horway; they frowned on the ra d ical p o litie s ! n o tio n s th a t Wergelaad had garnered from French s o il ; and they believed with Welhaven, Wergeland's b r ill ia n t opponent, th a t lite r a tu r e must he w ritten accord­ ing to specified ru le s o f a r t , th a t Horway must work toward a cosmopolitan outlook, th a t she must achieve a Weltan­ schauung he fore she could develop a culture o f any value* She breach between Horway* s two tra d itio n s was made even wider a fte r the middle o f the century by the ris e o f the language question*

Brough the four cen tu ries of

Danish domination the o f f ic ia l language o f Horway had eeme to be a combination o f the Horwegian and the Danish tongues, known as rikamaal*

Very d iffe re n t from rlksm aal were the

d ia le c ts spoken in the r u r a l d is t r i c t s o f Horway, and dur­ ing the early years o f natio n al romanticism a movement was s ta rte d under the leadership o f Xvar Aasen to form a new language made up o f a l l the d ia le c ts , a language which would be tru ly Horwegian, tru ly n a tio n a l.1

Be movement

gained momentum and attain ed much prominence p o litic a lly and culturally*

Alarmed by the spread o f the laadaaaal

movement through the w ritings of some o f the lite r a r y ^As a m atter of fh et, Aasen did not employ the d ia ­ le c ts of the e n tire country equally, but showed a p re fe r­ ence fo r the speech o f the western and c e n tra l d i s t r i c t s , thus, as Values says, giving "his norm too narrow a b asis to make I t tru ly n a tio n a l.7*

remant l o i s t s (JffrgenKoe end Anas Gerborg) who M

adopted

i t as th e ir medium o f expresalon, and because of i t s aotive support by the party of the l e f t , tbs ath eren ts of rlksmaal sought ts counteract tbs movement by tbs formation o f a Hlkanaal Paisa.

Notwithstanding th e ir e f f o r ts . lsa&sasal gained

a foothold, esp eo ially i a lbs western ru ra l d is t r ic t s , with the seaport s lty of Bergen a s i t s eonter.

C hristiania and

i t s enolrellng A is tr is ts i a tbs e a st were rlksm aal osoatry, saA remain so te th is day.

However, ohamplona o f the

lsaAassal tra d itio n , in sp ite o f s e b s ta a tia l opposition on tbs p a rt o f the c i t y 's in h ab itan ts, were powerful enough te Shange the aarne of the c a p ita l ia i»E4 from C h ristian ia, with i t s Danish asso ciatio n s, to the medieval name Oslo. When one understands the tra d itio n oat o f whioh a person grows, the reverberations of th a t tra d itio n are reeogmisahls in the small and apparently in sig n ific a n t rou­ tine of d ally liv in g .

Although the maternal aide of the

Q hristtaason family was bonds. tbs s p i r i t which dominated the family was th a t o f the burgher o lass to whioh h is fa ­ t t e r , as a s k ille d worker, belonged.

P o litio a lly , Anders

O hristlansen belonged to the H llere (Conservative) party, a party whioh believe A in the s ta tu s guo, favored a strong monarchy aad the oeatinuanee of union with Sweden.

In

Anders C h ristian sen 's opinion the old order was p referable to the disorder whioh accompanied lib eralism .

Although durlng C hristiansen1s youth the lan&smsal movement was feeing gradually transformed from a narrow l i n ­ g u istic struggle to a broad so c ia l movement, the family can­ not fee said to have feeon acutely conscious of i t a s ig n if i­ cance.

Living aa tfee C hristiansens did in the south and

east p a rt of Horway, which was so lid riksmaal country, they did not some into contact w ith landsmaal, feat when they did th e ir scorn for the language was evident, as th is remark of C hristianson's indicated, "So th is day I despise landsmaal, feecause I was not brought up in i t as a c h ild . ” th e irs was a p o lite and sober burgher class e x is t­ ence.

few lunar tea were perm itted in the Christiansen

household feeyond the simple feut s u ffic ie n t n e c e ssitie s for liv in g .

Entrusted once with f i f t y kroner which he was told

to deposit a t the bank, Melius unfortunately lo s t the money. Although h is parents did not reprimand him, he knew th a t to them the lo ss of f i f t y kroner was almost a catastrophe, for they had worked hard to sate the money.

In m atters of d is­

cipline the parents were firm and s t r i c t , especially Anders, who reared h is children to resp ect and honor the authority of th e ir superiors in the fam ily, the Church, sad the s ta te , fam iliar frien d s ware accorded the deepest courtesy and were received with the starched manners which prevailed in Nor­ way's urban society.

When a guest came to c a ll, Anders

Christiansen would o ffe r him a g lass of brandy or aqua v ita e ;

soberly they would rsis o th e ir g lasses to each other, nod p o lite ly , end drain the g lasses. dignity of the occasion.

So words disturbed the

When C hristiansen returned to Nor­

way for a v i s i t a f te r several y e a rs 9 residence in America, h is fath er had the customary t a l l s i l k hat and cane in read! ness for h is son to use*

In the eyes o f the eld er C hristian

s in th is was e s se n tia l as an index o f th e ir middle class rank, Be re lig io u s p ractice s of the family followed the muse p a tte rn of sedate and refined ta s te ,

B ey were members

of the State Church of Norway because th e ir forbears had been, and q u ietly they walked in the old tra d itio n s, untouch­ ed by the fervor of pietism th a t had been se t in motion by Benge,

However, the town o f Larvik, where they lived daring

h is youth, was not without i t s Haageaaer elements; a btethodi s t group had organised a church in the community — strong­ ly p i e t i s t is -** and to th is group were drawn many who f e l t that the formalism of the Lutheran Church destroyed the r e ­ generative power of re lig io n .

An illum inating incident,

told by C hristiansen, rev eals how the Lutheran Church held te i t s tra d itio n s and looked askance a t the e v ils of a changing order.

& May of h is fifte e n th year Melius was

confirmed in tbs Church with a group of young boys and g ir ls who had completed the specified in stru ctio n s in the doc­ trin e s o f Lutheranism*

Confirmation in th e ir so cial p attern

marked the end o f youth and the beginning of adulthood, a tam ing point in a per eon's l i f e , an occasion th a t sailed for s e is m and sound advise.

On th a t memorable confirma­

tio n day B e venerable eld p aster o f the Larvik church turned te h is group of confirmands aad said very gravely, "As you young people go out into the world, there are two B in g s X want to warn you against — Methodism and so cia l­ ism." th is was the tone o f the society in to which Christiansen was born, tra d itio n a lis tio and well-grooved, end although he l e f t th a t environment a t the age of seven­ teen, the atmosphere of h is tra d itio n had penetrated so deeply into h is make-up th a t vestig es of i t have remained with him sig n ific a n tly throughout h is l i f e . N aturally ia th is family of amateur musicians tbs musical education o f the children was an early concern. When he was three years old. Melius was given a three-key c la rin e t, and with In stru ctio n from h is uncle g ris tle a , h is trainin g began.

B en, of course, on the frequent v is­

i t s te lor&brsaten h is grandfather played h is v io lin fo r the ch ild , l e t him hold i t , and showed him how to draw the bow over the s trin g s.

Although the family did not remain

in ll&sveld more than approximately five years a fte r the b irth o f Melius, the musical experiences of th is early en­ vironment unquestionably were a strong influence In the

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formation of h is dominant In te re s t in music, From Eidsvold the family moved south to Sarpsborg, shore mechanics sere needed to work on a large bridge under eons true t ion in the c ity .

Shortly a ftersard they moved

again, th is time te Agnes, a small settlem ent b u ilt around a match factory*

More in te re stin g to as than h is worfc as a

mechanic i s the feet th at Anders Christiansen sas ashed to he the d ire c to r of the factory hand.

Melius, pleading with

the ardor of a air-y ear-o ld , sas fin a lly allowed to play in the hand, and with hie stubby c la rin e t he proudly marched, or more tru th fu lly almost ran , beside the men in the aytten&c Mai3, parade. Of la stin g value in th is early period of h is l i f e sere the evening hears a t home around the f ir e , when the family band made up o f the fa th e r with h is trombone, Xfcrl with h is com et, and Melius with h is c la rin e t, played lig h t marches arranged esp ecially for them by Anders or by Chole K ristian,

Ole ana would s i t in the fliohering lig h t of the

fire with Baby K ristia n 's cradle beside her, liste n in g above the s h ir of her spinning wheel, and offering encouragement to Melius when he grew in p atien t a t the clumsiness of h is Childish fingers*

Els mother loved music deeply, and was,

as Christiansen said , the driving power behind the musical a c tiv itie s of the family*

She h e rse lf had a lovely voice,

^Seventeenth of May, Horway *s Independence Bay,

and, although aha ted ted no formal tra in in g , t e r singing te d the beauty and warmth o f one who is g ifte d by nature, ftese evening hoars helped to form In yeaag H elios' mind the determination to become a musician. I t has been said of the Scandinavian temperament th a t "the Swedish te a r acto r may best be studied as man in re la tio n to n atu re, the Banish as man in h is re la tio n to h is fellowmea, tee Horwegian as man in re la tio n to h is id e a l,* Mountainous, stubborn-soiled, long-wintered land where men and women, dominated by Mature, have from te a t very Mature h e rs e lf derived th e ir unyielding stren g th , th e ir discip lin ed v ita l i t y white drives teem on end on, as Brand was driven re le n tle s s ly to the mountain top.

Charac­

te r is tic a lly th is l i t t l e boy of the d e a r blue eyes and the resolute face showed from e a rly youth a sturdy devotion to h is ideal — music.

Boohing bach over the long years,

Christiansen says, "fhere was never a doubt in my mind but te a t X wanted to be a musician* ** fte most meaningful o f these early years came a f te r h is fa th e r moved around Oslo fjo rd and s e ttle d h is growing family in tee c ity of Barvik.

fo tee south of

t t e i r home ley the shining waters o f tee blue fjo rd ; to tee west fa r across tee c ity rose the smote stacks of the glass works, tee paper m ills, and the flour m ills.

Down

by the wharves shipping vessels, from England steamed into

the harbor with th e ir cargoes of coal end s a l t ; then emptied and p iled with timber and wood pulp they would re tu rn slowly down the fjo rd past Faerder lighthouse , oat into the Skagerak and across the sea to th e ir English ports.

When they eeuld

take time from th e ir many d u ties, fi&llue and h is brother J&rl lik ed to run down to the p iers and watoh the sailor® with th e ir le a th e r-ta n faces shouting to mo another in strange tongues as they unloaded b a rre ls of s a lt.

But i t

was net often th a t the boys could do th is , for they were busy lads with school work and reg u lar hours o f p ractise on Violin, piano, end cornet, which th e ir fath er in sisted on rig id ly . tee public school which Melius attended from h is eighth to h is fifte e n th year had the usual curriculum of the Horwegian schools, and because each subject had i t s p a rtic u ­ la r teacher, tee in stru ctio n was very thorough.

She report

card th at young Melius received a t the end of h is eighth year of school l is te d the sub jects he had studied:

Catechism and

Explanation, Bible H istory, Church History, Heading, Horse lite r a tu r e , H istory, Geography, science, A rithm etic, and Writing*

S cholastically he ranked w ell, and for industry

and aptitude he was given the ra tin g s meget godt* and aaerdelea ftodt2 respectiv ely . ^Very good ^Excellent

Barvik had been awakened m usically some years be­ fore by tee a rriv a l o f an energetic musician, Oscar Hansen. "He was a fireb ran d ]1* said Christiansen about h is former teacher, not only m usically but temperamentally as well* With exceptional ta le n t and unlimited enthusiasm te had or­ ganised a community o rch estra, a band a t the glass works, another a t tee flour m ill, a seme? band, and three singing societies*

She somewhat p o rtly figure o f Oscar Hansen,walk­

ing through tee s tr e e ts e f Barvik with a sheet of music un­ der h is arm,was fam iliar and loved by a l l the people o f the oily,

teen he was not rehearsing with one or another e f

h is bands, te was giving private lessen s, arranging a con­ cert fo r the Scire Orchestra, or executing h is duties as organist a t the Baths ran Church in tee c ity .

His lig h t

burned through the la te hours of the night and into the morning as he studied a newly arrived score of one of Johan Svendsen's symphonies, or as he composed music for h is bands axid orchestra, or fo r h is cello on which te was an accom­ plished a r tis t# Because o f t t e i r In te re s t and ta le n ts in musle, tee Christiansen family was soon swept into the cu ltu ra l stream of tee l i t t l e in d u stria l o ily .

Melius* f i r s t meeting

with Hansen occurred sho rtly a f te r the family same to Barvik. As d ire cto r of the glass works' band, Hansen called fo r try ­ outs, and when the Christiansens appeared, fath er and two

sens, he was mush in tere ste d ate not a l i t t l e pleased a t Melius1 performance on tee E -fla t c la rin e t.

With Melius in

tee c la rin e t sectio n , t e r l playing trombone, and Anders Christiansen tee trumpet, tee Christiansens were established in tee twenty-seven piece band of the Barvik glass works. Knotting as t h i s was. Melius was to experience even g reater pleasures in the days th a t lay ahead.

His par­

ents f e l t that he had re a l ta le n t fo r music and sensequeatly arranged th a t he should take piano lessens with Hansen.

It

was not long before the handsome, rotund teacher had com­ p le te ly captivated tee heart o f h is young p u pil; nor was i t long before Melius' mother noticed amusedly th a t her son was i

im itating h is teacher in s lig h t mannerisms of speech, and th a t he even walked with Hansen's o h arao teristie limp. Practicing was no hardship fo r t h i s lad , Who, besides h is love fo r music, wanted above a l l to do w ell fo r the man whom he ardently admired*

fo Oscar Hansen must go tee c re d it for

in itia tin g Christiansen into tbs c la s s ic a l tra d itio n of music,

trained in the s p i r i t of the German e lasslo s in

Ielpeig and Oslo, Hansen through h is teaching and directin g inculcated very e a rly in Christ iansen a feeling fo r the mu­ sic a l sty le of the g re a t masters. From childhood the v io lin had been the instrument of h is choice, and when a wealthy e itis e n of Barvik, Jurgen Christiansen, offered to pay for v io lin lessons for the boy.

the o ffe r was happily accepted, aad young Christiansen be­ gan studying with the able and very popular teaoher, Profes­ sor Olsen*

Among h is varied musical a c tiv itie s , young

Christiansen*a membership in the Soire Orchestra fam ished him with some o f the best training o f h is early youth.

Shis

rath er e l i t e orchestra of some th irty members drew i t s play­ e rs from the most talented fam ilies o f Barvik; Golin Archer, la te r to become famous as tee designer of Hansen's steamer gram, in whioh he explored the wilds of the frosen A rctic regions, played the

c e llo , while in the v io lin section next

to Stellas sa t h is own teaoher, Olsen.

Working d ilig e n tly

under th e ir exacting d ire c to r, th is group o f amateur musi­ cians played in the six or seven concerts each season some of the e a s ie r symphonies o f Beethoven, Mosart, and Haydn. Xoong Melius was happy one evening teen Hansen stopped him a f te r reh ea rsa l, handed him the score of a poloooa by Adolph Hansen, a Bergen composer, and told him to prepare i t for a solo performance.

He spent many hours

each day practicing ever and ever the d if f ic u ltie s o f the fe lla h dance.

F inally the big evening came,

tee doors of

the Hasdhuaots Woa tiv ite ts lo te le * were closing; latecomere were hurrying to th e ir places; the orchestra was assembling. Melius f e lt a tremor of excitement shake him a t the sight of tee endless rows of upturned faces th a t fused into a 1tee fe s tiv a l quarters of the c ity h a ll.

p e ta l-lik e m a t before him.

teen out of the b lu r he sadden*

ly saw Ms mother,

l e r sen sitiv e face, so so ftly shadowed

by illn e s s , tonight was a liv e with warm happiness; shy pride gleamed in her dark eyes as she looked a t her twelve-yeareld son.

I t was enough to melt tee f i r s t ley s h il l of fear

th at ted gripped him a t the sig h t of the great t e l l f u ll of people. tee consort began with Beethoven's "Irelea" Sym­ phony* followed by seme lig h te r musical sketches e f JOhsn Sveh&sen, d ire c to r o f tee Opera Orchestra in Copenhagen. Midway in the concert same the polooea.

tee frig h t which

te d once more begun to climb into h is th ro at was out short by tee quick nod tern Hansen who sa t down a t the piano and began tee fam iliar s tr a in s of tee aeeemyanimsni*

Melius

lif te d his bow end with ease end surety swept into tee liv e ­ ly measures of the dance, forgetting h is fe a r, desiring only that h is instrument sing out what he f e lt in h is h ea rt. When he heard tee applause lik e the wind beating le a f against le a f through a thick-wooded grove, te hardly re alised th a t h is performance was over, th a t he had made h is debut as a v io lin is t.

A sparkling-eyed bey, carrying a v io lin ease*

walked home th a t night through the foggy March s le e t of Barvik* In addition to school work and h is p racticin g the young boy a ssiste d Hansen in preparing scores for h is or­

chestra end baoAs*

Unlike most countries Norway Aid not en­

joy the p riv ile g e s of the in te r national copyright; conse­ quently composers ran #*e ric h of haying th e ir merles p irated i f they appeared in print*

Bather than take th a t r is k , a

composer l e f t h is manuscript with a wholesale must a dealer from whom ether musicians could re n t the score and copy out the separate p a rts fo r th e ir orchestras* Young C hristian sen 's work consisted in copying the p arts from the symphony and hand scores which lanaen rented from Copenhagen*

through h is work as a copyist Christiansen

gained much v&lu&hle tra in in g in arranging and scoring music fo r hands and orchestra, a train in g which served him well in la te r years*

Slowing th at the family means were lim ited and

th at h is m other's illn e s s and the increasing family were draining th e ir income, the hoy became quite troubled about the pay for h is piano and organ lessons*

One day he ques­

tioned h is fa th e r, who answered him very q u ietly , "Ton your­ s e lf have paid fo r your lessons many times*"

Copying was

slow, em oting work fo r a hoy, who, although he loved music, enjoyed, too, lik e other normal hoys the fun of statin g and sliding in the w inter and swimming in the summer* Xt was only n atu ral th at a hoy as musically and emotionally aliv e as was th is Norwegian lad , should try h is hand a t composition, hut the occasional waits and aasarka w ritten In an old copy hook a t the age o f twelve were only

stereotyped arrangements common fo r small bands,

Shese

early e f fo r ts , although they were not the musical lisp in g s of a genius, were important as an indication of the crea­ tiv e in s tin c ts w ithin h is nature* m the days o f C h ristian sen 's youth, pipe organs had to be pushed laboriously by hand*

Peeding someone to

pump the church organ on which he practiced and knowing th at h is younger brother, K ristian , was passionately fond of liv e r sausage, H ellas would buy fifte e n dro of sausage and o ffe r i t to h is brother in re tu rn fo r h is services. Often the two boys could be seen walking toward the ohureh a f te r school was out, one carrying music, the other running along beside him munching on a Chunk o f sausage*

Many an

hour was spent in the C hilly dimness of the church, and more than once i t happened that as daylight faded and dark hollowness engulfed them, Melius heard frightened l i t t l e K ristian sobbing w ildly, but pumping courageously as i f to ward off the anCkelaer3- th a t leered from the gloomy depths of the empty church. * fhe frig h t was contagious, and H ellas, then te r r if ie d into action, snatched up h is music, took K ristia n 's hand in h is , and with th e ir footsteps echoing be­ hind them they fled from the church*

B reathlessly they ran

through the graveyard th a t surrounded the ehnroh, ce rta in th a t marauding s p ir its were close a t th e ir h eels, and not G ho sts

u n til they were w ell away from the shadow-easting grave­ stones did they slew to a panting walk*

The hears o f prac­

tis e were net spent in vain, however, for in C h ristiansen's fourteenth year he was asked to f i l l Hansen's place as or­ g an ist daring the la tte r * s absence fo r a y e a r's study in Leipzig, I t was during th is year in XS8g th a t C hristian­ se n 's mother died, a f te r slew years o f fig h tin g tubercu­ lo s is sad watching three of her children die from the d is­ ease*

She death of the mother who had hound her family to ­

gether with her staunch, b rig h t s p ir i t seemed to have a d is ­ integrating e ffe c t on the l i t t l e c ir c le .

