Male voice choir Gouda's Liedertafel was established on 7th January 1923 and was created through a merger of Gouda’s male voice choir DOK (Door Oefening Kunst) and a choir of cigar manufacturers. Mr H.W. Bonnes, choirmaster of the cigar manufacturers’ choir, became the first choirmaster of male voice choir Gouda's Liedertafel and he held the post until 1930.
Choirmasters
His successor was Mr Moss Wolff, who left the choir in 1935 and handed the artistic leads of the choir to Mr G. de Vries. In 1937 Mr Wolff returned to Gouda’s Liedertafel and under his leadership the choir evolved to a good standard. In 1941, because of the German occupation, he was forced to leave the choir and from 1941 to 1945 Mr H.J. v.d. Bos was choirmaster. In 1945 Moss Wolff returned once again and stayed until 1960, when he was succeeded by his pupil Chris Verhoog. Mr Verhoog left the choir in 1975 and was then succeeded by Mr André Bunnik. He was, after Moss Wolff (24 years in total), choirmaster for the longest period in the history of Gouda's Liedertafel e.g. more than 20 years. His successor was Johan Oomkes, who was appointed as temporary choirmaster in 1994, and took over from André Bunnik on permanent basis at the beginning of 1996. Under the leadership of Johan Oomkes the choir recorded two CDs. From August 2000 until December 2006 Eric van Dalum was our choirmaster. Under his leadership we gave several large and beautiful concerts and we undertook two concert trips abroad. On 1st January 2007 he was succeeded by Han Louis Meijer. Since its formation, male voice choir Gouda's Liedertafel has experienced many highs and lows. The membership was at its lowest in 1936 numbering only 14, while the largest number of members in its history, 70, was recorded in 1946. Since then the number of members has varied between 30 and 60.
Honorary members
In the course of time a choir like ours has had a lot of people in its midst who unselfishly put a lot of time and effort into the choir. Upon their retirement from Gouda’s Liedertafel they were awarded honorary membership. We are proud to mention them by name and thank them again for all their hard work and dedication: Mr. A. van Leeuwen, Mr. H. Anker, Mr. W.G.P. Pauwelussen, Mr Joh Anker, Mr. R. van der Weel and Mr. A. Vleeskens.
Commemoration of the Fallen
Every year on the 4th May the choir participates in the Commemoration of the Fallen on the Market in Gouda. We are very proud of this tradition. Gouda’s Liedertafel is no stranger outside Gouda either. We give approximately ten concerts per year in the Netherlands as well as abroad. We participate in choir festivals or choir competitions at least once a year, where we often win prizes or get an honourable mention from the jury. On a regular basis concerts are given in the homes for the elderly as well as residential care homes in and around Gouda.
Repertoire
Our repertoire, which is renewed regularly, largely consists of a selection of the great Opera choirs, famous male voice choir songs, musical and operetta melodies however it also contains modern music.
A quarter century
On 22nd January 1948 the choir celebrated its 25th anniversary. The choir was then better known under the abbreviation Ma-Go-Li. The festivities took place in the New Theatre at the Boelekade. The choir was conducted by choirmaster Moss Wolff. Tenor Bert van ‘t Hoff and pianist Anny Mol participated in this concert. The entrance fee was a quarter (25 cents). Amongst the songs that were performed that night were "Le Rossignol", the "Hunter’s Chorus" and the "Pilgrim’s Chorus".
100 years KNZV
The 30th anniversary was celebrated with Koninklijk Nederlands Zangersverbond (Royal Dutch Singers Association), which celebrated its 100th anniversary. On 9th April 1953 the choir gave a concert in "Concordia Hall" on the Westhaven with Moss Wolff as choirmaster. Participants at this concert were the Amstel's Vocaal Kwintet, soprano Irma Brester, mezzo-soprano Mea Groenendijk, tenor Peter Pender and bass Jacq. Kasper. All were accompanied by Joop Grubben on piano. The entrance price was then fl l.25 (including tax). On the programme were among others "Trösterin Musik", "Am Grabe", "Ave Maria" and “Dat Liet van den Rhijnschen Wijn" (“That song of the Rheine Wine”).
