Choral Treatises and Singing Societies in the Romantic Age

Choral Treatises and Singing Societies in the Romantic Age charts the interrelated beginning and development of choral methods and community choruses beginning in the early nineteenth century. Using more than one-hundred musical examples, illustrations, tables, and photographs to document this phenomenon, author David Friddle writes persuasively about this unusual tandem expansion. Beginning in 1781, with the establishment of the first secular singing group in Germany, Friddle shows how as more and more choral ensembles were founded throughout Germany, then Europe, Scandinavia, and North America, the need for singing treatises quickly became apparent. Music pedagogues Hans Georg Nägeli, Michael Traugott Pfeiffer, and Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi invented the genre that became modern choral methods; initially these books were combinations of music fundamental primers, with frequent inclusion of choral works intended for performance. Eventually authors branched out into choral conducting textbooks, detailed instructions on how to found such a community-based organization, and eventually classroom music instruction. The author argues that one of the greatest legacies of this movement was the introduction of vocal music education into public schools, which led to greater musical literacy as well as the proliferation of volunteer choirs. All modern choral professionals can find the roots their career during this century.

David Friddle is a man of many talents: author, conductor, composer, organist, designer and accomplished chef. He has two doctorates in music: Juilliard School, 1988 (organ), and the University of Miami, 2006 (choral conducting). Dr. Friddle has worked as a church musician in multiple denomi-nations; a professional graphic designer for a NYC glossy magazine and a manufacturing company in Miami; adjunct faculty at the University of South Carolina Upstate; and as a line cook at restaurant Cibréo in Florence, Italy.

In addition to his varied professional activities, David founded two gay men’s choruses--one in Greenville, SC and the second in Asheville, NC. In 1997 he managed the SC Gay Pride March, held in Greenville; the following year he oversaw public events for the NC Gay Pride March in Asheville. His dissertation Christus is published by Bärenreiter-Verlag of Germany, and he has had articles published in the Choral Journal, American Choral Review, Newsletter of the American Liszt Society and The American Organist. Dr. Friddle has conducted in seventeen states and Europe and has given organ recitals in the major cathedrals of England and around the United States.