Beotioseness, d is­

s a tis fa c tio n , and a sense of lo ss gnawed within Khrl u n til i t drove him to q u it h is home and find h is place in the stream of Norwegian emigrants who were looking toward Amer­ ica as the home of the fu tu re. Although the eld er C hristlansen had constantly urged melius to study music, he f e l t th a t to follow i t as a profession was another m atter,

fo depend on i t solely for

a source of livelihood m s too uncertain, so he advised Melius to become a school teacher*

She boy knew, however,

th at for him happiness lay only in working with scores and scales and in tric a te harmonies*

Planning fo r a l i f e of

music, be continued w ith h is lessons, his copying, and a l i t t l e teaching as w ell.

E a rlie r in i t s h isto ry Norway had proved f e r tile ground for Mormon m issionaries, and though the l a s t g reat Mormon drive had been made in 1872 some of the m issionaries had lingered on.

fm o f them liv ed in Larvik, and in ex­

change fo r lessons in English Melius gave them v io lin le s ­ sons*

But knowing th a t Osear Hansen's sons would soon suc­

ceed th e ir fath er in h is work, and re a lis in g th at Xarvik offered scant support fo r more than one or two professional musicians, young Christiansen decided th a t he must go e lse ­ where# A ll through h is childhood America had been a dim and d ista n t place from which occasional l e t t e r s had come from "Abraham and Bkthrias,** h is m other's re la tiv e s who had emigrated to America before he was bora*

Then, two of h is

f a th e r's brothers went to America daring h is childhood* N aturally h is thoughts turned toward th is land, where some of h is aunts and uncles and h is brother had already gone in th eir search fo r new frontiers# On a spring day sh o rtly a f te r h is seventeenth birthday Melius walked north along the winding s tr e e ts , past clo se-set houses toward the edge of the c ity , which lay horse shoe -shaped on the Inner side o f a h ill*

Warm

pungence of sanseaksO e a rth sponged under h is fe e t and crept up to h is n o strils*

Bale greenish-brown nodules but­

toned new bark on the waving branches above h is head,

on

the rim of the h i l l above him was N arvik's famous Bbkskog,1 *Beeoh fo re st

5369ft3 where he had played so often with the hand on warm summer night a*

toy music, oouples s tro llin g under the tre e s , wide

night of s ta r s leaning over s t i l l water* and the d ista n t horn-oall of an unseen steamer fa r out in the fjo rd swept h is thoughts as he walked the fam iliar s tr e e ts that led up the h i l l ahove the c ity end the fjord*

Se knew th a t th is

was h is l a s t spring in Xsrvik, for he had decided that in autumn he must leave*

He stopped and turned to look serosa

the e lty of house tops with the wood smoke our lin g from th e ir ohimney pots, aero as the fjo rd where sea g u lls swoop­ ed in gray-winged c ir c le s ; blue stretched on into blue as fa r as he oould see, and beyond th at again lay h is new home, a new world and new fro n tiers*

Because the mind mud the

s p ir it have no frontiers* and because men liv e s forever in the fu tu re , Melius was happy — happy with the strength and vision of youth*

Chapter I I

umuknon to a m e b x o a : c s B i s m WMXOMMt YEARS (1888-1892)

M H 's

33*0 re stle ssn e ss of change, continuous and rapid as never before, pervaded the European atmosphere during the nineteenth century*

The p o litic a l a lte ra tio n s brought

about by the Bevelatienary I r a can hardly be understood save in the larg er context of the new so cia l and economic conditions# and these in tu rn in teracted w ith the revolu­ tionary ideas and a ttitu d e s emerging during the Trench En­ lightenment and emanating from B ritish u tilita ria n is m ,

the whole c u ltu ra l value-system was being re c a st and re wrought, end most important o f a l l , exposed once again to the c ritic is m of the sovereign Individual, the secularised "C hristian s e a l,"

How, however, the physical as well as

the moral horizon was la rg e r than ever before, and looming beyond i t was the new land of promise, America*

In d u stri­

alism and capitalism found th e ir counterpart in the modern concept of p o litic a l democracy# in the Ideology of human progress, and in the s o c ia lis tic b a ttle cry g a lla n tly u t­ tered by "rad ical1* in te lle c tu a ls and powerfully taken up by the masses.

But subjected to the enormous in e r tia of

h is to ric a l development, to the principle of action and re ­ action, the age also watched romanticism wax and wane, saw

22

-

many of I t s e s s e n tia l elements f in a lly tw ite with another r is in g force, th a t e f nationalism .

And fo r almost every

single ene of these tid a l waves of European h isto ry during the nineteenth century, there was a new wave o f immigrants on ear shores,

sane tin e s i t was a group of in te lle e ta a ls

fle e in g the g rip e f re le n tle s s reactio n , sometimes larg er grasps o f a whole n atio n , sad n o stly ju s t individuals leav­ ing th e ir native lands for some immediate economic reason w ithin the. family or the countryside, seme lo eal eeo lesiastio a l s tr i c t u r e , or a personal disturbance or maladjustment As is w ell known, immigration from Europe np to the la s t two deeades o f the nineteenth century was larg ely confined to the northern eo an tries, and has teen termed loosely the "old" Immigration.

She swerve in the immigrant

wave to southern and eastern Europe eeourrod in the l a t t e r part of the century, and has te e n ealleA the "new" immlgra-!tio n .

£u Scandinavia, Horway and Sweden fa r exceeded th e ir

s is te r s ta te of Seamark in the number o f emigrants who l e f t th e ir shores.

Because Seamark was t e t t e r a tle to support

her population, n ecessity did not drive the Panes to g a it th e ir land} and, more conservative in th e ir h a b its, the Saaes were not the pioneers, the adventurers, and the non­ conformists th a t were th e ir soaadiaavlan brethren. ■crony*a economic s itu a tio n in the early nine­ teenth century provided ample reason for an alarming exodua

Bare, rooky mountains and danse fo rest made th ree-q u arters of the land u n tilla b le ; the remaining quarter alone had to support over a m illio n in h ab itan ts.

long w inters and the

grabbing t o i l of coaxing g rain to grow in the few short weeks of summer were disheartening oven fo r the Berweglan peasant, who by nature endured hardship p a tie n tly .

At heat

he would make hut a hare liv in g from the land; when orop fa ilu re s ooeurred i t meant debt and often le ss o f the farm. With the yield from the land remaining the same and the population inereaslng yearly, the s itu a tio n n a tu ra lly pro­ voked a feeling of discontent among the impoverished oettage rs.

low wages and the law o f primogeniture antom atieally

eliminated many from besoming landowners,

For the Serweglan

farmer who prised h is lndependene* and hated debts, the mounting eoenomlo burdens beoame in to le ra b le , and to him the vivid ta le s of the waving g ra in fie ld s and the wlAe, open spaees of rle h , blaek s o il in Amerlea sounded lik e an evan­ g e lic a l message pointing the way out o f h is growing d is tre s s . Although Borway suffered no severe p o litic a l up­ heavals such as p a rts o f Europe had undergone during the f i r s t h a lf of the century, the p o litic a l oomplexien of the country was changing.

Primed in to self-eonseloasness by the

atte n tio n directed upon them from n atio n al rom anticist c ir ­ c les, the bOnder. as has already been mentioned, began to ask for rig h ts and to voles th e ir disoontcnt against the

domination of the upper c la sse s.

In many instances, as earn

be noted from the underlying tone o f l e t t e r s sent bask to Borway and from the emigrant b allad s o f the 'f o r tie s sad 'f i f t i e s , th is p o litic a l d is s a tis fa c tio n helped to sever the t i e s th a t bound the bonds to the lend e f h is b ir th . Beligieus intolerance in Bersay, certain ly the most sig n ific a n t f a s te r in the eeming o f the f i r s t band of Norwegians, the Stavanger Quakers, in 1826, was n e t, gener­ a lly speaking, as powerful a motive as the economic, though undeniably i t , too, was p a rt o f the ra tio n a le of the pro­ spective emigrant.

She p i e t i s t io Bangs movement, spreading

threugh tbs ru ra l d is tr lo ts o f Borway, sowed seeds o f oppo­ s itio n against the barren form ality and hierarchy of the Church.

She emigrant mho returned from America to v i s i t

h is homeland and dared to stand in the presenoe o f the pas­ te r without removing h is h a t was looked a t askance by hie kinsfolk, but aeeretly envied for h is demoeratie bravado. Accepted as guardians of th e ir fleo k in n a tte rs so eial and in te lle c tu a l, as well as s p ir itu a l and moral, the olergy used the power o f the p u lp it and the law of Holy B rit to counsel, to reprove, and to discourage the people from de­ serting the heme o f th e ir fa th e rs.

Bishop Neumann's Word

M Admonition to the Peasant*. published in Bergen in 18Z7, indicates well the a ttitu d e of the olergy toward emigration, not only in Borway, bat in ether European countries as w ell.

th is le t t e r dampens A enthusiasm and tem porarily dooroasod tbs number of emigrants In the holds of the Shipping ves­ s e ls which l e f t Berveglea ports in the next year or two. Although Scripture conveniently earns to Ihe aid of ths olergy in admonishing th e ir parishioners to stay in the land and support themselves honestly, the l e t t e r s from the other side e f the ocean were more e ffe c tiv e ; the bonder eon tinned to dream o f the ric h meadewlaaOs, ths waving fie ld s of g ra in , and the shining yellow gold in the h i l l s of O allfornia.

Unable to r e s i s t , family upon family hade

farew ell to the fjo rd s and f JoIds and became p art e f th is § r 0 6 t TQjLnftiW SBmS 3CEU3X»

Aside from the oeonomie motive, perhaps mere in ­ f lu e n tia l than any other single & otor in swelling the emi­ grant waves were the "America le tte r s " received from those who had already s e ttle d in c itie s or in the wilderness of the Vest.

In most instances the f i r s t few years o f fig h t­

ing against odds to c le a r the land, hnild homes, and get enough food to e a t meant bash-breaking lab o r, the lik e of Which these Berwegian s e ttle r s had net even known in th e ir homeland.

S p littin g r a i l s a t a wage o f twenty-five cents

a day with a family of five or six to feed and ears fo r was set sneeamea in the pioneer days e f the Middle Vest, where most of the Bsrwegian immigrants s e ttle d .

But ste rn pride

prevented them from giving too candid on account e f th e ir

p lig h t in th e ir l e t t e r s to friends in Norway.

Bather, they

garnished r e a lity with exaggerated descriptions of the beau­ tie s th a t surrounded them end the wealth and freedom th a t America offered to a l l who earn*,

la Norway anxious parents

waited fo r the f i r s t "America l e t t e r " from th e ir emigrant son, and, when i t arriv e d , the neighbors were ealled in to share the preoioas news about Ears or Balver.

soon the

whole d i s t r i c t had heard e f the l e t t e r , and singly or in groups they same, some from m ay miles d is ta n t, to read i t and re tu rn horn with th e ir imaginations fire d and aroused. On winter evenings young and old gathered around the fire to o ffe r the "America" tid b its which had been passed around the e ire le again and again, but always relirihed anew.

Al­

most every saard had i t s v iru le n t attack of th a t "America fever" which Worgelaad ealled "the most dangerous disease Of our time” ; family a f te r family l e f t , thinning the ranks e f the peasant population. She "America l e t t e r s " were not a l l o f ths hyper­ bolic v a rie ty , however.

Presumably the f i r s t to appear in

Norway (1888) in published form, and one o f the most con­ cise and in te llig e n t, was Ole Bynniag's teas Account of America.

Seoaase he was highly esteemed in Norway, and,

moreover, a well-educated man, Bynniag's l e t t e r had consid­ erable Influenoe in ery stalialn g the plans of many who wanted to leave Norway.

fhen, too, pamphlets from American

ra ilro a d companies as well as the glowing words o f emigra­ tio n agents added tin d er to m olds rin g desires. Curiously enough, national romanticism played a double ro le in the ourrent of emigration*

la one sense i t s

whole s p i r i t was r e s is ta n t to emigration, and yet psyehologio a lly the n a tio n a lis tic moto meat had an ambivalent e ffe c t on the mind of the beads.

On the one hand i t awakened in

4him a s p i r i t of iadepeadenoe mud gave him a new-found sense of power, driving him to seek a higher and b e tte r le v e l of living*

America provided the answer fo r th is new, r e s tle s s

energy.

On the other hand national romanticism strengthened

h is s p ir itu a l ti e s to h is land and soon try ; i t deepened h is Einfdhlung for h is home, i t s culture 9 and the whole mood of northern liv in g .

Through the subjective imagination o f ro­

mantic w riters the l o t o f the bonds was seen as the honest, the simple, and the ideal l i f e .

Bj^rason, as an in te lle c ­

tu a l and a member o f the higher s tr a ta of so ciety , deplored the emigration movement which was sapping Norway of i t s sturdy peasant blood, and tr ie d to counteract the tide in the home spun charm of Srnnove Solbaklren. The exodus from Norway during the middle f if t y years o f the nineteenth century m s p rin c ip ally ru ra l and of the "family" typo*

Petting the central p lains o f Amer­

ica, the e a rly Norwegian settlem ents formed a nucleus for drawing others from the mountainous north.

Prom the f i r s t

Norwegian colony in Orleans County, New York, groups of pioneers poshed westward in ths 't h i r t i e s to s e ttle on the northern p ra irie s e f Illin o is} many sent to the already busy trading center o f Oblongs, ris in g with wooden-struc­ tured baste on the shores of lake Michigan; others north to the swampy f l a t s of Milwaukee, fa rth e r north into the pine fo re s ts , and west on to the r o llin g meadawlande o f Visoeasin.

bate M issouri, Iowa, end Minnesota they spread,

gradually working toward the f l a t stre tc h e s o f the Bakotas, where senseless wind whispering through the t a l l p ra irie grass was the lonely eod-hut dw ellers' sole oospany for weeks on end*

Bat they stayed, fought b llssa rd s end p ra i­

rie f ir e s , watohsd blaek eloudo of grasshoppers ravage th e ir g ra in fie ld s, sad liv e d to build sehools and ohurehes for the nurture of th e ir minds and souls. In Norway, the Ohnroh had been for most of them Ike cen tral fores o f th e ir liv e s , determining the general In te lle o tn a l, so o ia l, and moral atmosphere in whieh they moved, and in sp ite of the dissension e x iste n t between lay and academic C h ristia n ity , i t remained tbs yea and nay o f t&elr oondaot.

She many elements, Haagean, Orontvlglan,

and State, whisb were tangling the re lig io u s l i f e of Borway a t the time o f the f i r s t g reat in flu x of emigrants in to America meant a transplanting of sim ilar confusion on Amer­ ican s o il.

Eeady w ith th e ir new freedom, some Norwegians

broke from the confines e f the Lutheran Church e n tire ly end beeeae B eptlets, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodlete, C oagregatienallsts, Mermena, or freeth in k ers.

Baring the

sh iftin g days e f the fro n tie r i t was often said in Ehasas in the 'se v e n tie s, "Shere i s no Sanday n e st o f Amotion City and no Cod n est o f Salina. ", fhis cannot he said o f the Bornegian immigrants.

As a group they nor* lo y al and de­

voted to th e ir Church, and in sp ite e f in te rn a l differences I t was th e ir Lutheran f a ith th at k n it them together as a ra e ia l u n it in the new land,

la the pioneer homes the gos­

pel was kept alive through the e f fo r ts e f Itin e ra n t lay preachers, mainly of Haugean sympathies, Whose burning words ef "sin ," "repentamoe,” sad "salv atio n ” gripped the lis te n ­ ers with emotion, and lingered in th e ir minds for weeks a f t­ er the p aster had v is ite d them.

Shese preaohers wore sin ­

cere , e n th u sia stie , and soalaas in th e ir work, but as a whole n et s u ffic ie n tly educated fo r the ro le they played as the s p iritu a l and c u ltu ra l guides o f the Norwegian s e tt l e ­ ments.

As the re lig io u s breach in Borway began to heal in

the 'f i f t i e s and 's ix tie s , mad as the heated opposition to­ ward em igration cooled somewhat, a few clergymen who were trained a t the University o f C hristiania and thoroughly im­ bued with the doctrines o f the sta te Oharch, defied the seem of th e ir p ro testin g class and went to America with the hope of uniting the Norwegian immigrants in the s p ir i t

e f one f a ith ,

These representatives e f the state Church

trie d to bring order in the scattered s p ir itu a l forces that were a t work among th e ir people on the p ra irie s , but many b elievers bad already been christened with the new s p ir i t e f American independence , and i t was d if f ic u lt to bring these re c a lc itra n ts back in to lin e .

The r e s u lt was the e s­

tablishment e f several chareh bodies among the Norwegian Lutherans in America, varying in th e ir in te rp re ta tio n s of doctrine and p o lity and in degrees o f formalism and pietism . When emigration from a lo c a lity i s new, the proc­ ess is usually a group movement rath er than an individual one*

Only when the path has been well worn does i t become

easy for individuals to move alone, so i t was not u n til the second great wave o f emigration from Norway daring the 'e ig h tie s and 'n in e tie s th a t the single emigrant became more frequent*

These la te r years of the oentury saw c ity dwell­

ers leaving th e ir professions, th e ir small business estab­ lishm ents, sad th e ir p o sitio n s of sk ille d trade as well as those leaving from the ru ra l byg&er.

Now the tide branched

i&en I t reached America; some continued to sow the s o il, some to build Norwegian v illa g e s on the p r a irie , some to hew and saw in northern fo re sts, and others to join the v i­ brant l i f e of booming young cities*

But wherever he went

he was the immigrant — a personality compounded of diverse ingredients.

Conscious o f h is alienism , he was yet proud.

independent, r e s tle s s , end reso lu te; he was eager fo r the new whioh lay ahead, a lev er e f the eld whioh he had l e f t behind* Daring the summer of 1888 Christiansen made h is fin a l preparations fo r leaving Larvik.

