100 Years of The Dessoff Choirs
The Margarete Dessoff Years
Chapter 1A
The Dessoff Choirs traces its history back to 1924 when a group of interested women, many of whom were on the faculty of Angela Diller's School of Music, assembled to sing under the directorship of Margarete Dessoff. Miss Dessoff had distinguished herself both here and in her native Germany as an interpreter of early choral music - going back to the works of Medieval, Renaissance, and early Baroque composers.
Within ten years of her arrival in this country she was conducting three choral groups - the Adesdi Chorus, the A Capella Singers, an amateur mixed chorus and a small group of touring professionals called the Vecchi Singers. Together they formed The Dessoff Choirs. A century later, under its ninth music director, Malcolm J. Merriweather, the Dessoff Choirs continues to bring great choral music to New Yorkers year after year.
Chapter 1B
Angela Diller, who had founded the Diller-Quaile School of Music in 1920 was introduced to Margarete in the early spring of 1924 by her sister who was teaching at Columbia University where Miss Dessoff was studying English.
As Miss Diller recalls “…a fine looking, middle-aged woman appeared at one of the classes [at the Diller-Quaile School]. I can still see vividly her noble head with its wealth of white hair and the blue, sparkling eyes, as she nodded and beamed during the class discussion of a symphony. This was my first meeting with Margareta Dessoff. We became friends at once.”
Miss Dessoff expressed a desire to have a chorus in New York. Ms. Diller says “[Margarete] had been told that one couldn't get people (particularly tenors) to sing in New York unless one paid them. With a look of pained bewilderment, she said: ‘Do not any people in New York make music because they love it?’” Angela Diller assured her that some people did and gathered interested teachers and students from her school to sing with Miss Dessoff. They created the name “Adesdi” from the first parts of their names and began to rehearse a program for its first concert on May 20, 1925.
Chapter 1C
After the first “Adesdi” concert, Miss Dessoff and Ms. Diller planned their next year, with rehearsals starting in October 1925 and a concert on May 12, 1926.
Both this concert and the earlier one were held at the Concert Hall of the Engineering Societies Building at 29 West 39th Street. Reviews of this second concert were very complimentary: “Adesdi Women’s Chorus Triumphs in Concert”.
Dessoff Chapter 1D
“Schola Cantorum – A Shattering of Precedent”
A new chapter opened for Margarete Dessoff in 1926 when she was invited to be a guest conductor for the Schola Cantorum, a well-known and respected chorus in a concert on December 29, 1926. When this news hit the press, New York reviewers were astounded that a woman would lead a major orchestra and chorus.
Woman With the Baton: “[A] musical novelty – Margarete Dessoff at the head of that important organization, The Schola Cantorum…” — The New York Times, July 1926
“The sight of a stately, gray-haired woman waving a precise, graphic baton at tiers of singers in evening clothes was a bit startling at first glance, but after the novelty was done with, the impression of an expert choral director remained…she has proved that a woman can conduct without any implied requests for indulgences.”
— The New Yorker Magazine, January 8, 1927
“The first shattering of precedent was the wielding of the conductor’s baton by a woman, Miss Margarete Dessoff,…The Schola Cantorum is easily New York’s best chorus and Miss Dessoff…will not suffer it to deteriorate under her energetic leadership.” — New York Evening Post, December 30, 1926
Chapter 1E
The Birth of the A Capella Singers
In the fall of 1928, Miss Dessoff began recruiting singers for the A Capella Choir whose first concert was on May 14, 1929.
“This A Capella Chorus of Mixed Voices under the direction of Margarete Dessoff…is on a distinctly professional level in ideal, artistic quality and personnel. It is non-commercial in as much as neither conductor nor singers receive any remuneration…The compelling motive…is the love of fine choral music, and the desire to study and perform the works of the greatest masters.”
Chapter 1F
Spring of 1929 was very busy time for Margarete, as she also conducted the “Sixth” Concert of the Adesdi Chorus on April 17, the Madrigal Choir of the Institute of Musical Art (later known as Juilliard) on April 27 and then the A Capella Chorus on May 14, 1929.
Chapter 1G
December 22, 1929 was the first time the Adesdi Chorus and the A Capella Chorus - Miss Dessoff’s two current choirs - appeared on the same program, billed as the Adesdi Chorus “assisted by” the A Capella Chorus.
Chapter 1H
A year later, on December 21, 1930, a program at Town Hall was billed as “The Dessoff Choirs” for the first time. The two choruses alternated their performances, not yet singing together as one organization.
In January 1931, discussions between the two choruses began on whether to merge into one entity. Finances, of course, were the largest concern. However, in the Spring, they made it official.
Chapter 1I
In October of 1931, Margarete Dessoff asked for a leave of absence (on the advice of her Doctors) which was granted with regret.
Randall Thompson was selected to fill in for her as the Interim conductor for two concerts at Town Hall and a benefit concert.
Chapter 1J
April 9, 1934, a special meeting of the active members of the Dessoff Choirs voted to incorporate.
In January 1935, Dessoff celebrated its 10th Anniversary with a reception and Musicale. The program included a new visual image of the joint choirs.
Chapter 1K
Margarete Dessoff announced her retirement from Dessoff Choirs in March 1936, and Paul Boepple was selected as her successor. A farewell concert was planned at Town Hall for April 28, 1936. Unfortunately, Miss Dessoff and the Dessoff Choirs’ manager were injured in a car accident while driving through Central Park, two weeks before the concert. Deciding not to cancel her farewell concert, Boepple stepped in to conduct.
Margarete Dessoff retired to Europe, eventually settling in Locarno Switzerland. Her death at age 70 was announced by The Dessoff Choirs on December 2, 1944.
The Boepple Years (1936-1968)
Paul Boepple was Dessoff's second music director and its longest at 36 years. Here is a brief story about how he came to Dessoff, written by Mrs. Richard H. Dana who was a founding member of The Dessoff Choirs and its Honorary President.
In 1936 a great change took place in The Dessoff Choirs. Madame Dessoff decided to retire. My nephew, [a musician] referred me to Paul Boepple, saying he was a fine musician and an excellent choral conductor. He was Swiss, and in New York as Jacques Dalcroze had sent him to take charge of his New York School a few years earlier.
I went to hear Boepple rehearse a small choral group. As I was greatly impressed, I asked my nephew to find out whether he would be interested in conducting The Dessoff Choirs. Fortunately for us he wanted the job.
When meeting members of the Board, a director asked Paul if he had ever seen Brahms. He replied that his family had known Brahms intimately and that as a child he had played on Brahms' piano. Madame Dessoff's attitude towards Brahms was reverential and at this revelation she melted. The day was saved and in due course Paul was asked to conduct the Choirs.
