Long live singing: Norwegian singing club celebrates 140th year
It's one of the oldest, continuously running male choruses in America, second only to the Yale Men's Glee Club, but most people wouldn't recognize the name.
The Normennenes Singing Society dates back to 1870, one year before the Great Chicago Fire, when a group of Norwegian immigrants in Chicago founded the chorus.
Right from the start, their mission to was to preserve their Norwegian heritage and promote social opportunities to gather. Those two concepts continue to drive them, though its members mostly rally around a simple philosophy: “lang leve sangen,” or long live singing.
Their love of singing will be on display beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, at the Wellington in Arlington Heights, when club members celebrate their 140th anniversary.
To mark the occasion, they have invited Jim Cornelison, the national anthem singer for the Chicago Blackhawks and a Lyric Opera performer, to be their guest soloist.
Members of the Normennenes Singing Society will perform at 7 p.m. and will include a mix of traditional Norwegian folk songs with patriotic numbers and their signature tune: “Rett Som Ornen Stiger,” or “As the Eagle Flies.”
“We all enjoy singing and getting out of the house,” club president Thor Fjell of Naperville said of the groups' weekly rehearsals.
Bill Johnson of Prospect Heights joined the club six months ago, bringing a wide range of experience he developed as a former church music director. Although his parents were Norwegian and Swedish, he never sought out the club; the club found him.
“I was in Home Depot, and I was wearing a Norwegian hat,” Johnson said. “A member of the group who works there asked me how my heating and air conditioning was, and then he asked me about my singing.”
Johnson eventually joined the group, and though he hadn't sung in 20 years, he is enjoying the chance to sing again and reconnect with his heritage.
“I'm still working at some of my Norwegian pronunciations,” he said, “But I'm having a ball.”
The chorus formerly practiced at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Arlington Heights, and before that, at the Scandinavian Club, where they had joined with members of the Danish American Athletic Club and Dania Society to construct the building and celebrate their common heritage.
However, club members sold the Arlington Heights building in 2003, when it was transformed into Mission Juan San Diego, a Catholic Church. Choral members, however, continue to gather, and sing. They are Scandinavian after all, and they are hearty.
“You used to have to be at least one-quarter Norwegian,” said Bob Wold of Huntley. “But now anyone interested in Scandinavian culture would be considered for membership.”
You don't even have to have a sword, shield or helmet, he quips, as the club's Viking mascot displays.
Wold, like Fjell, follows in the footsteps of his father, who sang in the chorus. Both men grew up listening to the Norwegian folk songs handed down through generations.
“All four of my grandparents came from Norway,” said Wold, who does not sing but is considered a social member. “This gives me a link to my heritage.”
Other members come from all walks of life, from teachers and salesmen to corporate executives.
“It's the sociability of an all-male chorus,” Fjell said. “We all love singing and having fun.”