His fa th e r did not

a t any time oppose h is desire to go to America* nor had he objected to Nhrl’s departure the year before.

Anders

C hristiansen’s personal situ a tio n , h is approaching marriage to Thriao Sullleksom, a widow o f a sea captain, kept him from urging h is sons to remain in Norway.

Although he was

very fond of h is two boys, he re a lise d th at children from the f i r s t marriage sometimes create problems; consequently the eld er Christiansen did not p ro te st, bat w illingly pro­ vided the necessary money for the journey to America for Kfcrl in 1887 and Melius in 1888*

The fa c t th at some of

th e ir re la tiv e s had emigrated to America and were doing well made Anders fe e l more secure about having h is sons leave fo r so d ista n t a land*

Khrl had gone d ire c tly to Wle

eensift where he was already established in the north woods town of Washburn, working as a mechanic in a sawmill with h is uncle, Frederick C hristiansen.

Already he had become

the d ire c to r of the Washburn band of th ir ty members. And now Melius was preparing to follow.

The do-

s ire to become a professional musician led him, however, to think in terms o f s la rg e r c ity where opportunities would he g re a te r; accordingly he made arrangements to go aoross the continent to the co a stal oity of Oakland, C alifornia. Hans t e t t e r C hristiansen, another of hie f a th e r 's brothers, also a mechanic and something o f an inventor, liv ed there with h is family. As August days crept into September, a queer mix­ ture of emotions confused and delighted Melius and made something w ithin him tremble.

He lived in the unknown ex­

citement of the fu tu re , but tugging within him was the love for h is home, for h is l i t t l e s is te r Bagna, who was i l l , for larVlk with i t s fam iliar s tr e e ts and houses, the market where he bought liv e r sausage fo r K ristian , and Lund's BOkhandel. the shop where he bought v io lin strin g s and copy paper.

On the th irte e n th of September six-year-old Bagna

succumbed to tuberculosis, and her death made i t even more d iff ic u lt for Melius to think of leaving the sad l i t t l e family of th ree.

Of the happy c irc le of five children there

before his m other's death, only th irteen -y ear-o ld K ristian and eleven-year-old Anna were l e f t .

But he had made h is

decision, and he went about arranging h is a f fa ir s in a me­ thodical manner, b e f ittin g a son e f the orderly Anders Christiansen.

He secured h is exemption from m ilita ry serv-

lee and permission from the a u th o ritie s to leave Norway. On October 4 the Bee* tope3.Ian1 wrote out h is permit to leave Larvik, which also c e rtifie d h is vaoaitt&tion, gave h is b irth , baptism, confirmation dates, h is standing in the char oh records, and concluded with an o f f ic ia l wish for to d 's blessing upon h is "prospective journey to C alifornia in dearth America." The time fo r departure came ; farew ells to h is mu­ s ic teachers and h is frien d s had been made; and now h is fa ­ th e r, K ristian , and Anna were a t the p ier where he was to board a small steamer hoim(SL for Antwerp.

They stood s ile n t­

ly in the evening dusk watching the s a ilo rs heave trunks, bundles, and orates up the plank mid on to the steamer. whistle sounded*

The

Melius shook hands with each of them,

trie d to sm ile, then hurried up the gang plank to the deck, where he stood by the r a i l waving to them, the lump in h is throat sw elling tig h te r and tig h te r — waving, waving as the boat nosed i t s way out into the fjo rd .

When the three

figures were but dim specks, and the houses and buildings were blurred ag ain st the side o f a bluish gray h i l l , he turned away, went to h is cabin and threw him self on the bunk in a b u rst of weeping*

He was alone and afra id .

The future

had been strange and excitin g while he was s t i l l encircled ^Besi&ent a s s is ta n t to the parish p rie s t

toy the olosene m e f fam iliar things; now he was frightened toy the in ta n g ib ility e f the unfcaowa. A wash e f delay in Antwerp and a stormy crossing brought October to an end toefere the journey to the new land was ewer fo r young Christiansen*

ftoe f i r s t glimpse of

i

Hew Tork and i t s baey barb or was a noval experience to an Immigrant er«n l a 1888 before skyscraper arohlteotare bad made i t s jagged appearance.

Hot fo r another four years

were the twenty s to r ie s e f the f l a t iron Building to he re a red imposingly above the modest five* and six -sto ry buildings th a t made hew lork*s sJcyline a t th is time,

fhe one feature,

however, th a t le n t d istin c tio n to the entrance was the s ta t­ ue of lib e r ty , towering in coppery glory from i t s pedestal in the harbor.

Melius was a t the r a i l te see th is Statue

about whioh he had heard so much.

But the s to rie s had not

prepared him fo r the t h r i l l he f e l t as the boat crept nearer and nearer* and the outline e f the tremendous figure toeearns mere d is tin c t, fh is f i r s t wonder e f the new land made a deep impression upon him Just as i t had upon thousands be­ fore him. He did net re a lis e th a t he was earning into ths up­ roar of an American p re sid e n tia l e le c tio n in whioh the pro­ te c tio n is t BepubXieaas downed the Cleveland Democrats and s e ttle d th e ir mediocre candidate, Benjamin Harrison, in the White House for a term.

I t was the era when the ris in g

young tycoons, Morgen, H ill, Carnegie, V anderbilt, end le e k sfe lle r, were beginning to wield th e ir influence on the economic destiny of the nation,

i t was tbs age for women's

r ig h ts , the beginning of s a ilo r h a ts, mannish coats, and bicycle s a lts , temperance le c tu re s, brownetome fro n ts, and mid-Victorian m orality.

W. p. Howells, the most r e a lis tic

of the n o v elists of the day, carefu lly refrained from of­ fending the refined ta s te of feminine readers in Hack Bey drawing rooms.

Musical Hew Verb was liste n in g to iheodere

fhemas’ Philharmonic Orchestra, which some times had as i t s guest a r t i s t a comparatively unknown c e l l i s t , Victor Herbert. At the Metropolitan Leopold Bamroseh was introducing Wagner to America; but the populace a t large preferred to lis te n to the ro llick in g melodies from H*Ehe Mikado,™ the la te s t Gil­ b e rt and Sullivan.

39s>s gay ’n in e tie s, Diamond 111, and

"After the B all is Over" were ju st around the corner.

Amer­

ica was moving rapidly into an energetic phase of i t s na­ tio n al l i f e .

Although the fro n tie r had crossed the conti­

nent to another ocean, the s p ir i t west of the Alleghenies had not y et been domesticated by c iv ilis a tio n . of th is the young Borweglam was unaware,

But of most

re him America

stood only fo r the land In which he would re a lise h is hopes and dreams, Christiansen was in Hew York only long enough to go through the tedious inspection and examination a t the

Castle garden immigrant s ta tio n , to find h is m y through the s tr e e ts crowded with carriag es, horse-drawn tro lle y s , and wage table stands to the depot where a tr a in would take him on h is overland journey to C alifornia.

A fter the noise

and confusion wf the immigrant s ta tio n , h is stumbling a t ­ tempts to answer the innumerable questions, and the uncer­ ta in ty of finding h is way through the babel of strange tongues on the s tre e ts of Hew York, C hristiansen was glad to board the tr a in and s e ttle down in re la tiv e safety.

A

somewhat awkward routing took him f i r s t to Montreal, then across the Canadian provinces to Vancouver, and fin a lly south down the coast to Oakland*

nothing of consequence

happened u n til they reached Winnipeg, and then he had an experience th a t almost paralysed him with terror*

Scores

of Indians in f u l l tr ib a l d ress, painted faces, feathered headgear, and beaded b e lts trooped on to the train*

All

the ta le s he had heard o f the w ild, tomahawking American Indians flashed siokenlngly through h is mind, and he thought certain ly th at h is doom was upon him.

Should he

try to escape, or stay and be murdered? A quick glance showed him th at the passengers around him were e ith e r en­ grossed in th e ir newspapers, or watching the entrance of the Indians with fa in t c u rio sity .

He s a t in rig id anxiety,

and only when the tra in had lurched forward again and the redskins had s e ttle d down p a c ific a lly was he able to relax

from M s f rig h t. When the tra in oat through the low, overlapping h i l l s into Oakland, Christiansen noted in terested ly th a t several church sp ire s rose above the uneven heights of the other buildings.

With so many churches in one c ity he sup­

posed i t would be a simple m atter to get a position as an organist.

People were rig h t when they said America was the

lend of opportunity.

He was confident then th at in five

years he would save enough money to go back to Horway to liv e .

Uncle Better and his family welcomed the boy happily,

and for Melius there was once again the warm safety of the Norwegian language around him, good food, and friendly gos­ sip about the family in Horway. After adjusting himself to l i f e in h is u n cle's home, C hristiansen's f i r s t oonoern was to find a job.

He

read newspapers and books in an e ffo rt to learn English as quickly as possible, end watching others, he trie d to aot as much lik e an American as he oould.

Behind th a t lay the

sense of in fe rio rity which so often fringed the thoughts of immigrants.

Handicapped by ignorance of the language, they

were often made to fe e l inadequate and not as smart as Yankees.

Melius in h is desire to secure work thought i f he

could look American i t would increase h is chances for em­ ployment.

He could see th a t h is bushy shock of upright

h air marked him apart from the Americans he met on the

s tr e e t, so ene of the f i r s t mornings a f te r his a rriv a l he went to a barber shop and asked fo r an Ameriean-style h a irout.

With d eft sc isso rs, a dose of highly-scented h air o i l ,

and a fine-toothed comb the barber brought the boy's mop of unruly blonde h a ir into a neat sw irl fa r down on h is fo re­ head.

Bather surprised and somewhat fascinated by h is image

in the b a rb e r's m irror, Christiansen hardly noticed th a t the

mm was asking him questions, and not understanding the chattering American anyway, the boy merely nodded in answer* The r e s u lt, unw ittingly, was a shave, massage, and a b i l l for two d o lla rs when i t was a l l over.

He blinked in aston­

ishment, and i t was with a sinking heart th a t th is frugallyreared boy re a lise d th a t h is splurge of vanity was taking two of h is few remaining dollars*

How a job was the only

solution, but he recovered quickly when he remembered the church ste e p le s, and he jaunted down the s tre e t stea lin g glances a t h is re fle c tio n in the store windows.

He was a

good-looking young man w ith a w e ll-b u ilt figure, broad shoulders, end a proudly carried head* His confidence waned in the next few days, how­ ever; musicians were not needed; every church had i t s organ­ i s t , and no one wanted to take lessons from a young unknown v io lin is t who could scarcely speak English.

Pisoouraged,

he began to look fo r any kind of work, and fin a lly with the aid of h is unde he found a job in a shoe factory, operating

a machine which polished the soles of shoes.

Finding d i f f i ­

culty in adjusting the machine c o rrec tly , he straggled clum­ s ily a t h is work.

Too frequently, the machine, instead o f

polishing the so les, ripped them o ff. embarrassing procedure occurred.

Again and again th is

F in ally a t the end of

throe days the foreman decided the new Norwegian was a hope­ le ss dad; too many shoes were being se n t back for resowing. Christiansen was hardly sorry when they to ld him th at h is services were no longer required. lh a t next?

so far things had not worked out very

w ell; he was somewhat perplexed, but, not serio u sly troubled as y e t, he se t out onoe more in search of work, walking the s tr e e ts , and reading the "help wanted" columns o f the news­ papers. Oakland and esp ecially i t s s is te r c ity of sen Francisco were pulsating with l i f e , gay of s p i r i t , and p ic­ turesque in d e ta il.

Elegantly groomed women in ta ffe ta -

bustled gowns, to rto is e -s h e ll combs, and gold earrings walk­ ed through the unpaved, d i r t s tre e ts to the open markets where Chinamen, Busslans, Spaniards, Japanese, and moon­ faced Mexicans hawked th e ir wares, some squatting in the dust, others Shouting a t each other as they jo stled along with baskets of fis h or vegetables on shoulder poles or on th e ir heads*

S ailors in neat blue s u its , caps, and knotted

neckerchiefs jo llie d in and out of trin k e t shope, enjoying

port for the f i r s t time in months.

Down Montgomery S treet

in sen Francisco hack d riv e rs rode with a flo u rish , swept through the g rille d gates of the carriage entrance, and de­ posited th e ir v&iskered and bowl©red gentlemen a t the steps of the Palace Hotel*

Berks, handsome mansions, and wrought-

iron hitching posts graced the heights above the hay, while down towards the water the lanes were crowded and dingy, roofs sagged fo rlo rn ly over houses th a t were almost tumbling into the w ater, and children and dogs played in the garbageclu ttered streets* The motley of foreign faces, the mixture o f wealth end poverty, odd new things in shop windows, and cable cars th at were drawn magically up the steepest s tr e e ts made Job­ hunting for the Norwegian newcomer something of an adventure in sp ite of disappointments*

A fter several days, however,

he found a place where h is Norwegian tongue and h is lack of experience were not counted against him.

The Pacific Scan-

d in ar, a Danish newspaper in Oakland, needed someone to set type and address papers, and when Christiansen applied for a position, they hired him.

For about three months C hristian­

sen worked a t the newspaper o ffic e , glad to have a job, but not s a tis fie d ; every impulse w ithin him yearned to be a t h is music.

Writing addresses and working with type faces and

ink-smeared copy kept h is body from starving, but within he f e lt lean end unfed.

When he f i r s t came to Oakland, he heard of a Nor­ wegian who placed hem la a symphony orchestra in san Fran­ c is oo,^ and looking up h is countryman found him to ho a eongonial companion*

Occasionally they spent evenings togeth­

er# playing# talking music, and reminiscing of th e ir homes in Norway.

C hristian sen enjoyed these evenings*

A few

times* too* during these months he was asked to play v io lin soles a t functions held in the home of the Norwegian consul. His l i f e was not# then# e n tire ly barren of music, hut for one who had determined to en ter the ranks o f the profession­ als* i t was dlsQoaraglngly l i t t l e . Ferrying hack to Oakland a f te r an evening with h is friend in the ad joining city* Christiansen stood on the deck in the cold dampness o f a February wind* watching the angry churning of the water as the boat out through the bumpy waves.

He thought of what he had l e f t in Norway# how confi­

dent he had been when he came to America* and how l i t t l e he had to show for h is stay here.

He, who had come to America

to make h is way as a musician, was working in a newspaper office doing things with h is bands th a t anyone could dc; and Karl, who had come w ith no p a rtic u la r In ten t to carry on h is music# was d irectin g a band. ing to a c ity ?

Had he made a mistake in com­

Perhaps ESarl had been the wiser by going to

%erhaps the precursor of the present day San Franoisoo Symphony which was not organised u n til 1909.

a m a ll to m ,

Hollas did not lik e to admit th a t he m s

lonely and discouraged, bat as ho m iked home from the ferry boat* he found him self try in g to think of ways to get enough money to go to Washburn, S eri evidently had sensed a troubled and d is s a tis ­ fie d boy in the l e t t e r s from Melius, and, as i f he knew what Melius wanted, he sent him six ty d o llars fo r a tic k e t to Washburn,

Immediately Melius made plans to leave Oakland;

he resigned h is p o sitio n a t the newspaper o ffic e , then went to the railw ay tic k e t o ffic e s to inquire about the fare to Washburn,

Sixty d o lla rs he learned would take him as far as

Ahhland, Wisconsin, a town about nine or ten miles from Washburn,

fhat was close enough, so he bought the tic k e t.

Once more he packed h is trunk, said goodby to h is re la tiv e s , and 10ft the c ity which he had entered so hopefully a few months e a r lie r . His tra in journey e a st took him baok over the same route on which he had come to G allfornla.

At Winnipeg,

where he was to change tra in s fo r Minneapolis, Melius remem­ bered h is e a r lie r experience and smiled a t h is naive frig h t. He had learned since th a t American mdlans were no longer the scalping kind*

Upon arriv in g a t the sta tio n early in

the evening he found th a t h is tr a in for Minneapolis did not leave u n til four in the morning; so he arranged h is baggage and s e ttle d him self on one of the benches for the tedious

w ait,

Glancing around, he noticed th a t he m s alone except

for several tough-looking tramps, sly-eyed, tu re s, w ith hoarded faces and surly voices.

on kempt crea­ Christiansen

watched them fu rtiv e ly , uneasy a t the thought of being alone with th is crew of ru ffia n s,

fbe minutes dragged by and h is

ag ita tio n increased as the men oast glances in h is d ire c tio n and muttered in g u ttu ra l tones to each other in a lingo th a t was e n tire ly meaningless him — h is violin?

to h is e a rs,

fhen an idea came to

He took i t out of the case, tucked i t

h a s tily under M s chin, and began to play a liv e ly dance tune,

fhey looked a t him in su rp rise, began to tap th e ir

feet and nod at each other in approval. play,

Uhe boy knew how to

Soon they were dancing and shouting in merriment.

On

and on he fiddled and they danoed, Gelling for more, ©lap­ ping th e ir hands and stamping th e ir feet to the rhythm of the Norwegian dance tunes which he played again end again, fke night were on, while Christiansen played on.

Finally

the small hand of the s ta tio n clock crept toward four.

When

h is tra in was c a lle d , Christiansen quickly put away h is vio­ lin , and gladly escaped from the rio to u s tramps and the close, stu ffy s ta tio n .

He m s weary, but he had kept them

busy, and th a t was a l l th a t mattered. now tramps?

F ir s t Indians, and

Christiansen never forgot Winnipeg.

At Minneapolis

he changed to a northboundtra in

which took him the l a s t two hundred miles of h is long tr ip

to Ashland, & lumber town on Che quame gen lay a t the south­ western end o f lake Superior.

I t was la te afternoon when

he arrived there* but he decided he eould make Washburn th a t night anyway.

He walked up the street* saw a saloon

with the sign "Norway House** above the door and went in to Inquire the direetio n to Washburn.

A man stepped outside

with him and pointed aoross the snow-covered bay to a c le f t in the dark woods on the opposite shore: Washburn.

"There, that*s

By cutting across on the bay it* a only about

five m iles.

Nearly ten by land.**

"Mange tafck. ”1 said Christiansen, and started through the snow fo r the V-ahaped slice of sky which cut in to the b e lt of fo re s t aoross the curve of the bay.

After

liv in g in a tra in fo r many days, he was reliev ed to be out in the open* breathing cold* fresh a i r , walking vigorously, anticip atin g being w ith Karl again. He estimated th a t he had gone more than a mile when he noticed th a t i t was growing dusk and th at the sky and the d ista n t woods were beginning to fuse into the gray of winter tw ilig h t.

