Campus singing groups appear to be indigenous to Cornell, according to a recent book by alumnus Michael Slon '92. In Songs from the Hill: A History of the Cornell University Glee Club, he relates that soon after the university opened its doors in 1868, a handful of students formed the Orpheus Glee Club, which eventually led to the formation of today's Cornell Glee Club, considered to be one of the premier all-male choruses in the United States.
Slon's book is the first of its kind to offer an extensive history of an American collegiate choral group (and is perhaps the first extended history of any American choral group). Written in commemoration of the glee club's 125th anniversary, the book chronicles the group's concert history. It takes the reader from the glee club's humble beginnings in the days of local steamboats and new college songs to the most-recent era of jetliners and world premieres. It places the group in the broader cultural context of Cornell's history and the history of American choral music in general and looks at historical arguments on the group's evolution.
Slon, a former assistant conductor of the glee club, relays that the Cornell group has appeared in thousands of concerts across the country, on network television, and most recently on Garrison's Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" on public radio. It also has traveled to give concerts in more than 20 countries around the world. It has even spun off several smaller satellite singing groups, among them the still actively performing Hangovers.
The book is filled with historical photos, some borrowed from Cornell's Rare and Manuscript Collections, and in addition portrays the camaraderie of glee club life backstage and recounts tales from its rich oral tradition.
The book is published by the Cornell Glee Club and may be purchased at the Cornell Campus Store or ordered by phoning 255-3396, writing to gleeclub@cornell.edu or visiting the glee club's web site at http://www.gleeclub.cornell.edu. Slon will be at the Cornell Campus Store to sign copies of the book during Homecoming Weekend, Saturday, Nov. 6.
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