40 years GLT
Gouda's Liedertafel’s 40th anniversary was celebrated in the Concordia Hall on the 16th November 1963. Soloist was soprano Agnita van Leeuwen, with Henny J.Moser-Beitsrna on the grand piano. The choir was accompanied by Mrs Henriëtte Verhoog-Mataheru. Chris Verhoog was now choirmaster. During this concert the choir sang "Le Rossignol" again but also "Eens Meienmorgens Vroege" (Once Early May Morning), "Priests’ Chorus", "Monks’ Chorus" and "Hunters’ Chorus". That night the choir also sang four Negro Spirituals.
Abraham*)
On Friday the 26th January 1973 Gouda's Liedertafel saw Abraham. Back in the Theatre on the Boelekade the choir celebrated its 50th anniversary, and people paid fl 5.50 to see this concert. There was participation from sopranos Karin Ostar and Marijke van der Lught, tenor Henk Meijer and bass Rob Holl. Male voice choir Orpheus from Schiedam and mixed choir Euterpe from Utrecht also participated. 135 male and 400 female voices in total were all under the direction of choirmaster Chris Verhoog. Harry Holtman accompanied the concert on the grand piano. During the dinner, after the anniversary reception, the chairman at the time, Mr J Anker, had a special task when he was able to honour Mr G de Jong who celebrated his 40th anniversary with the choir. Mr de Jong also received a medal from the Koninklijk Nederlands Zangersverbond (The Royal Dutch Singers Association). Also in 1973 Gouda’s Liedertafel organised a three city concert with MVC Orpheus from Schiedam and Euterpe from Utrecht.
Guest of honour
The 60th anniversary was celebrated on 28th October 1983 in the Schouwburg (theatre) in Gouda. Guest of honour that night was one of the founders of the choir Mr Arie van Leeuwen. The theme of the celebration was ‘Nature’. Musical director was André Bunnik and baritone (and former choirmaster) Chris Verhoog performed as soloist.
Koninklijke Militaire Kapel (Royal Military Band)
On 5th November 1993 Gouda's Liedertafel presented itself to the Gouda public again with a concert to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the choir. In front of a sold-out theatre we were able to host a concert with the participation of guests including the Royal Military Band under the leadership of Major Pierre Kuypers, Miranda van Kralingen and Guido Janssen. We were very proud of this achievement.
Own CD
1997 was a very busy and memorable year for Gouda's Liedertafel. In February they gave their best performance while recording a Christmas CD, produced ‘in-house’, in the Old Catholic Church in Gouda. The sales of this CD surpassed all expectation, with 6000 sold up to December of that year.
75 Years GLT
In 1998 Gouda’s Liedertafel commemorated 75 years since its formation. With much enthusiasm we worked on a year full of surprises. Another CD was recorded, this time to support the anniversary, and again a wonderful tour-de-force was created. We hosted and organised a number of big and small concerts that year - 35 in total. All the nursing and rest homes were visited and treated to a free concert by us under the motto ‘He who has a birthday, treats’. That year we undertook an anniversary trip to Maastricht to give a concert there together with male voice choir Borgharen, together with the same soloists that we would welcome later on in the year at our anniversary concert in the Goudse Schouwburg (theatre). The anniversary concert was a tremendous success, and in a sold-out theatre we gave a concert so full of surprises for the public that it was the talk of the town for years.