The woods were soon muffled in the

darkness of approaching night* and Christiansen could only keep walking In as northerly a d irectio n as h is senses seemed to guide him. in the snow,

stopping to look more closely, he saw th a t

they were h is own. ^Many

Suddenly he was aware of foot tracks He stood for a moment — i t was out of

the question to continue now, for he had lo s t a l l sense of d ire ctio n and was only going in circles*

But, n e ith e r could

he spend a sh e lte rle ss night on the ice and mow of lake Superior*

Then came the thought th a t lig h ts would soon be

turned on in Washburn and they would guide him* do but wait*

Nothing to

He shivered as he sa t down on the mow, p a rtly

from the s tin g of wind th a t whipped in gusts over the bay, and p a rtly from nervous fear th a t animals might be prowling around*

Munching a cru st of dry bread l e f t over from some

hie aunt had given him when he l e f t Oakland, he s a t waiting* I t was not long; winter nights cane sw iftly in the north country*

soon in the distance be saw a fa in t twinkle of

lig h t, then another and another blinked into sight*

On the

opposite side of the bay two lig h ts , fa in te r than the oth­ e rs, had also appeared.

The f i r s t group of seven, he de­

cided, were the lig h ts of Ashland, and the two fa in te r ones the lig h ts of Washburn.

Toward the l a t t e r he walked as fa s t

as h is cold fe e t would perm it. One hour, two hours passed. through the snow.

Wearily he plodded

When tre e s and a few buildings began to

take shape out of the darkness, he knew th a t he had a t la s t reached Washburn.

He climbed up the snowy bank, and numb

with fatigue and cold, to walked down the one s tr e e t th at ran through the town, wondering what to do* passed were dark.

The houses he

But fa rth e r down the s tr e e t a lamp, shin-

lag through a single window, threw a square o f lig h t aoross the snow.

He walked past the house slowly.

Then a door

squeaked on i t s hinges; someone earns running out, and a hand grasped hie shoulder and turned him around: prise was in the voice.

"Melius?"

Sur­

"Bfcrll* B elief and joy in h is .

chance Kkrl had stayed up la te r than usual to chat with a shoemaker who played piccolo in h is hand, and as they sa t talking he had glanced out ju st a s a figure, who had the saws walk th a t h is father had. passed by the window.

Karl

took h is brother up to h is room, and for the seeond time since leaving Xarvik Melius threw him self on the bed and b u rst into te a rs.

In the weeks th a t followed Melius se ttle d down with Kbrl, who f e l t a f a th e r’s resp o n sib ility for h is young­ er brother and was glad to give Melius what he needed in Clothing, food, and liv in g .

Xhrl worked as a mechanic in

one of the throe sawmills in the town, received good wages, and managed h is money carefu lly . The people in Washburn were frien d ly , kindly folk, and Melius soon f e l t more a t home than he had a t any plaoe since leaving Norway.

Many Scandinavians said some French­

men had d rifte d into the flourishing lumber town, which ten years e a r lie r had not even existed# end now had over three thousand inhabitants.

Melius was soon introduced to a group

of young people with whom he often went sleighrlding on

brisk# s t a r l i t n ig h ts.

He enjoyed the gsyety of the par­

ties# and from the banter of the young Americans he was able to pick up the idioms of the language ho was trying to mas­ ter*

They in turn glad ly accepted the young immigrant, who

was f u ll of l i f e and prankish jokes*

Parties# K arl’s band,

and high school the next year* the fu ll course of which he completed in one w inter, kept him occupied and happy; but a t the end of h is high school train in g he was faced once again with the problem of finding a job*

The previous sum­

mer a circus had come to town, and by chance a member of the circus band had heard Melius playing h is o la rln e t.

A

l i t t l e la te r the d ire cto r came to him and offered him a place in the band,

The novel sig h t of a circus with i t s

fanfare and spangles appealed to the hsppy-go-laeky Melius, but not to tori*

When Melius informed him of the o ffe r,

to ri advised him to ask such a high price fo r h is services th at the band eould not afford to h ire him.

He remained in

Washburn. Christiansen was nineteen years old a t th is time, and to a l l appearances not g re a tly perturbed about the fu­ ture; y et there was a re stle ssn e ss, a question of where to turn, what to do*

Undoubtedly i t was th is feeling of uncer­

tain ty and in secu rity th a t prompted him, when he was in Duluth a t one time, to took out a fo rtu n e te lle r, famous the country round for h is a b ility to reveal the past and peer

in to the future*

The black-bearded oracle announced th a t

throe opportunities were soon coming to the young man, th a t he was to choose a place situ ated on a riv e r, and th a t in th is place he would meet h ie future wife* His f i r s t move toward securing a p o sitio n was to advertise him self as a band leader in the Soandinaven* a Norweglan-Ameriean newspaper published in Chicago.

This

newspaper had been estab lish ed in 1866, and lik e so many of i t s kind, played an important role in the l i f e of the immi­ grant*

i t brought news and gossip from Norway, preserved

toe culture of the homeland in the h earts and minds of the Norwegian-Amer leans, and was the organ through which the immigrants became acquainted with American in s titu tio n s and government* Advertising in a paper which was read every day in over ten thousand Norwegian-Amerloan homes was almost c e rta in to bring response, and i t did*

Christiansen had

offers from three places: the Third Hegiment of Wisconsin at Ban Claire offered him toe d irectorship of i t s band; the City of la Crosse, Wisconsin, wanted a conductor for i t s band, and likewise toe "Scandinavian Bend" a t M arinette, Wis cousin*

He chose M arinette a fte r looking i t up on a map and

seeing th a t i t was situ ate d on a riv e r. In the la te autumn o f 1890, when he had been in America fo r two years, Christiansen was on h is way to h is f i r s t re a l position*

Nineteen years o f age, a l i t t l e t a l l e r

and broader, busby of h e ir (having forsaken the American sw irl of hie f i r s t h a irc u t), and as yet more Norwegian than American.

To the h a ltin g English he spoke, he tran sferred

the broad in fle c tio n s of h is mother tongue* located a t the month of the Menominee Biver on arson Bay, Marinette was active with the s t i r and commotion of eighteen sawmills*

In spring the riv e r was clogged with

logs which had been floated down stream from the lumber camps* M ill w histles and the s h r i l l whining’ of saws were fam iliar sounds to the people of Marinette*

As had been

the case a t Washburn, here too the m ills had a ttra c te d many Scandinavians* I t was cold the afternoon Christiansen arrived in M arinette; snow fLurries appeared and disappeared f it f u l l y in the bleak a ir as he walked down the s tr e e t of the c ity that was to be h is home*

The town was lik e any of the towns

which had grown in the haste of a boom*

Ten years e a r lie r

i t s population numbered le ss than three thousand, and i t s s tre e ts had boasted a few frame buildings and scattered houses*

Now the buildings were crowded on e ith e r side of

the s tr e e ts ; sto res wore busy with a steady flow o f custom­ ers; horse-drawn tro lle y s stopped a t the com ers, end many teams of horses and sleds were tie d to the iron hitching r a ils a t the fa r end of the s tr e e t near the liv ery sta b le . He walked along, past a hardware sto re, a saloon, a m llli-

aery and dressmaking shop, end a general store with i t s usu­ a l conglomerate window display.

Continuing down the s tr e e t,

he noticed a clock suspended over toe entrance o f a store with the name, M. Nelson, Jeweler, le tte re d helow the face. A ttracted by the Scandinavian name, he went into the shop; but h is entrance was scarcely observed by toe proprietor, busy with h is customers*

As Christiansen stood waiting and

liste n in g to toe conversation around him, a man entered who spoke to toe proprietor in Norwegian, end then Christiansen knew th at "IS* Nelson" was one o f h is own countrymen*

The

young boy stepped up to toe coonter and spoke to him, and in the conversation th a t followed he discovered th a t toe jeweler was a v io lin is t and d ire c to r of a male Chorus and quartet.

The oomaon ground of music opened the way, and

Christiansen explained th a t he was the new band d ire c to r, ju st arrived*

Surprised a t h is youth, Mr. Nelson was never­

theless glad to see him, took him to the Tremont Hotel for the night, and arranged to Introduce him to the president of the band toe next day. Again C hristiansen’s youth produced toe same reac­ tion of surprise*

Rather doubtful of the a b ility of one so

young, toe president m s somewhat h e sita n t, but decided th a t at le a s t he should be given a t r i a l a t a rehearsal called for th at evening.

The members of the band arrived, eyed

to elr new d ire c to r with c a rio sity and looked a t each other

w ith sk ep tical faces.

When they were a l l s e ttle d , Chris­

tiansen asked them to play one of th e ir numbers, but before they were h alf through he stopped them, went over to one of the members* picked up h is instrument and demonstrated how i t should be played.

From one to the other he went, c l a r i ­

n et, trombone, and trumpet players* showing them how to finger and blow*

Their skepticism gave way to amusement.

From th a t time on there was no fu rth er question about h is youth or h is a b ility *

With h is knowledge o f music and h is

natural energy Christiansen took th is band of butcher - , ta ilo r

and baker - musicians and in time raised them to a

f a ir lev el of performance. Important to Christiansen was h is establishment in the home o f the Farescott family in Marinette*

The Pres-

ootts were considered the most prominent family in the town, well-to-do middle olass, Yankee, active members of the Meth­ odist Church* cultured and refined*

From them Christiansen

received h is room and board in re tu rn for piano lessons to the two small g ir ls in the family.

He was treated as one

of the fam ily, and with the advantages o f reading in th e ir lib ra ry , and practicing on th e ir piano, he found l i f e with them enjoyable from the s ta r t ; they were genuinely in te re s t­ ed in the young Norwegian boy* and he in turn appreciated them and g re a tly admired them.

The arrangement was a happy

cue for C hristiansen, not only personally but professionally,

since having the Prescott g ir ls for pupils undoubtedly meant a readier aeeeptanee o f the new music teacher by the r e s t of the town*

Before very long he was giving lessons to several

piano, v io lin , and organ p u p ils. Hired to d ire c t only the band when he asms to M arinette, Christiansen was ashed almost immediately to be the organist and choir d ire c to r in Our Savior's In the ran Church,

A l i t t l e incident occurred on h is f i r s t Sunday as

organist to leh is typical of the independence which became so c h a ra c te ristic a feature of the man*

In Norway the Lu­

theran congregations * p a rtic u la rly in the ru ra l d i s t r i c t s , had what m s known as a klokker,1 a man whose duty i t was to open and close the service with a b r ie f prayer*

This

custom had been tran sferred by the immigrants in to th e ir churches in America, with the ad ditional duty in some con­ gregations of leading in the singing of the hymns* Christiansen was fin ish in g h is prelude when he saw a man come up to the front of the congregation and stand near the organ*

The new organist saw no reason for the man

to be standing there, so expecting him to be seated soon he modulated and lengthened h is prelude, but the man remained, waiting fo r Christiansen to finish*

Christiansen meanwhile

continued playing, and fin a lly , seeing th a t the man had no intention of s ittin g down, he leaned over to him and wfels^Preoentor

pored, "S it down.” s e t heard*

The men remained standing as i f he had

S lightly annoyed Christiansen leaned ever again,

and in a lender whisper repeated, "Sit down." Nothing hap­ pened.

Exasperated, Christiansen sailed out quite loudly

in a voles audible to a l l the s ta rtle d worshippers, "S it down?" Chagrined, toe klokker obeyed but i t took him a long tine to forget h is embarrassment and forgive the young organist for ordering him to be seated. The klokker disappeared fxm toe ohoreh in Mari­ n ette on th a t Sunday never to reappear*

Gossip a t the Sun­

day dinner tab les of the Lutheran fam ilies was larg ely con­ fined to speculations and cem ents about the daring action of the new organist*

The custom gradually f e l l into disuse

throughout a l l the Norwegian Lutheran churches in America as the American-born children assumed positions of control in the churches and favored the abandonment of old practices*

In C hristiansen's choir were the usual business men, clerks about town# young school teachers, and w illing sp in sters — an untrained group of singers who belonged to toe choir out of devotion to the Church or for social rea­ sons* Among toe members were Jake llndem, h is w ife, and his daughter, Edith, a g i r l of fourteen*

Llndem, who had been

trained as a carpenter and cabinet maker in Norway, came to America, worked f i r s t for h is fath er se llin g lumber, then a t a foundry, and fin a lly entered into a partnership forming

the Llndem end M iller Sash and Leer Factory*

He had become

one of the established fig u res of M arinette, and in th e ir home C hristiansen Was always a welcome guest* Handicapped by a dearth of music with which to work C hristiansen was prompted to compose occasionally for h is choir, and daring the two years he spent in Marinette he wrote a few sacred songs, among them ”Bt Baab, S t Budwi and "Kfcm Barn, Korn Brud.w8 C hristiansen apparently enjoyed a modicum of suooess with h is small church ch o ir, for the group sang C hristiansen 's selection fo r choir and baritone solo, "St Bash, S t Bad" a t a Sangerieatg of Lutheran singers held in Duluth* In addition to the performance of the choir in Duluth, Christiansen him self appeared as a v io lin s o lo is t on occasion, and a t one time during the two years he gave an organ r e c i ta l with l i t t l e Sadie Prescott as the vocal soloist*

To her he dedicated h is f i r s t published work.

Bonny Castle Walt sc a * a composition for piano*

Its t i t l e

grew out of the frequent conversation about "Bonny C a stle,” a home which the Preaeetis were building on Lake superior* This lig h t, nondescript composition, published in Chicago in 1802, did not bring the youthful composer a single penny in ro y a ltie s. Cry, A Message 8Ceme Child, Come Bride 3Song fe s tiv a l

The l i f e of toe Immigrant is a d if f ic u lt one.

The

n ecessity for absorbing an e n tire ly new so cial and c u ltu ra l outlook mingle with the n o stalg ia for toe old to make him a constantly changing p erso n ality .

For Christiansen the f i r s t

four years in America had brought a v ariety of experiences and unusual events — two long journeys covering thousands of miles of a new land# school in an American s e ttin g , a job, and many new friends*

The s h if t from the r e s tr a in t of a se­

vere so cial order, from the in fle x ib le code of toe conserva­ tiv e , bureaucratic background in which he had lived in Nor­ way to toe anchorless l i f e of an immigrant in a country whose population, ideologies, and c u ltu ra l and social temper­ ature were s t i l l in a sta te of flux meant for Christiansen a period of adjustment and mental transform ation,

t o r i, a l ­

though s t i l l in WaShburn, continued to act as a steadying influence by coming to v is it him occasionally end to watch with almost fath erly concern toe progress of h is younger brother.

But Melius was young end carefree.

Life was to be

enjoyed; he had a job; he was doing w ell; and the world was fh ll of kind people.

Unconsciously he was trying to eapture

the inwardness of h is new environment, and consciously he was reveling in toe freedom of a mildly bohemian existence a fte r the control and order of h is l i f e in Norway.

As i f to

compensate for the good times he had missed in h is youth, Christiansen threw him self en erg etically into toe b rig h ter

pu rsu its of liv in g a f te r he had become established in Mari­ n e tte .

The inevitable consequences followed; carelessness,

then actu al neglect of h is work# esp ecially h is p u p ils, un­ t i l one by one he began to lose them.

Apparently nothing

more serious than the lo ss o f a few pupils occurred during th is youthful round of harmless pleasure, but Christiansen re a lise d then th a t " I t never pays to neglect your work," as he said years la te r . In the summer of 1392, a male quartet from Augs­ burg: seminary, a Lutheran Free Church in s titu tio n in Minne­ ap o lis, cam to Marinette on i t s tour and sang in the lo cal Lutheran Church.

With a program o f popular Scandinavian

melodies both secular and sacred they made a h i t in the com­ munities they visited*

Che o f the purposes o f th e ir tour

was to in te re s t young people in the lib e r a l a r ts college course which was offered in oenjunction with the seminary. A member of the q u artet, Theodore Reimestad, talked to Christiansen about the need fo r continuing h is education i f he intended to go fu rth er with h is music, and fin a lly con­ vinced him of the a d v isa b ility of such a move. On a September evening when the a ir was spiced fain tly w ith smoke from fo re st f ir e s far to the north, and the moon rose la te over toe dark r iv e r, the twinkling town, and the night-quiet h i l l s , toe members of toe Scandinavian Band gathered fo r th e ir fin a l meeting with the young con-

du ster.

This time i t was not a reh earsal or a concert, hat

a party in honor of the d ire cto r whose leadership they had p ro fited from and enjoyed during toe past two years. Speeches were made and glasses were raised and olihked in wishes o f good fortune for him in h is new venture.

Shis

young lad with h is gay and impulsive ways had won th e ir h earts, and h is honest, blunt tongue end undeniable musical a b ility had earned th e ir resp ect. Around him were toe frien d ly faces of toe men who had looked askance a t him two years before when he had been introduced as th e ir new d ire c to r.

He joined in the banter

of jokes th a t flew back and fo rth , and one would scarcely suspect th a t uneasiness lurked in the background of h is thoughts.

The uncertainty of h is finances troubled him; he

had earned enough to take care of himself well in M arinette, but he had not an ticip ated becoming a college student.

Mr.

Beimestad had assured him, however, th a t with h is musical a b ility and experience he would be able to earn enough to cover a t le a s t a portion of h is expenses. The party broke up in a chorus of good-bys and good wishes as the men shook hands with Christiansen: lykkel w "ffarvel saa lenge?"

"Til

"God n a tt 2 God n a t t ?w1 Warm­

ed by th e ir frien d lin ess and encouragement, Christiansen ^Good luck!

Good-by u n til we meet again?

Good night?

m iked home in a mood of happy determination.

The future

seemed somewhat le s s formidable to him now, and thinking of him self in h is new ro le as a eollege student, he squared h is shoulders o p tim istically as he turned in a t the Pres­ c o tt walk.

Chapter 111

CHRISTIAN3EH IH 2HE $ORWE0IAN-AMERICAN LIFE of the Mirnm west (ises-xoos) "Religion Is a private a f f a i r ," Christiansen brief* Ip re to rte d when a member of the Salvation drop approached him one evening and ashed him i f he m e saved*

th is l i t t l e

incident had happened back in the Washburn daps* while he m e liv in g with Karl*

He m s not accustomed to assau lts on

hie Inner l i f e ; he had not lived with people she knew God so intim ately th a t they could apeak of him In the conversa­ tio n al tone of the household and the street* How he m s a t Augsburg College* and I t was a very d iffe re n t world from Washburn* or any other place he had lived for th a t matter*

without re a lisin g It* he had some

into a miniature re lig io u s revival* p art of the larg er move­ ment which swept through the nineteenth eentury lik e succes­ sive p ra irie fires* breaking out now in one place* now in another* but always moving westward with the frontier* Christiansen found himself in an atmosphere which throbbed with re lig io u s emotion* and there was no brushing i t aside with a b r ie f r e to r t. O riginally established in 1869 in Marshall* Wis­ consin* Augsburg Seminary had been moved in 1872 to a p lo t of ground on the edge of Minneapolis* s t i l l a comparatively

-

60

-

young c ity of some £0,000 in h abitants.

In the course o f the

years a four-year college department and a four-year academy were added to 1he seminary* and when Christiansen entered in October of 1692, the student body numbered 167 students. The past two dseades had been stormy in the l if e of the Norwegian Lutheran Church in America.

Though more or

le ss agreement emisted in d octrinal m atters, there were tem­ peramental differences* some taking the High road and some taking the Low road in Church r itu a l and policy, branched from old with amasing ra p id ity .

new synods

Augsburg had been

born in the Norwegian Aagustama Synod, then almost immediate­ ly became the offspring of the Nermeglaa-haatsh Conference, where i t spent the next twenty years u n til the merger of three large synods in 1890; three uneasy years in th is new body* the Halted Norwegian Lutheran Church* ended in separa­ tion from th at synod.

Four lean years followed in the small

group known as the frie n d s of Augsburg, and fin a lly the school grew to m aturity w ithin the Lutheran Free Church, which in 1897 'was me name adopted by the group th at support­ ed Augsburg Seminary. Through the twenty years o f i t s connect ion with the Conference the sohcol had been the center for the fac­ tion favoring Low Church r it u a l and a free congregational policy.

The m ilita n t m inority group in th is controversy was

headed by two Augsburg professors* Sven Oftedal and Georg

Sverdrup* both o f whom had come to America from Norway in the e arly *seventies to teach a t the seminary.

3he dissen­

sion was carried in to the XJhitea Ohurch a f te r the merger of 1890* and* unable to give consent to the p o lic ie s o f the majority group* Mae leaders of AugCborg with a few loyal congregations withdrew to form th e ir own church body.

Dur­

ing the troubled years o f the early ’n in e tie s the future might have seemed hopeless to those a t the helm had I t not been for th e ir f a ith th a t God would see them through.

Pray­

er meetings took on added fervor* and, united in th e ir ad­ v e rs itie s , the l i t t l e group a t Augsburg experienced a deep s p iritu a l re v iv al.

I t was into th is p o litic o -re lig io u s tu r­

moil th a t Christiansen came in the autumn of 1892. A few days a fte r h is a rriv a l in Minneapolis, he went to the State Capitol in a t, Paul, where he applied for eltlsenShip and secured h is f i r s t papers.

As a student in

a small college and as a prospective c itiz e n of the united States* h is l i f e p a tte rn was to change* and* although one eahnet say th at with th is came immediate security* a t le a s t he had the feeling th a t he was not quite so much a member of the out-group as he had been for the past four years. Christiansen lochs bach on th is period as a turn­ ing point in h is l i f e .

High-pitched and emotional, accus­

tomed to thinking and liv in g in h is own way, he now fo r the f i r s t time oaae in contact with p e rso n a litie s who made him

s tif f e n h is in te lle c tu a l fib e r, who molded hie aesth e tic taste and guided h is moral l i f e .

Important to him was h is

friendship with a student in the theological department, Hans Andrea® C rssth.

A few years C hristiansen's senior,

Ursoth had a more mature outlook, was an in te llig e n t and re ­ fined person w ith a bent toward the p o etic.

He was said by

fellow students to have a "winsome m i l e , ” was very popular, and, moreover, as a devout Christian* had a quiet influence on a l l h is associates* Evenings would find a group o f boys gathered in trrseth’s room in ty p ical college s ty le , smoking th e ir pipes, lo llin g on the beds, discussing "God and the w orld,” and p a rtic u la rly the re la tio n of a r t and music to the church and to re lig io n .

Always a lover of argument, Christiansen in ­

variably took the side opposite from the rest* and in doing so, acquired some thing of a reputation as a rad ical.

He

said th at during th is time he received most of h is education through discussions with in te llig e n t people. Another sig n ific a n t friend during these years was the energetic professor, Sven Oftedal* who had a keen and w ell-trained mind, besides* as Christiansen said, a "ly ric n a tu re,” in terested in music and poetry.

He recognised the

boy’s musical talent* and at the end of the f i r s t year when Christiansen* undecided about what coarse to follow, came to him for advice, he told the young man to continue his

music ra th e r than an academic career with the remark, "Tea are a musician hy the grace of God," One of the theological students who knew Chris­ tiansen daring h is years a t Augsburg said th a t the in flu ­ ence of such men as Oftedal and Urseth en the young man was decisive both morally and In te lle c tu a lly * for Christiansen was a temperamental person and might e a s ily have been drawn into the free and easy ways of the "worldly se t" who be­ longed to the Norwegian clubs where he frequently played h is v io lin ,

"And," said th is former Augsburg student, ex­

pressing the alarm with which the Seminary group regarded the jo lly Norwegian clubs, "there i s no te llin g hew i t would have turned out i f he had gotten in with th a t group."

The

Augsburg c irc le was a c tiv e ly a llie d with the temperance movement and, consequently, looked with disfavor on the more lib e ra l Norwegian singing s o c ie tie s and clubs, where the foaming beer mug added congeniality to an evening’s rehears­ a l or entertainm ent. Even beer for medicinal purposes was hardly l e g i t i ­ mate for the Augsburg student.

A taxing schedule of study

and almost nightly appearances as a s o lo is t over a period of several weeks had reduced Christiansen to a state of pale fatigue.

Fear of the disease which had taken the liv e s of

several members of h is family made him n atu ra lly quite appre­ hensive About h is health.

The p rescrip tio n of the doctor

Whom he went to see was, "Quit school for six weeks and drink beer/*

This was no simple advise to follow in h is

situation* but his h ealth was of utmost concern to him, so for a few weeks he "sneaked into beer taverns without the fa c u lty 's knowing about i t , "

then he appeared a t the doc­

t o r 's o ffice six weeks l a t e r , he was "fat and rosy” and apparently no one was the w iser. That Christiansen did not take h is classes s e ri­ ously i s quite evident by the very fa c t th at records o f h is work, aside from h is i n i t i a l enrollment as a Freshmen on October 1, 1892, do not e x is t in the office of the re g is ­ tr a r ,

No examinations were given by the professors u n til

the close of the school year, and these Christiansen appar­ ently fa ile d to take, for no grades have been recorded for him*

From the Norwegian-written catalogue fo r th a t year,

the freshman course o f study included Greek, with Leigh­ to n 's Greek lessons and Goodwin's Greek Grammar as te x ts; English from MeGaffey's F ifth Reader: Norwegian, In which Hefgaard's Grammar end E rik sen 's and Paulsen's lassebok I II were used; Geometry, Ancient and Medieval History, and Nor­ wegian History completed the course.

The program was not

extensive, nor m s C hristiansen's in te re s t in I t intense. From the s t a r t much of C hristiansen's atte n tio n end time were occupied by music*

Badly in need of money,

he very gladly accepted a l l opportunities to perform or

d ire c t, hoping thus to gain a reputation in musical c ir c le s . P articu larly for the cause of temperance was Christiansen asked to contribute h is ta le n ts.

The movement m s sweeping

the country in waves of song and speech which called the drunkard to repentance; pamphlets were d istrib u ted picturing the tortured in eb riate and h is unhappy family.

She rig h t­

eous, non-drinking people flocked to the te n ts and a u d ito ri­ ums to lis te n in h o rrifie d enjoyment as the speaker told them with gesture and graphic d e ta il o f the satanlc foe which was inflaming society .

Sounding the trumpet, the im­

passioned speakers trie d to arouse the drowsy d isc ip le s of the Lord to fi^ h t the agents o f the d ev il,

when the meeting

was over, refreshments were served and a short musicals was given by lo cal a r tis ts *

I t was in th is role as a musician

that Christiansen became a fam iliar figure a t the temperance meetings.

He enjoyed the work, but i t made no bulges in h is

thin purse.

He was told by the temperance en th u siasts th at

he was doing i t for C hrist and the cause of C hristian l iv ­ ing, and furthermore, they ra tio n a lise d , he was gaining a fine reputation and would ultim ately be rewarded by pupils. As a m atter of f a c t, he acquired only a few v io lin pupils during the year and two to whom he gave reed organ lessons. The few odd hours which h is schedule afforded were Spent with h is frien d Hrseth.

Facile with h is pen, tfrscth

was the poet among h is student friends, w riting s a tire s .

humorous terse, and l a mete serious moods, relig io u s verse of a se n sitiv ely ly ric a l q u a lity , a typo which appealed strongly to C hristiansen1s taste*

She two formed a happy

combination, Christiansen se ttin g to musie the poetry from the pen o f the young writer*

Fortunately the two young art**

le ts found a means to make public th e ir e ffo rts a t musieal and poo t i e eaqpre salon through a email Norwegian magasine, tfagdommens Yen*3, a publication designed for the young people o f the to t he ran Church.

Every issue contained a page or two

of music, and to th is magazine Christiansen and trrseth were frequent contributors. fhe e d ito r, JL 0* B olter * and h is wife were loyal friends of Augsburg College and seminary, and a t th e ir home the students were always welcome.

Mrs* Bolter took a keen

in te re s t In music and lite r a tu r e , contributed sto rie s and a rtic le s to her husband's publication, and also assisted with the ed itin g of it*

With the w rite rs, le c tu re rs , end

professors who came to th e ir home, she in te llig e n tly d is ­ cussed the questions of the day.

She, too, wrote a few

verses which Christiansen s e t to music, but in a l l proba­ b ility they were known only in the co terie o f w riters and music lovers who gathered a t the lo iters* Quite w ithin the p a ttern of i t s cu ltu re, the school encouraged the musical in te re s ts of i t s students as *£HEB£ People1s Friend

-

ia fc i

—

• m h m of expressing th e ir C hristian fa ith and o f heaping alive the s p i r i t of th e ir Norwegian h eritag e.

tte Augsburg

Quartet sang frequently a t ohuroh fuaotiona and a e e ia l gath­ erings in the Norwegian o iro les of the o ity , and a student chorus rehearsed reg u larly under C h ristian sen 's d ire c tio n . Oils group sang the fam iliar stale chorus numbers o f the Borm gian composers B eisaiger, B Jerulf, and Srieg,

She s p ir i t

of Borwegian culture s t i l l dominated l i f e on the oaapua. Beoitationa aero usually conducted in Xngllsh, hut oonversation among the students end facu lty members ana se rrie d on in Borwegian.

Sermons were preached, hooka were w ritten ,

sad songs were sung in th a t language,

i t was unthinkable a t

th is stage th a t Christiansen would hare w ritten mualo for anything hut a Borwegian te x t. She in te re s t in music on the p a rt o f the student body, and p a rtic u la rly the in sp ira tio n of Theodore Beimested, provided the stin u ln s fo r organising a body of singers which would include the Berweglaa Lutheran ohurohes in the outly­ ing d is tr le ts .

She plan was greeted with enthusiasm, and in

the spring of 189® choruses and Choirs gathered a t Bau Olelre, Wisconsin, from d iffe re n t p a rts o f th at s ta te and Minnesota, sang under the direotiom of Beimestad, and planned to neat a year la te r in Minneapolis.

Though ram ifioatlons

eeourred in i t s h isto ry , the Borwegian Singers' union was in a ll likelihood the germ of the united Borwegian Lutheran

Choroh Choral Union, which was organised in 1911. Swing th is yoar o f reh earsals and in cid en tal

002

a*

position, C hristiansen's desire to he some a consort v io lin 1st remained unchanged*

He praotiood conscientiously * play­

ed a g reat deal in public* and undoubtedly dreamed of the dap when he weald earn h is liv in g playing before large audi­ ences*

His frien d s re a lise d th a t he had talent* and when

I t was evident th a t he had bat s lig h t in te re s t in tr a n s la t­ ing Greek sentences end working trigonometry problems* they encouraged him to study mnsle*

Consequently, instead of r e ­

turning to Augsburg as a student l a the f a i l o f 1898, he en­ ro lled a t Borthweetern Conservatory o f Masie in Minneapolis. B iaanoeo.of oourse, remained a problem.

In aA&ition to a

few v io lin p u p ils, bo directed the student abortus a t Augs­ burg and taogbt a olaao o f ilagtng aad theory, for whiSb bo resolved a meager p lttaao o .

s t i l l I t was ao t enough to liv e

oa, and baft i t ao t been fo r the generosity of A. II. Arntzaa, ed ito r of Pollmblaftot. 1 the pablioatloa of tbo friends of Augsburg, he would aot bare booa able to stafty. begun q uietly la tbo miftftlo o f tbo previous fteoade, Borthwestera Qoaoervatory now waa exerting a Scolded in flu oaoo oa the musleal l i f e o f Minneapolis.

On i t s s ta f f wars

masioiaas who ftlft maob to give tbs o ily a pre-eminent plaoe in tbs maalosl annals of tits upper M ississippi Valley. X£ S S ^ £ *««»»

Be-

sides i t s d ire c to r, the able Clarence Marshall, there was F rits Sohlaeter, teacher of v io lin and leading c e l l i s t in the c ity .

Another who molded the l i f e of many a young vio­

l i n i s t was Heinrich Hoevei* toad o f the orchestra depart­ ment*

Baring C hristiansen's year a t the Conservatory th is

excellent musician organised the Hoevei strin g Quartet, whose weekly concerts were to become an in s titu tio n in the musical l i f e of the c ity in the next twenty yeers*

Here

than anyone else Hoevei was responsible for the development of chamber music in Minneapolis.

She society fa v o rite,

Carl laehmund, a ttra c te d students to the piano departments and J* Warren Andrews* whose Sunday afternoon organ r e c i t ­ a ls in the Plymouth Congregational Church drew a fashion­ able crowd* was the d ire c to r of the Conservatory’s depart­ ment of church music.

With these and other teachers Chris­

tiansen spent the year of 1893-1894, studying v io lin and piano, and taking courses in harmony and counterpoint* Students o f a l l n a tio n a litie s and from a l l occupations were a t the Conservatory* a Swedish cabinetmaker, a young German g ir l whose fa th e r worked a t the flo u r m ill, an Ita lia n gro­ cer from Washington Avenue, and the sm s and daughters of the leading pioneer fam ilies.

A ffilia te d with the Univer­

s ity , i t also drew a m a ll stream o f students from th a t Charter, fto year a t the Conservatory was for Christiansen

-

a very enjoyable one*

71

-

Ihere was opportunity now to attend

concerts and hear the a r t i s t s o f the c ity , besides those from Chicago and the Bast.

He had no money, hat free con­

c e rts were p le n tifu l, and occasionally students were given special ra te s for the big re c ita ls*

Bemenyi was s t i l l com­

ing to Minneapolis; the c ity seemed to have a special fond­ ness for v io l in is ts f end o f a l l the v is itin g a r t i s t s , the eccentric Bemenyi remained the favorite#

Vestiges o f the

age o f v irtuosos s t i l l clung to the performances o f th is extraordinary fid d le r, whose maimer isms grew more pro­ nounced w ith each v i s i t , mid who “Bsmsnyesqued” such things as Schubert's "Serenade” to s u it h is own fa n ta stic genius u n til Schubert was scarcely recognisable * C hristiansen heard him end marvelled*

And then there was L illia n Bordica,

who gave a b r i l l i a n t concert in liar oh of th a t w inter, and Olive Fnemstad, M inneapolis's "Borwegian n ig h tin g ale," who was gathering la u re ls for h e rs e lf in the Bast and abroad. Local musical clubs w orthily displayed th e ir ta le n ts in singing, often accompanied by the lo c a l amateur orchestra under the d ire ctio n of Frank Pans*

Herman Booh was the

Beethoven a r t i s t o f Minneapolis, frequently giving an en­ tir e concert o f Beethoven sonatas,

fh is stubborn c la s s i­

c is t a ttra c te d only a small regular audience; but when he gave h is f i f t i e t h piano r e c i ta l in 1093, i t was a festiv e occasion, and Minneapolis turned out gladly to show i t s

appreciation o f th is splendid a r t i s t .

Many r e o ita la were

be 14 in the churches, p a rtic u la rly a t the Westminster Pres­ b y terian screes from the Olty Library on Hennepin and Tenth, and a t the Plymouth Congregational, another of the fashion­ able downtown churches.

I f time would have perm itted,

(& riatiansen could hate spent every night of the week a t a concert. Meanwhile a t Augsburg arrangements were being oompleted fo r the meeting e f the n n t g l n lathe ran sin g ers' Union in May.

Qhristlansen wrote the music and Urseth the

words fo r a song of weloome which was to be sang a t the opening oonoert,

Also the Augsburg Quartet, ntfctng plans

for tbs summer, asked C hristiansen to loin them, sing with them

and add v a rie ty to th e ir program with v io lin se ise -

tlo n e.

Shis he happily aeoepted. Spring earn.

On May 7, 230 Borwegian Lutheran

singers arriv ed , together with pastors and o f f ic ia ls o f the United Borwegian Lutheran Qhuroh who were meeting fo r th e ir annual convention.

They assembled a t the big Swedish faber-

naele and liste n e d to a large chorus e f tbs combined la th e ran churn«h choirs e f Minneapolis slag C hristian sen 's "Velhemstsang."

She music fe s tiv a l was such a success, th a t a

motion was passed to convene again the following spring. May also brought the close o f tbo school year, and fo r Christiansen graduation with a degree in musle from the

Conservatory*

Ho tod tom# t o l l ; s t i l l to was not satisfied *

More study m s necessary. Bat tto r e m s a© money for i t , and tto only m y to could secure i t m s to get as many pupils as he could, e©niiau© h is odd jobs o f d ire c tin g and teaching a t Augsburg, and to appear as a r e o i ta l i s t when opportunity presented its e lf* When school m s over the Quartet1 l e f t Minneapolis to Begin i t s summer work of v is itin g tto tondred and one small Norwegian communities th a t tore scattered throughout tto surrounding s ta te s on tto p r a irie s end the ro llin g mead­ ows of Wisconsin, the Dakota©, and Iowa*

true to tto s p i r i t

Of tto day, they were stumping fo r pro h ib itio n , and in th e ir songs and th e ir speeches they contributed to the temperance fever th a t was spreading lik e an epidemic over the land*

To

old Scandinavian melodies they wrote appropriate temperance te a ts , emotional and exhortative, and sang them with high re lis h to the lis te n e r s who crowded the churches*

Chris­

tia n s e n 's contribution to the Quartet consisted not so maoh in h is q u a litie s as a singer, But in h is general musician­ ship, which was valuable to the group; furthermore h is vio­ l i n solos added a great deal to th e ir concerts* Members: ftoedere leim estad J. X» hydahl F* M. C hristiansen B* h# Sandal

1 st tod 1 st tod

tenor tenor . Bass Bass

She young

74 -

men had a successful and congenial summer together.

In the

congregations they v is ite d , people vied with each other to e n te rta in them, and the good housewives loaded th e ir tables with the Best In Norwegian food. Christianeen was good company; he had a ready tongue for a joke

and an in clin a tio n toward prankishness.

One day C hristiansen and Sandal stayed a t the home o f a farmer in southern Minnesota.

While wandering about in ­

specting the premises, they noticed a pasture where a l i t ­ te r of baby pigs was enclosed.

As they stood by the fence

1

:

watching them, the animals crowded up expecting to be fed. C hristiansen's in te r e s t was aroused, and turning to Sundal, he asked. "How do you suppose they would re a c t i f X played my v io lin for them?” *1 d o n 't know, but I t ' s worth trying#” answered his friend* Christiansen hurried back to the house for h is v io lin , returned, sneaked c a refu lly up to the fence and, pulling the bow across the s trin g s , made a t e r r i f i c squeal, worse than any pig could ever produce,

She frightened an i­

mals rushed to the other side of the pasture, fa llin g a ll over one another in th e ir haste; but short of memory, they soon returned, only to hear the dreadful noise again, and to repeat th e ir mad tumbling across the pasture.