80 years young
2003 was time for our 80th anniversary. The choir members, together with their ladies, went on another trip and this time the destination was Koningswinter in Germany. There we were guests of male voice choir Spich 1874. Together with this choir and pianist Han Louis Meijer we gave a truly perfect concert. On the 11th October of that year we gave an anniversary concert in the characteristic Turfmarktkerk (Turfmarkt Church) in Gouda together with soprano Wendy Roobol, Han Louis Meijer on piano, salon orchestra Pistache and the horn sections of the Municipal Brass Band "Caecilia" and Gouda's Brass Band "de Pionier". It was an evening full of variety and the public as well as the choir members enjoyed a magnificent evening. A packed church witnessed a sparkling show with lots of changes and surprises. The theme of the evening was “A Journey through the World of Music”. A model train was projected above the choir which took the public through a different country with every song travelling via Germany, Italy, Scandinavia, France and England then back to the Netherlands. Among others the choir members performed the songs “La Vergine degli Angeli” and the “Monks’ Chorus” from the opera "La Forza del Destino" in monk robes. They also performed the song “Het Dorp” (The village) made famous by Wim Sonneveld. This song has been arranged especially for Gouda's Liedertafel by previous choirmaster Johan Oomkes. After the interval the choir performed a light programme including a number of barbershop songs.
Runners up
The year 2004 was a busy year with lots of appearances. On a number of occasions the choir has been the guest of nursing, care and rest homes, churches and hosted open-air concerts. In the spring we participated in a singers’ day in Middelburg and we were asked to appear in the beautiful concert hall. Our second show outside on the Abdijplein (Abby Square) apparently made a huge impression because photographs of our show were printed in several newspapers. There were 20 other choirs appearing with several different disciplines that day so we must have made a very good impression or were in the right place at the right time.
Each year we man a stall during the annual culture market around the St Janskerk (St John’s church) in Gouda, and each year choirs perform in the church during the day. This year, for the first time, the performing choirs were judged on their performance by some impressive people from the world of classical music. There were 12 participating choirs this year and our choir won second prize which meant that we were allowed to host a free concert in the Gouwekerk in Gouda in 2005.
Outfit
2005 was the year of the new outfits. After having performed in the midnight blue dinner jackets for more than 12 years, we hung these on the willows. After several visits to suppliers and lengthy consideration a committee of several choir members and ladies of choir members decided on new black dinner jackets, new bow ties and shirts to put the finishing touches to the outfit. During the choir festival in Middelharnis we presented our new attire to the audience for the first time.
Also in 2005 we were able to host a large number of concerts, approximately 17 in total. The concert in de Gouwekerk, which we won in 2004 during the culture festival, was most definitely the biggest. This evening our guests were the symphony orchestra and the clarinet ensemble of the Gouda School of Music and we performed in front of a packed church. There were also a number of frivolous concerts that year, for instance during the Open Monument Day that year which had “Church history” as its theme for that year.
Musical director
We started 2007 with a new musical director. Han Louis Meijer took over from Eric van Dalum on the 1st January. Under his leadership and fully confident we started working on our anniversary year at full speed. In spring a new series of official photographs were shot in the St Janskerk (St John’s Church) and in the garden of the Willem Vroesen house. Our participation to the Commemoration of the fallen in May was our first performance under our new musical director but our first big concert was at the end of that month in the new care centre Savelberg in Waddinxveen.
Wales
The year 2008 was characterised by hard work. The choir celebrated its 85th anniversary and that would be marked with a big concert in the Goudse Schouwburg (Gouda’s Theatre). For this concert an almost totally new repertoire had to be learned.
The anniversary year was kick-started with a large reception in the Agnietenkapel (Nun’s Chapel). To find out if all the hard work was paying off and to see how the public would react to the new material, we gave a try-out concert in July in the Evertshuis Theatre in Bodegraven.
In September we travelled to Wales with more than 100 people (singers and partners) for a concert trip. We gave two concerts with local choirs as our hosts. On the 4th October we reached the high point of the year; the anniversary concert in the Goudse Schouwburg (theatre). The concert blew the roof off an almost packed theatre. The anniversary year was ended with a dinner dance in November.
*)To see Abraham (or Sara if you are female) is a Dutch custom at your 50th birthday. Usually a doll is made of some old clothes and put outside your front door. A cake in the shape of Abraham (or Sara) is also a feature at the birthday party.