As the

boys stood laughing a t the re s u lts of th e ir experiment, the

75

-

farmer, who haft observed i t , walked by and remarked, "Same Karen mas t u n an fs e l eipisbur. Bat there was another aide o f Chxietianaen's na­ tu re.

bo

eoalft he b lu n t end outspoken in hla speech and

stubborn in hia ways.

l i e temper would fla re in a ap art of

anger, then quickly s u b s i d e ; neverthelesa, haoaaae e f the a tra in e f ira a o ib ility in hia temperament and h la oooaeienal streaks e f obduracy, i t was not always eaey for fellow stu ­ dents to get along with C hristiansen; hat they w illin g ly overlooked these q u a litie s in h is make«up, feeling th a t h is honesty toward a ll people, h is s in c e rity , and h is gayety eoapeassted fo r hia lack e f e e a tre l over h is le s s desirable emotions. At the end e f the sommsr the musioiana returned to Minneapolis well fed and re ste d , and they had made $1200 which they divided equally among themselves. Boring the y ear, and perhaps p a rtic u la rly during th is summer when they had gone from ehuroh to ekureh singing and being entertain ed by the frien d ly Borwegian fam ilies, C hristiansen's thoughts haft often reverted to h is Marinette days and the people who had been so kind to him there.

He

thought of the Lindens, and p a rtic u la rly o f E dith, who had oraw with her fath er and mother to h is ehoir reh earsals; 1 *w$bio fellow sraet bo a r o d scamp.*

although aha had bean bat a g i r l in bar e a rly teens a t th a t time, he could not forget her a ttra c tiv e smile and her frien d ly manner,

so began the correspondence with Edith

linden, and through th e ir l e t t e r s o f the next few years a new emotional foree entered h is l i f e . la the years th a t followed C hristiansen carried on hie work In many quarters o f Minneapolis, playing, teaohlng, and d ire c tin g .

On Sundays he o ffle la te d a t the organ and

directed tbs oholr a t f rin ity latheran Churoh, whore the elagosat Talk d je rtse a served ae p asto r.

Within the c irc le

o f the X>utheran (Starch C hristiansen was gaining a rep u tatio n as a lik e ly young maalelaai consequently h ie chorus and oholr wore In constant demand.

Pregnant n o tices appear in

the Minneapolis Tldende,i announcing th a t h is chorus w ill slag a t th is or th a t function for such and suoh a p ro je ct. On March 1, 189S, the gldeado carried the announcement th at the Augsburg "dtndentkor” would sing a t the T rinity society for the Seedy, sad made the following oomment about i t s d i­ rector i

“Bet e r bokjent, hvilken sukoea Herat gjorde fo r-

rige Aar under ladelse a f sin fo rtra a ffe llg e Instruktdr Melius Ohrictlansen. ^Tidings 8" I t is well-known th a t tbs chorus was successful in former years under the leadership of i t e excellent dlreoto r. Melius O hrlstlaasen .. . . "

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77

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Xn Jrferoh of 1898 the ohoiro o f T rin ity , s t. P au l's, i

and St* Qlaf*s Lutheran churches issued an in v ita tio n to the Norwegian Lutheran Singers* Union to hold I t s spring mooting in Minneapolis,

She Swedish Tabernacle, shore the fe stiv a l

m s hold* was crowded with singers*

Where the are had been

twelve choirs in 1894, there wore now fifty-tw o* besides three men's quartet©, an o c te t, and two men's choruses, mak­ ing a grand to ta l o f ever a thousand singers.

This large

ohoras was a ssiste d by an orchestra re cru ited for the oeoasiea*

The oholr which C hristiansen had d irected in Mari­

n ette very proudly appeared in two solo numbers, both o f which wore compositions of th e ir former director* On January SI, 1896, the Minneapolis fidende in ­ formed i t s readers th at a mired chorus, "Nordlyset, u had been organised in the T rinity Lutheran congregation with Professor F* IS. C hristiansen as "Xnstrakb^r. ” Rehearsals were scheduled fo r Tuesday evenings a t eight o ’clock a t dermal College Hall on seventeenth Avenue and Franklin. The story behind i t i s th a t Christiansen wanted a chorus over which he could have sole jurisdiction*

Church choirs

of necessity were a t the beck and c a ll of the pastor or any organisation in the church, and though "Horilyset" was made up of members from

Trinity

of the regular choir*

congregation* i t was independent

As i t happened* however, the group

did frequently sing in the churches* p a rtic u la rly T rin ity .

7 8

-

One day Pastor C jerisen asked Christiansen I f the chorus scald sing a t some special function, bat because o f unex­ plained circumstances Christiansen refused.

Without n o tify ­

ing the d ire c to r, and c e rta in ly w ithout taking hood fo r the morrow, d jerteen sa ile d sash member of the chorus and in­ formed him th a t the'group was to sing a t the function in question.

When the news reached Christiansen the next day,

he went immediately to O jertsea and in ira te fashion f la tly refused once more to l e t the chorus sing, exclaiming in h is hot-headed way, fTfou are not the only one Who has bone in h is nose:" While the annual singing fe s tiv a ls gave evidence of m awakening in te r e s t in music among the people of the church, the quality o f the music was s t i l l on a f a ir ly low level*

Musical train in g in the m ajority of the Worwegiaa-

Ameriean fam ilies was p itif u lly meager, end i t was the un­ trained singer who constitu ted the membership e f the strug­ gling church choirs*

The d ire c to r usually had had a b rie f

exposure to a course in music; i f he had owe from Worway, i t had probably been obtained a t a two-year normal school (seminar), whose purpose was to give the ru ra l youths a chance to acquire a smattering of culture a f te r high school. Unlike the v a st m ajority of the older American churches, where the well-paid q u artet furnished the musical climax for each service, the Norwegian-American churches maintained

some s o rt o f choir, poor though i t might be. When me remembers th a t the Norwegian Lutheran churches in America were s t i l l very Norwegian in character, i t i s understandable th a t the anthems w ritten by the great figure in American church music, Dudley Buck, ware not read­ ily adaptable to the service.

Because o f the dearth of

choir music, h is music was used, but the people preferred the melodies and te x ts to which they had been accustomed in Wormy.

While English had penetrated in to the business and

social l i f e o f the immigrants, Norwegian to a large extent s t i l l remained the language of worship*

The immigrant had

been taught the way o f salvation from h is Norwegian Bible, the Borwegian tran slatio n e f Luther*s Catechism, and Pontoppl&aa’a "Explanation,” and fo r him a l l the emotions, sen­ sations, end associations o f hie f a ith were carried in the Borwegian words.

I t was impossible for him to tra n sfe r the

significance of the words o f h is inmost b e lie fs to th e ir English equivalents*

Among some of the uneducated and more

p le tls tie immigrants, there s t i l l .existed the naive b e lie f that the words o f the scripture were sacred only in the Bor­ wegian language. hindeman's Chorale lek had been carefu lly packed in every m i g r a n t trunk and was fa ith fu lly used in the pio­ neer homes and churches*

The more progressive f e l t the de­

plorable lack o f new music, but Borwegian-Amerloan church

-

80

stasis was tardy in i t s growth. ing created.

Slowly, however, i t was be­

Two Lather an p a ste rs, Gjermsrnd Heyme and

Laurits land, edited and arranged a booh e f oholr selectio n s e n title d Bar pen, which was used to s erne small degree.

Bp to

the torn of the century the leader in church music was John Bshle, who wrote fo r male and mixed choruses, and edited and arranged the only two choral books which were widely used by church choirs.

He was an energetic so rt of person, and pos­

sessed the a b ility to communicate h is enthusiasm to those with whom he worked; and, although h is train in g had not been extensive he had a good sense o f form and harmony*

since

Lutheran church music was in i t s infancy, he served i t well; but i t remained fo r a sounder and a more creative musician to be the re a l leader in th is realm. Tbs a tte n tio n and in te re s t given to music by the faculty and students a t Aogs&urg stim ulated Christiansen and threeth to publish a oolleo tlo n of songs fo r mimed chorus, the te x ts o f which were w ritten by Urseth and the music by Christiansen*

This book, e n title d

Sgrsagge, appeared in

1394, and was used by the local church choirs.

Two years

la te r , even though Ureeth had by th is time accepted a pas­ torate in Rochester, Minnesota, the two enterprising friends began to publish a monthly b u lle tin , Sange e rie , devoted en­ tir e ly to music.

In addition to o rig in a l compositions, i t

included excerpts from o rato rio s and arrangements of famll-

ia r Scandinavian hymns*

This attempt to provide music for

church oholrs in the form o f a musical b u lle tin laste d u n til 1898, a fte r which tbs publication was changed to a re lig io u s lite r a r y monthly and given the new name Idon.

The music was

not dropped, however, but was issued in supplementary sheets with each publication. Meanwhile the musical-minded a t Augsburg were con­ tinuing th e ir contributions to the young people's xasgasine, Unigdcamens Ten, u n til i t m s fin a lly decided th a t the music, which had been appearing in i t through the years, bo co l­ lected and reprinted in volume form.

The re s u lt m s the is ­

suance o f four such volumes over a period o f years, hearing the t i t l e Frydetoner.^

The volumes contained music by Scan­

dinavian, German, English, American, and Scandinavian-Amerioaa composers, end were extremely popular with the choirs In the Lutheran churches. The music which was coming from the pens of the lorwegian-Amerloan compose am at t h is time was w ritten for untrained singers.

I t was simple, rhythm ically melodious,

appealingly sentim ental, end thus e a sily learned by the great body o f amateurs who comprised the choirs o f th a t day. Composed In the shadow of the tent-m eeting, the songs called the sinner to repentance, urged him to hear the voice of the 1 Joyful Tunes

- 82 -

Xerd knocking on the deer e f h is h e a rt, and pleaded w ith him to make h is decision quickly before the gates e f h e ll elesed in upon him*

Hie m ajestic d ignity th a t had eharaeterised

the church maslo e f Horway was e n tire ly leaking,

seme

watched dubiously th is tread toward the r e v iv a lls tle type of gespel hymn, which Moody aad Sankey had brought to the fore­ front o f ehnroh maslo.

Others nodded approval, bellowing

th a t re lig io n s maslo n u t be made aeeesslble to a l l , and there fore mast be "easy to s in g .” So Christiansen composition was a t t h i s stage most certain ly subordinate to h is in te r e s t in the v io lin , aad these early e f fo r ts sere b at im itative o f the s p i r i t o f h is environment*

he a m atter o f f a s t, h is compositions a t th is

period were a combined misfortune o f a te n t f a l l o f emotion­ a l c lich es aad of a stereotyped harmoaio pattern*

Of h is

several songs composed daring these years, one 1b p&rtlo&l&r, "Dm e t S k rid t,"1 beoame a fav o rite a t Xntheran prayer meet­ ings*

I t mast be heme in mind th at he was l i t e r a l l y eda-

eetlag him self in composition daring the years o f h la early tw enties.

Be took composition as a m atter o f eearso, c re a t­

ing because necessity forced i t upon him.

Bis childhood had

bene spent among amateur composers, h is fa th e r, h is uncles, *She e a r lie s t version o f t h i s song was known as "Bat a Stop.” She version used a t the present in Xuthe ran o ire le s is known as "One Besolve," a tra n s la tio n made by Oscar Overby.

- 83 -

and both h ie teashers,

Whoa the family baa# needed a saw

number, Anders Christianson wrote one in the eejgr book. When H ellas needed eeme new ex ercises fo r h ie v io lin prac­ t i s e , Oleon qaiekly Jetted down a fee la h ie exercise hook. Shis tra in in g m e of value l a th at i t had taught h ia a e t to be helpless In the faoo o f exigeaoles. Kara auooo eoful than h ie composing m e h i i teach­ ing; gradually h ie rep u tatio n had spread through the Borwpglaa o lro lee in the e ity .

Burlxig 1895 he m e liv in g in a

modest room oa Seventh S treet aad Sw eaty-first Avenue, Jug­ gling h ia many shattered duties as a d ro itly as he eeald to give h ia eelf a few free hears a day fo r h is v ie lla . Deeply absorbed one afternoon la p ra c tisin g a new ooaoerto, he m s in terru p ted by a knook upon hie door* Opening i t , v io lin s t i l l In head, he saw a p lain ly dressed « m a aad a l i t t l e bey with a clumsy, box-like a f f a ir ander

hie

a m , standing in the darkened hallway. "Are yea Hr. O kristisasea, the v io lin teacher?”

the woman questioned. T e s , erne in .

What eaa X do for year” he asked.

"X am Hr*. Olsen, aad th is is my son Adolph, " She explained.

”80 have heard th a t you are a musle teaeher,

aad wem old lik e to

have Adolph take lessons — th at i s ,

i f i t is n ’t tee expensive." C hristiansen nodded.

He liked the woman's quiet

manner.

Obviously music losaons in th is household would

mean a s a c rific e from someone, end i t one ueaally e r , he thought.

the moth­

He turned to tba boy, smiling a t the eager

expression oa h la face. Adolph?"

"Have yon over had any lessen s,

the boy shook h is head.

By th is time he had

brought in to view the instrument whieh he had been carrying under h is a m .

I t was a erode attem pt a t a v io lin , node

from a cig a r box with a few s trin g s stretched across a wood­ en bridge. "Will yon play sens thing fo r me ?" Christiansen asked, wondering

a t the sane time how i t was possible to

make a recognisable sound on the instrument. She lad produced a olumsy bow, and on one strin g he played in h a ltin g fashion the simple melody of "Home Sweet Bene.” Christiansen saw immediately th a t he was play­ ing by o ar, and th a t he knew nothing about fingering.

While

the bey straggled manfully through the pleee, Christiansen stood with h is hands folded behind h is book, smiling broad­ ly,

When the ch ild had finished h is painful performance,

Christiansen walked over to the la d , patted hist on the head end said, "there i s one thing about yon, young nan, and th at i s , you have a good e a r." fbe Olsens were very peer, end so was the v io lin teaehsr, but he wanted to teach the yeangster.

An arrange-

meat w i f in a lly reached whieh involved s ainple exchange o f favors.

C hristiansen was given a room a t the Olsens;

Adolph rseelved v io lin lessen s.

Christiansen was generous

with h is tin e , end gave the hoy piano and theory loosens as w ell.

Be was an snooting aad thorough teacher, but so en-

th a sia stio th a t he inspired h is pupil to apply him self as­ siduously in preparation for eaeh lesson.

Christiansen

‘Mole a fath erly in te re s t in the la d , sad the rela tio n sh ip he had had in h is youth with Hansen was now reversed.

She

boy went to the ohnroh where Ohrlstiansen was the organist to wateh him ploy and lo a m from him, and he, too, began to drees, a o t. and speak lik e h is teacher.

Frequently he went

to the oholr reh e a rsa ls with Christiansen,

the w inter eve­

ning they arrived a t the ohorwh a few minutes before the appointed hoar to find th a t only one or two singers had a r­ rived.

Another straggled in , b at when the hour straek and

only eig h t members had appeared Christiansen lo s t h is patieaee, turned to the boy, and said brusquely, "Csss, Adolph, i f May c a n 't g e t here on time, they ean practice alone," He was a decisive end s te m d isc ip lin a ria n ; punc­ tu al in h is own h a b its , he demanded the same from those with whom he worked.

A fter one such episode no one dared

again to keep him waiting. Qm strag g le for existence was maturing Chris­ tiansen, and he had learned th a t only hard aad constant

work would keep him alive aad bring him the thing he wanted meet in l i f e —■ the ehanes to he a g reat a rtis t* time to waste waiting for people* dene*

Be had no

fhere was too muoh to he \

As the months had lengthened into years* two themes recurred constantly in the p a tte rn of h is thoughts* timid in h is mind since childhood had been the idea th a t a ll musicians a t some time in th e ir liv e s study in Xsipsig* and dim though i t had hseeme during the years o f earning enough to keep body and soul together* th is thought had never l e f t him*

He re a lis e d more keenly a l l the time th at

he must continue h is study, and te ip slg to him was the only goal* fhe other thought was Edith lindem*

2

hey had ex-

changed many l e t t e r s , and whenever he eould scrape together a few d o llars he had gone to Marinette to see her*

She had

promised to become h is w ife; h is problem now was to earn enough money to support them.

He knew th a t h is coarse lay

toward Isip s ig ; he knew equally well th a t Edith must go with him* On July 14, 1897, Edith Un&am and Melius Chris­ tiansen were married, and a few days l a t e r they were on th e ir way to Hew York.

With a l i t t l e money whieh C hristian­

sen had saved and with the assistance of re la tiv e s , they had been able to make th e ir plans*

From Washburn Kfcrl, who

to d also decided to study music in Leipzig, same to Join them*

toey tod already mads plans to spend a few weeks in

Herway before going to Xeipslg, so they l e f t in happy an­ tic ip a tio n of good times ahead*

When Christiansen had come

to America almost a decade e a r lie r h is in ten tio n had boon to retu rn to Hexway in five years*

toeugh more years tod

lapsed, too idea o f carrying on h is profession in Sorwey was s t i l l unchanged*

toe bulging trunks and boxes were ev i­

dence th a t E dith and Melius were leaving America with the thought o f estab lish in g themselves in the country o f th e ir fathers* Marl’s and H elios’ younger brother, K ristian, who was in to t Norwegian naval serv ice, had arranged for a Short furlough and was to meet them in Hew York upon th e ir arrival* When they re&*he& the c ity , they found, not K ristian, but a message from a south American port te llin g of h is death, toe creeping claws of tuberculosis tod fastened on another of th e ir family* end th e ir h earts were heavy with fe a r and sorrow* toe few weeks in Horway were crowded with v is its to a l l toe C hristiansen friends and re la tiv e s ; to r i and Melius gave a jo in t c la rin e t and v io lin r e e ita l to to lch la rv lk 's c ltis e n s and newspapers responded with m anifest pleasure*

When toe summer was drawing to a close, toe

three Christiansens sailed for Germany, going f i r s t to the

old Hansa c ity of S te ttin , and from there by r a i l to Berlin aad f in a lly to Leipzig. On a crooked s tr e e t near Johanne spark and the Con­ servatory they rented two pleasant and inexpensive reams, and seen were s e ttle d on second fle e r in the h in ts rgeb&ude e f He* SO Alexanderetraaae.

A small room for t o r i; fo r the

young couple a larg er one with two hlg windows, a grand plane, a bed, and across the room in the com er a shiny, blaiah-oolored t i l e stove*

fhey were to spend two happy

years a t Ho* so, close to the park and to toe "concert quar­ t e r ” where toe Conservatory, toe Gewandhaus, and some o f toe University buildings were huddled in convenient proximity* Hearty, too, was St. toomaskirche, which had played such an Important p a rt in toe musical l i f e and education o f le ip slg . Christiansen was often among the two or three thousand who thronged to the huge church for toe Saturday motet sung a t 1:30 each week by the boys’ oholr of toemasaehule*

fo r generations th is custom had been carried on,

end there were many Xelpsigers who had not missed a perform­ ance in several years*

With ease, precisio n , and marvelous

accuracy of intonation the boys sang the most d if f ic u lt mo­ te ts of toe great m asters, toe early Hetoerland and Ita lia n composers, th e ir own Bach, and the modern polyphonic w rite rs. Although Christiansen was absorbed in developing h is s k i l l as a v io lin is t during to la period, without a doubt the hours

ho spent lis te n in g to the impressive singing of th is Choir onoonoeiously enriched him for the work he was l a t e r to follow. toe Conservatory reqaircd i t s students to attend a l l Gewandhaae concerts*

haring toe years the Christiansens

were a t toe Conservatory, toe d ire c to r e f toe Cemndhans concerts was the incomparable Arthur Hlkisch*

Hot sinee the

days of M»ndelssehnfs directo rsh ip had toe Cewandhans known sash a b r il l i a n t conductor*

All o f le ip sig was a t h is fe e t,

toe regular weekly concerts of the Orchestra were given on toarsday evening, and to th a t Leipsig society went in f u ll Or*as.

On Wednesday evenings or Shursday mornings i t was

eosternary to have a “Haaptprobe" whieh waa open to the stu ­ dents and to the public fo r a small eharge, end M is, a duplicate o f the ao ta a l eeneert, oane to tie almost aa popu­ la r aa the Thursday night performance. Scarcely a night in the mate passed in which the Christiansen brothers Aid not leave Ho. 26 Alexaafterstraaee, Xight th e ir pipes, and walk toward the eonoert quarter for an evening o f ehaaber maslo by sane strin g qu artet, the Joachim, the Cewsadhaus Quartet, perhaps the popular Bohe­ mian Quartet; or i t might be to hear Herr Sehelper and Fran Beaman in Weber's "Oberon," or a r e c ita l by one of th e ir own fellow students. C h ristian sen 's days were spent a t the Conservatory

with classes aad v io lin p ractice * in view o f M s l a t e r con­ centration in the choral f ie ld i t might seem strange th at he should have manifested onto s lig h t in te re s t in i t a t th is point, hut toe atmosphere o f the Conservatory was mot condu­ cive to i t .

A ttention was centered almost e n tire ly on in ­

strumental tra in in g , with the r e s u lt th a t choral study was quite openly snuhhed.

One e f the compulsory classes a t the

Conservatory was chorus d r i l l , but Christiansen confesses th a t not once during h is two-year period did he report for toe c la s s.

Apparently no rigorous e f fo r ts were made to en­

force the requirement, fo r nothing m s ever said about C hristiansen's two-year absence from the class*

singing

was placed in the lower brackst of toe Oemservatcry's musi­ cal scale, so I t was n atu ral th a t Christiansen should adopt a sim ilar a ttitu d e of indifference. Me took classes from toe quiet and scholarly Gustav Store ok, cantor of toe fhomassohnle end teacher of composition and counterpoint a t the Conservatory.

At the

f i r s t meeting of toe class in October some twenty or th irty students sa t a t toe long tab le in Sohreok’s classroom; be­ fore the year was over only ten had been able to continue a t the pace which th e ir teacher s e t far h is students.

Aside

from class exercises fo r Sohreek, Christiansen did no com­ posing during h is too years a t the Conservatory,

fhere was

no time, for he was spending six hours a day on h is v io lin .

besides an hour or two a t the piano. He studied v io lin with Hans S itt, a grumpy and un­ sociable man, but an excellent teacher.

Paring a lessen he

would s i t with h is v io lin on h is knee, a cigar in h is mouth, ashes dropping carelessly on h is v est,

ih ile absorbed in a

concerto the student would suddenly be surprised to hear an accompaniment, and turning, would see S itt, v io lin s t i l l resting on h is knee, playing an incredible harmony p a rt with three fin g e rs, plucking with hia l i t t l e fin g e r.

One can be

sure th a t S itt was never lav ish with h is p ra ise , but th a t he considered Christiansen an able v io lin is t is known through incidental comments made to others. I t happened, curiously enough, th a t another Augs­ burg student had found h is way to Leipzig a t the same time tout Christiansen had come, n eith er of them knowing o f the oth er’s presence u n til they met one day by accident.

Carl

Mbllby, a senior a t the Augsburg seminary during C hristian­ sen’s Freshman year, was now a theological student a t the University.

He had formed a tennis-acquaintance ship with

Sans S itt, and during one of th e ir re s ts between matohes, Hellby spoke of h is heme in Minnesota; whereupon S itt, ami­ ably conversational, remarked th at he had a very talen ted young pupil too was likewise from Minnesota, Minneapolis in fact; on several occasions Mellby heard him speak of Chris­ tiansen as his "gifted pupil from America. ”

I t m s la te one afternoon when the crowd poured oat of the Gewamdheas In a gay holiday mood*

Carriages and

heroes f ille d the s tr e e t, and frien d s were greeting each o tte r with sm iles and a merry, "Viel Glfielc earn neuem Jahre! TT as they elbowed toward the sidewalk,

Joachim, In h is la te

s ix tie s now, hut s t i l l a great master of the v io lin , had made h is annual hew Tear’s Bay appear ease a t the Gewandhaue* Jfcrl and Melius moved slowly down the steps, nodded to three of t t e i r Conservatory frien d s, oddly enough a l l of them from Minneapolis, Grass and Verna Golden, and a young man. Oar-* iy le Scott,* H ellas began to ta lk excitedly as they l e f t the erswd and waited through the gathering dash toward Ale ren­ ders trasse*

" I t c e rta in ly was a surprise to hear him play

that simple l i t t l e V io tti, esp ecially when we a l l expected the Beethoven ’Concerto.’

fhey say he has played the Bee­

thoven for the l a s t four years a t th is ooneert, hat he fooled as a l l today,9" Karl agreed, hat Judiciously added, "He did a *Miss Verna Golden i s the l a t e r Mrs, Carlyle Scott, fo r many years Mrs. Scott served as the manager of the Min­ neapolis Symphony and the u n iversity o f Minnesota A rtis t Course, Mr* Seott accepted a positio n In the Department of Music a t the University of Minnesota upon h is re tu rn from Germany, end is a t the present time s t i l l teaching there, Grace Golden l a t e r became Mrs, James Davies, wife of a Min­ neapolis music c r i t i c . Since the recent death of her hus­ band, Grace Bevies has assumed h is d u ties as music c r i t i c on the s ta f f of the Minneapolis Tribune.

wise thing#

He shewed us th a t simple things are b e a u tifu l,

i f they ere played with p erfect technique and with dig n ity , fee many of as think we have t© play something d if f ic u lt in order to mate an impression, but a g reat a r t i s t lik e Joachim knows th a t the most simple things can sometimes be the most b eautiful#n fhey waited s ile n tly fo r a few moments, and la s t as they approached Ho# £6, ifeli&s said soberly# "Yes, it* s probably one e f the b est lessons I have ever had, ” In the spring o f ISM Christiansen received h is diploma from the Hoyal Conservatory a t isip s ig ,

The two

years had been crowded with work# but Christiansen leeks back on those student days in Xsipeig with Edith, te r 1# and th e ir German friends as among the happiest of h is l i f e , Baring th e ir stay in Germany the C hristiansens1 plan to s e t­ tle in Horsey had agate undergone a change# and now I t seem­ ed more expedient to re tu rn to America#

A son# Elmer, had

been born to them in helpsIg, and with the infant the Chris­ tiansens returned to America th a t summer; Edith and the baby went to Marinette to liv e w ith her patents# while C hristian­ sen went on to Minneapolis to re -e sta b lish him self a f te r hie absence.

STee-lame lag was too precarious an existence for a

wen with a family, and u n til he had gained a foothold he thought i t wiser to leave Edith and th e ir son in M arinette, A rriving in Minneapolis he was offered a position a© organist a t Bethany Lutheran Churoh, which# though not

- y4 -

very remunerative, a t le a s t brought him a few dollars*

More

encouraging fo r h ie future was the in v ita tio n from the d i­ re oto r of northwestern Conservatory to join the s t a f f o f the v io lin department,

Shreagh the contacts he was to e sta b lish

a t the Conservatory, C hristiansen was to be drawn Into the very semter of musical l i f e in Minneapolis* A few public appearances revealed the remarkable progress he had made daring h is absence, and in a re la tiv e ly Short while he gained a rep utation as a fine v io lin is t and an e ro e lle n t teacher*

Old programs of th a t day show th a t

h is p ap ils appeared frequently In re c ita ls*

His most prom*

Icing pupil was the young lad who had come to him five years e a rlie r with a home-made v io lin under h is arm*

Sow news­

paper reviews referred to him as "Master Adolph Olsen" and p ra is e d

the amusing ta le n t of one so young*

On March 26,

1001* Christiansen conducted a b en e fit oonoert given by the Northwestern Conservatory orchestra* assisted by the wellknown Minneapolis a r t i s t s , Mrs* w. H* Porte one* co n tralto , Mrs* Marie C jertsen-Fisehert reader, and Master Adolph Olsen, v io lin is t. Christiansen*e p rin c ip al work was carried on a t *

the Qonserratory, bat Ilk* a l l musicians he had many extra duties to engage h i* free time.

One was h ie d irectorship

of the K jeralf Qlab, a men's singing olab, sim ilar to many ehiah floor!shed in the Borweglan-Amerlaan e ire lo s in Min-

ncapolic a t th a t time*

She ca lib e r o f the voice was not im­

portant ; the only requirement for membership was th at the person he a "good fellow ," A few sash je lly souls organised i t | and a fte r g e ttin g a s u ffic ie n t number of members to pro­ vide am iability and an maple treasury they looked fo r the best d ire c to r in the c ity ,

Christiansen was glad to aeeept

th e ir o ffer o f four d o llars a reh earsal, and began immedi­ ately the d if f ic u lt task O f making a singable ehor as s a t of s group, U n r U f weighted w ith poor v o le ts.

At f i r s t they

rehearsed la s room ever the Lee Brothers' photograph g al, lory on H loollet Avenue end Shlrd S treet.

Later they moved

la te s la rg e r sta d ia a t gsrthwestern Conservatory, whleh was them located ever the Metropolitan Moslo Store oa Sixth Street hetweea H ioollet and Hennepin Avenues. As a so cial ventare the K jeralf Olah was a eaoeese.

I t was a loose-jointed a f f a ir with only one prohibi­

tions no English eeald be spoken a t the rehearsale.

I t was

a Xerwegiaa slob, and the members were se rie asly p a trio tic about the laad o f th e ir fa th e rs,

then reh earsals were over,

they erossed the s tr e e t to a smoke-filled tavern to exshange business gossip ever th e ir beer sad tobaooo.

Christiansen

rarely p srtie ip a to d in the soolal a c tiv itie s o f the olub. When he came into reh earsals, loose sh a tte r oeased and b asi­ ns so began.

His sharp tongue was quick to lash s a t a t those

whose a tte n tio n wandered from the work a t hand.

Seme times

- 96 -

ta c itu rn wad moody, ho ooald a t eth er times ho h ig h -sp irited sad humorous.

Che members o f the slab genuinely lik ed him,

sad they appro elated the e ffo rt he expeaded to make singers Of them.

Baring th is time he wrote a few male chorus num­

bers whleh they sang, aad which were l a t e r oolleoted and pablished by tbs Augsburg ?obllafcing House.

In foot, one of

the most oharming numbers Christiansen over wrote for men's eboras is one composed for the K jerulf Club,

i t is a oheral

setting, for "Bngbirhea,"1 a sensitive ly r le by the Borwegiaa po et, yirgsa hoe.

She members of the olab enjoyed singing

fo r him. even i f th e ir singing was not o f the b e st,

they

mew th at C hristiansen was working against odds. One evening while singing a t a meeting in a Berth Minneapolis oharch, the c h o riste rs lo s t th e ir bearing in the middle o f the soleotiom sad were hopelessly mired In a false sherd.

Sfcey knew th a t i t was Impossible to go on; Chris­

tiansen, never deoision-retarded in moments o f s tre s s , or a t any other time fo r th a t m atter, oalmly turned on h is heel and walked o ff the platform , leaving the vowel-moathed sho­ res to fas* the audience on a suspended chord before they ooald swallow i t aad follow him, h elp lessly embarrassed. 3uoh were the t r i a l s of the young director.' One of h is p u p ils a t the Conservatory was S ister Marie Josephine, a v io lin teacher from St. Agatha's Academy 3-loung birch

- 97 -

of Ihtsle and A rts In St. Psal.

In addition to giving her

lA unaa, i i m t onoo t m «k to the Aoa&eny to observe and her M u h la g .

Oeeaaisaslly he would appear o f an

evening aa a t l o l i n s o lo is t on the lite r a r y and masloal programa held in the school auditories* for the students and the frien d s o f the Academy.

His sphere eras gradually widening.

She f i r s t year or two a f te r h is re tu rn from le ip eig were lean years, hat h is determ ination to make seme thing of him self was beginning to y ield r e s u lts , and as the months slipped into a year, two y ears, he f e l t h is confidence in­ creasing,

Zh the f a l l of 1900 he had brought h is s i f t , two-

year-eld Elmer, sad a new sen, Jacobi, to Klnaeapelis. fheagh h is means sere net aboadaat, Christiansen f e l t th a t he ooald new earn enough to heep the family together,

la

a l l the years he had lived in Minneapolis he had never f e l t s e ttle d ; b at new with Edith and the children with him in a hems o f th e ir own a sense of s ta b ility earns into h is l i f e . Every hoar in the day too f ille d with lessons and rehearsals; the evenings with concerts aad r e o ita ls of one kind or another.

Paring a free hoar he weald work a t h is

desk w riting oat a melody i&ieh had been hamming in h is mind.

He was composing fo r h is v io lin as well as fo r eheroe-

es aad oholrs.

Audiences often heard h is "X isflstavioa," a

s o ft la lla b y , echoing the s tra in s o f melodies h is mother had Nag over the cradle of her babies.

Bow he was working on a

- 98

longer composition which bo called "Boaanee." Hie motive books were f a l l of themes Which he wented to work into oemp o sitio n s. For a young c ity Just beyond the pioneer stage, Minneapolis by the ta rn o f the eentory had developed in to a rather notable musical cen ter.

Several s ta rs of the Euro­

pean and eastern concert h a lls appeared each season; hat more sig n ific a n t an evidence o f a tree in te re s t in music was the native p a rtic ip a tio n of i t s own o itiaen ry .

A ra th e r

Charming example of the s p i r i t o f i t s culture i s seen in one o f the well-known figures o f th a t period* A* M. shney*

On

Sundays he o ffic ia te d a t the organ of one of the la rg e s t churches In the c ity , St. Mark's Episcopal*

Through the

week he worked as a tic k e t agent a t the Milwaukee ra ilro a d station*

Paring the 'e ig h tie s and ’n in e tie s ohoral socie­

ties* instrum ental groups, and sundry musical clubs had l i t ­ e ra lly mushroomed into l i f e . Each r a c ia l group had I t s singing so cie ties sc a t­ tered throughout the c ity ; p a rtic u la rly active were the Scandinavians* who had swept lik e a migratory horde into Minneapolis a fte r the C ivil War*

She Horwegiaa newspapers

carried frequent n o tices of the meetings and fe s tiv a ls of the various eangferomla&s s* frequently one read the announce1Scnag so c ie tie s

- 93 -

m a t of a forthcoming "sangerfest" to be held in Minneapolis, with sim ilar Horweglan so e le tie s from Chioago, Vargo, Sioox V alla, Solatia, aad ether e itle a earning to p a rtio ip a te .

Bx-

Change v i s i t s were frequent and s e l l attended by the muaioloving Horwegian-Amsrieaas, who p a tr io tic a lly In s t the sp ir­ i t e f th e ir aether country norm ia th e ir h e a rts.

Vhsa they

joined toleea to slag th e ir a a tis a a l smog, wJa Ti elaksr d stte lan d et” or G rieg's "Iandkjoaaing," v e rily the r a f te r s sbo&k*

i s the d irecto r o f the X jerolf Olub, Chrlatiansen was dram Sato these a c tiv itie s , bat mere often am read of his appearance as a violin, s o lo is t a t the oonoerts o f one or another o f the Scandinavian singing so e le tie s .

Bat, not

esljr to Scandinavian e ire le s did Ohristlansen eentrlbate h is ta le n ts .

Shreagh h is position on the faculty of the Oen-

servatory he entered a broader current of a e tiv lty . A badhmard glance over the masleal h isto ry o f Kinneapolls dhows how varied were the in te re s ts o f masio-lovors and masie-malmrs o f th a t day*

She 'e ig h tie s had been a dee-

ade of opera; the 'n in e tie s had adhered in an era of oonoert, with opera re ceding in to the baehgroond.

groat bands aad

orchestras v is ite d the o ity — Seasa's with a l l i t s novel­ tie s ; Viator Herbert gaeat conducting a lo cal band; the fa­ m iliar Theodore Thomas aad h is Ohieago orchestra; Anton Soldi aad the M etropolitan orehestra in an a l l Vagner pro­

-

gram*

100

-

Oa© season grabble! was beard in a se rie s of lee tore s.

2he Minneapolis In stitu te o f Arts brought the French organ1st* Alexandre Qailmant, sad the promising young hoy p ia n is t, Joseph Hoffman* Eccentric Madame schSn-Rene same to Minne­ apolis to v i s i t , and stayed to ex ert an enormous influence on the musical l i f e o f the c ity with her co lo rfu l personal­ ity*

She organised idle University shorn! A ssociation; she

in stitu te d a s e rie s of concerts which brought the most nota­ ble figures of the mneleal world to the city*

Many a stu ­

dent of th a t day w ill re c a ll the evenings spent in sehdnRene’s home when Che entertained Calve or Melba, and invited premising students to sing for the great stars* Small groups gave tone to the week’s events — the seppho Quartet* the lad le s * Schubert Quartet, and the always popular and excellent Heevei strin g Quartet*

At the turn of

the century Minneapolis had three conservatories of music, a symphony orchestra under the d ire c tio n of Frank Pans, and three major musical clubs, the Philharmonics, the Apollo, end the Thursday Musicals Club* fhs story of the Minneapolis symphony Is a v ita l part in the musical h isto ry of th is region*

Early in the

E ig h tie s a group of lo ca l musicians, both amateur and pro­ fessional, formed an orchestra under the d irectio n o f Prank hens.

After a few years o f existence, Prank Pans, J r ., eon-

eertmaster in fhftodore fhemaa’ Chicago orchestra, succeeded

—101 —

M b fath er a* d ire o to r, and developed an orohestra o f m erit and eseelien ee.

i t flourished daring the la te 'e ig h tie s ,

sagged the f i r s t year o f the ’n in e tie s almost to the point of d isso lu tio n ; a fte r a sneeessfol saunter season a t lake H arriet, the orehestra regained I t s p o p u larity , oentinnlng thrsngheat the w inter season with reg u lar Sunday afternoon esneerts.

In 1804-1890 Friday evening ooneerts wore i n l t i -

ated mainly fo r the purpose o f a fin a l drees reh earsal be­ fore the Sunday eeaeert, h at also to sseeame&at* the p a ritanioal-minded she opposed Sunday oonoerta.

By the l a s t

years of the eentary the aadlenees had beeome so large th a t the orehestra moved from the M etropolitan sheatre to the mere eemmodisns Zyeeam Oteatre fo r i t s o en serts. In addition to the regular weekly performaaees, tbs Baas Symphony orehestra appeared in s p a tia l eeasexts with the e lty ’s maaereas singing so o ie tie s and elab s.

A.

ty p ieal program 1s one given w ith the Bsrmaama and seen Singing Soeleties on A pril 10, 1898, a t the M etropolitan th eatre.

She ahemsos sang the asaal Serwegiaa and Swedish

numbers of the popular oemposers, E Jeralf end Wenaerberg. She orehestra played O rieg's "Boor 6ynt s u ite ” fo r the f i r s t time in Ameriea, besides h is a t’s "Bhapaodie bo. 8 ," aad sele o tie a s by Baff and S lo e la i.

She program was ellmaxed by

the presentation of Orieg’s in evitable "laadklenalng” by both ohernses and oroheatra.

Shese were gala oeeaeiens,

- 102 -

sad a l l of Minneapolis enjoyed thorn.

S o cialites drove book

to th e ir fashionable Park Avenue mansions l a th e ir shiny carriag es, proud of t i o l r a l l y 's native ta le n t. E arly la the 'n in e tie s tbs segeibaum b ro th ers, looal mas is lane, were responsible fo r the organisation o f a olab known ao the "F ilharm eair.* i t ooaolatei of a m o ll orehcstra and a men’s q u artet.

l a te r tbs slab was Increased

to laolaAe eeo ea'e voices and was renamed the "Phllharmonica Olob.”

Ik 1961 a young Sermon aaslo la a , Emil Ober-Hoffer,

who had been the conductor o f the Apollo Olab la At. pool, slipped q u ietly in to the musical l i f e o f U ianeapelis, end was now teaching piano a t Berthweetcm Ooaeervatory.

Among

other things he d irected the sh eral section of the Philhar­ monics olab*

fbroagb him O hrlstlansen was drawa in to the

olab, where he played v io lin In the or she s tr a d iv isio n . Because symphony members were poorly paid, i t was the p ractice o f the A lreetor of orehestras to seooro private ooaeertislng or accompanying Jobs fo r the meafbors la addi­ tio n to th e ir regular reh earsals and oonoerto w ith th e or­ chestral consequently, i f aa orehestra was to fle o ris h , the d irecto r had to be oa the a l e r t fo r work for h is members, baas had boon n eg lectfu l in h is d u tie s, and whoa the young Sermon d ire c to r of the Philharmenlos shores began to find oatsido po sitio n s fo r the members o f the orch estra, pane found th a t h is men wore leaving him to work w ith Ober-Hoffsr.

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103

Before long Ober-Boffer m o A ireottag an o ro b sstra o f bio own.

She f i r s t layertea* engagement e f tbe now o rch estra

was asoompanying the Philharmonics Clab in "Efee Messiah” daring the holiday season o f 1999*

With th is performance,

in which C hristiansen p a rtic ip a te d , the eisb finished the century in b r i l l i a n t s ty le . ttM l

Ober-Hoffer, la te r d ra p in g

i l l s yioyift 0 Bread e f Life (Isaae-P.K.O.) B a llt on a Book (IlnAeaan-P.M.0.) Peek Xbyself, My Seal, with Gladness (Croger-F.M.O.) In Heaven Above (Borwegian folk song - P.M.O.) Light of lig h t (Ohorale- a rr. F.M.C.) Oive Praise (Ohorale - a rr. P.M.O.) A Christmas Carol

- 865 -

Volume VII (1982) 110. 111. 112. 118. 114. lilt . 116. 117. 118. 119. 120. 121. 122. 128. 184. 126. 126. 127. 128.

Clap Tear Hands Shou A rt, 0 Cod B lest Are the P u r e in Heart Seuree e f Calm fiepose (Borwegian folk song-F.M.C.) Here, As We Com Be' True 3o Soberly sod Softly (Borwegian folk song - F.M.C.) Consider the l i l i e s Shea Crsee Bivine l e s t in the Bight (Finnish folk song - F.M.C.) Bise By Soul What Joy to fieaeh the Harbor (Borweglaa folk song - F.M.C.} The F aire st of Hoses (Melody from 1642 a rr. F.H .C.) lord o f S p irits (Beissiger-F.M .O.) When Cod Paints the Sunset (Borwegian fo lk song - F.M. 0 .) C elestial Spring: (A motet-oyole in four movements) Bo. I 3he S p ir it's learning C elestial Spring: Bo. II E xaltation C elestial Spring: Bo. I l l Begeaeration C elestial Spring: Ho. IV C lo rifleatio n

Volume VIII (1988 and 1984) 129. 180. 181. 182. 188. 184. 186. 186. 187. 188. 189. 140. 141. 142. 148. 144. 146. 146. 147. 148. 149. 160.

Thy kingdom Come V igil H allelujah to the lord Here leave Tour Sorrow lash o f Cod (German ohorale - a r r. F.M.C.) She Old Heme Cood-Will and Peaee lu llab y on Christmas Eve Bridal song A spiration Joy Sunbeam Oat of Heaven V istas e f Song Blessed Jesus Shis Bight Behold a Host (Crieg-F.M.O.) Samples E ternal Christmas S tarlig h t Angels Made an Arbor Evening Hymn B eautiful fu letid e Kingdom of Cod

£66 -

Volume IX (1986 and 1936) 181. (a) Lamb o f Goa (h) He la Blessed (Sherman) 15£. Hoaanaa la the Highest (a rr. F.M.G.) 113* Mwah 184* fhe Voice Within 186. Book and Befog© (Norwegian folk song » arr* F*M.O ) 156* Longing fo r Home(Eforwogian folk song - a r r . F.M.C.) 157* A Carpenter Cat the Manger Wood 158. The Yule tide 159. 0 Heart Attuned to Sadness (Borwegian folk aeng a rr. F.M.O.) 160. Golden Harps Are Sounding (a rr. F.M.C.) 161* I Haow th a t My Redeemer Liveth ( w r. F.M*0*) 168. X mew a Home E ternal ( w r . F.M.O.) 165* Sahhath Morn (arr* F.M.Q.} 164* F ather* 0 Hear Me ( w r . F.M .0.) 166. She Heavens Resound (a rr. F.M.C.) 166. In Heavenly Love (Mendelssohn-P.M.C.) Volume 1

and 1987)

Shore Is a Song on SSlon's Mountains 16@I Sing, and Let four Song Be Hew 169. Law !e Lying sing Praise to God 171. Song of Praise (J* s. Baeh-F.M.0.) 178. Come Soothing Death (J. S. Booh-P.M.C.) 173. E aster Bells Decadence 174. From Grief to Glory Verse X Love in Grief 176. From Grief to Glory Verse II 176. From Grief to Glory Verse i l l Spring Returns Verse IV Life 177. From Grief to Glory M y Goa Bov Wonderful (From the Sooteh Baal to r, 178. 3.61S - e r r. P.M.O.) 179. Mother*e Day Song (Horae folk song - e r r . P.M.O.) 180. King of Glory 181. lo , Bow a Bose (Prsetorlaa - a r r. F.M.C.) Volnuaa XI 182. 183. 184. 186. 186. 187.

(1986-1 M l) 33ae Bov Song (Borweglaa folk song - a r r . P.M.O.) A Son of Gofl (Gastorlaa - a r r. P.M.O.) What Is l i f e Beauty in Humility Immortal love A Cradle Hymn

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Thine Be the Glory C hrist In the Temple Beep Within When Curtained Darkness Berm Anew She Sum Has Gene Boro The Spires There Many Shan Come Wonders Are Wrought At Beyspring X Praise Thee U* B* Konig-F.M. C ,) Hare Merey and Spare (Chorale from Kingo’s Gradual, 1499 - arr* F.M.O.) 200* Be&wem and Barth

168* 189. 190. 191* 192* 198* 194* 198. 194* 197* 198* 199.

Additional Songs for Mimed Tolees I *11 Go Home Again (Chioago 2 Hell Kjos, 1940) As Pearly Balmdrops Play TChicago: Hell Hjos, 1941) Aatamnvs Art (Chioago; Hell KJos, 1942) Song of Mary (Chioagoj Hell JKjos, 1942) Ladles* Voices F ifty Famous Hymns (Aogsfcmrg* 1914) Men1a Voice0 Kor~og Kvartetsang fo r Mandsstemmer (Augsburg, 1902) Cngdomssang Ste in b ry te rrise Aftemsang Umgbirkem Moderena samg

- 26Q -

Additional Songs for Men's Voices ldJ OdZ (Oslo: Norsk M osikforlsg) Aa eg r e i t mog e i t land (Oslo: Norsk Musikforlag) Som Sol gaar aed i Havet (Oslo: Norsk M usikforlag) V iolin g jo lsta y lsa (lew folks Carl Fisoher, 1903) SoSrooe (lew Yorks Carl Fischer, 1903)

Waltses (Chioago: la tio n a l Musio 0o«9 1092) Organ St. Glaf Organ Series (Augsburg) Canon in the Octave Consolation F estiv al Overture Folk-tone Funeral Marsh No* 1 Funeral Marsh No. % lope Hyson and Irayer legends Meroh Maroh Triumpbale Melody in S Offertory i s P Bo. 1 Offertory in V Bo. 2

-

269

Pastoral P rater Prelude and Fuga Seng Sunday Morning Hie Shepherd K a te Vision

HH F irs t Norwegian Bhapsody (Whttmerk. 1982) m & m y ( m i t e k ( 1938) "

-

'J

Htaoeliaaeoas She P o llso ts of the iaitheran Ohnroh (With 0. A. Mellby, AugehirgV 1916T A Qaypella Chorus Book; For Mined Volees (Edited by F. M* (Jhrist Jenson''end wT Gain, introduction by W* A. Fisher, lew forks Oliver B it son, 1932) Young Men*s Choral Assembly fo r Sehools (Hew fork;

rt* sfiSSer)

'

A ppendix 3

fOURS OF TEE ST. OIAF 10THEBAN CHOIR (1920*1942) fear 1920 1922 1922 1924 1925 1929 192V 1920 1929 1930 1931 1032 1933 1934 1935 1956 195V 193@ 1939 1940 1941 1942

four Schedule East Rest Rost Midwest West Central West East and South Mast West Central and south East Mast Europe* South E ast and South Midwest Bast Bast Central West Bast Central West Bast South

Months April A pril January- February A pril Peesmber- January A pril January April January June-July January-February January* February January-February June-August January-February January-February April January February January February April April January-February A pril January February January February January February

*0f. pages 165-188 - 270 -

A p p e n d ix o PBOGBAMS

m

SHE ST. OIAF LU2KEHAH QSOXB

{191&-1948) 1918

_

B or r l n g e s p a s J o r A ---------------------------- --------- . . . . — C h r i s t i a n s e n B e i l i g e r J o r d a n . . . . ___________ . __F o lk m e lo d y - C h r i s tia n s e n ( C r u s a d e r * s Hymn) ___________ . . . . . . . . . . _______ . . A . S jfte r a a n Song O yele a . lam b o f SoA b . He i s B le s s e d 0 * H o san n a X Knew t h a t h y B eA sener l i v e t h — H a n d e l- C h r i s tia n e e n J e g e s a ham s e a B a r a H o rw eg ian f o l k s o n g - O h r i s t i a n s e n o A e sa a , a e ---------- — ____________ .___ . . . S h o p - C h r i s t i a n s e n 0 ho v e A h j f i t f o r h a a n e t __________ .H a s s le r - C h r ls tla n s e n Sore s o l g e a r n o d 1 h a v e t ___________ . . . . C h rie tia a e e n B et r la g e r f r a a l l s t a a r a e •________K J e r a l f - C h r i s t l a a s e n l o v e r A ea H e rre — — — --------------- --------- -— S f f h r e n - O h r is tia n s e n

1918 (Horway) Ber rlnges paa J o r d ------------------------ --------------- Christiansen inodorous sang . . . . — . . . . ----------------------- -— Christiansen HvaA e s t Are Aog skjjfn . . . . . . . ------------- . . . . -------- . . . — Grieg lover Aon H e r r e ----------.-------Sf&ren-Christiansen Cores Ye Bieoonsolate ______________________ _— Serenel webbe S t i l l , S t i l l with Thee —. — -------- —---------.Frans Abt lead Kindly lig h t a*■■iJW m___ •«•■«*•**«•**»•*6sipdT of Boosiaa ohooroh mitslse

g

" i t is net dons by conscious a r t i f i c e ; the whole point i s th a t, given an inner fe e lin g fo r the m atter in lan d , i t s expression inevitably assomes the rig h t a ta e spj}0^ oooijat* ” Prances Soundmen, S t. Baal Pioneer P ress. Bay 2, 1981 "After on ehsenee e f several years the noted lu theran Choir of St. Olaf Oollego o f B orthfield, Uinneseta. returned to symphony B all yesterday afternoon to re -a fflrm an id eal in choral singing whioh was so v iv id ly exemplified in the e a r lie r v i s i t , fh is group of men and women choris­ te r s , d irected by Dr. P. K. C hristiansen, demonstrated again those q u a litie s o f ensemble performanoe whioh, i f assldusnsly cu ltiv ated w ill eventually permit choral mnsio to r e ­ lease i t s e l f from the bondage e f im itativ e forms and obtain th® freedom now enjoyed by instrum ental m nsio." Beaten Is in s o rlp t. February 4, 1988

283 -

"Before an e n th u sia stic audience whioh included Crown Prince «Laf and Princess Martha o f Borwsy, the St. Olaf lath eran Choir, o f H orthfield, Mian., mm conducted by P. Melius C hristiansen fhsrsdsy evening in tbo boot choral ooneort th a t boo boon board boro for many a season. I f tboro baft boon a question o f a eonteat w ith tbo Westminster Choir which bad appeared in the seme b a ll the n ig h t b efo re , the la u re l wreath would bare boas awarded wlthont a d is s e n t­ ing -vote to. th e AM rlasn-Borwegiansingers* I t was a e t riv a lry , however, b at only a ju x tap o sitio n o f booking dates th a t brought about tbs comparison. "She a n p e rie rlty o f the Minnesotans re sid e s i s the b e a u tifu l teas qu ality o f the blended voices and also Is the e a s rlty o f tbs phrasing, shot q uality i s b e s t described as instrum ental because tb s element e f in d iv id u a lity mao so carefully'excluded,' considered as a mixture o f tim bres, tbo singing was impersonal, although expressive shading was not looking, i t was as though each singer bad bean tra in e d to use the voice for the production o f pure tone eatingsd by emotion, y e t by seme sab tle ty the emotion was p re se n t." Bey C. Brown, Washington (B.C.) Boot. February 1, 1941 "Syria itesqse was f ille d l a s t n ig h t with frien d s of St. Cdaf Choir whioh earns to sing a f te r an obeenoe of seme y ears. ?. in lin e Christiansen i s s t i l l d ire c tin g b is wonderful ehoir and s e ll s from b is six ty singers the most b e a u tifu l tones by tbs s lig h te s t possible g e s tu re .. . . Qua miraculous tone which th is loader contrives almost disarms one o f c r i t i c a l lis te n in g fo r i t i s easy to grow sentim ental in bearing those voioes. His technique o f production i s tbs b est so lu tio n I bare learned fo r such a group with changing for i t moves flu e n tly and resonantly without be­ coming a r t y . . . . " J. Bred M s s fe it, Pittsburgh aun-golesranh. February 6, 1941 ”3he d iseip lin ed a r t of tb s eboir, dirooted by P. Melius C hristiansen, i s effeetiv e in a style a l l i t s own. Shi vocal tons i s shorn of a l l v ibrato and never gees beyond a rig id ly co n tro lled breath le v e l, ib is makes for a eolleotiv e instrument th a t y ie ld s to the most exact control o f tonal values. I t i s a fp e e ia l a r t , but a thoroughly con­ vincing one." J.L .B ., Philadelphia 33» Evening B u lle tin . January 30, 1941

"...A eutaeber uA aaarlkanlseber Ghorfealtur. Aetatere fia d e t ihren Aasdruoi: venlger in Aar Beturning flea Innsrlieh-G eistigen a le in ain er a lle rd in g s re stlo a en AusaebiSpfang a lle a Slanglieban and e in e r l i e ana Masohinelle strelfenden v irtu o so s B risia lo n .” MiEllgj.g’ AbenAijoat, August 18, 1880 "Kaon feann aleo n leb t sagen, ob aina gewtsea Mono­ tonia dea Aaadrueba dan Seagern aw? l a s t an lagan i a t . . .von a fise a uraprunglich kaltisoben Z m ek ereobeint an abgelSst, von selbataaA ig naaiknliaebsa Sian n ie b t gans in nnaerem Gefubl e r f u l l t . At or Ait I*iatnag erxegt Baapekt and nan la die . Singer gam a a te r beaaeran Bedinguagen v ie d e r. ra n . " m m . Boraan-gaarlar. August 19, 1980 "...A na a lle a g ib t hub ainan B egriff m A esppalla-Seaang, via w it ibn in aeleber Seblfiekenlosigbeit neeh kaum e rle b t an baben sniaem ...den Baebaoben Absent; ifiat eleg an t, aber n leb t frie a b and Sbervnltigend.n Barline* flageblatt. August 19, 1980 **p0T Maerik&jai£&&he KiTQfofin&lh&T dftyf etQfc jsa ton

beaten eainar Art zSblen, Mr verdient in aam ittelbarar mbs Aar future ode? eoropfiiaeban Klengkdrper genannt an verdan.” , August 14, 1980

"Bis oabaAlagte siaharbait and icelnbeit, n i t Aar Aar gaaanta Obar obne jade vorangehende fonangsbe a in sa ta t and dsbei vie a in Mann Ala ©mart t r l f f t , i a t bevaaAermgswurdig and ebne Asa Yerbandansein ainaa sueerorA antllab fa in entviokelten sbseluten Oeb&ra b a i aantlieban B eteilig n , fiber snob ebna nnablssaige Uebaag in Zitaamwoaalagan arban.pt n ieb t an b e g re ifa n ....S a r Obor l e t vie a in Ombaatar edar aina riaalg e orgal, anf Aar Aar b irig a n t a i t v irtu o se r H aistaraobsft sp ie lt....U rn so aabonar Aann viadar die valaba, eonora F&lla Aar Stessavoee; gans b s rrlie b o ft Ala in abaelntar Bein b a it vnnderaam a a it veraebnebenAen Pionissimodrei&Laenge! ” Blaanaahar gfigeneat. August 18, 1980

S

FIGURE ARRANGEMENT

FOR A

I CHOIR

OF

3 © © " '" •

*$§® ©

Un c i r c l e d n u m e r a l s - l i g h t Circled

numerals

------------- I n ne r

Thin voi ces

- h e a v y dark voices

choir

- 285 -

SIXTY