When I was considering St Olaf for school, my father, a proud Concordia Grad, was overjoyed to tell me all about St Olaf’s choral history. Naturally, as a proud choral and history nerd, I was eager to listen.

In 1920, F. Melius Christiansen and the St Olaf Choir set off on tour. This was not the very first tour they had been on, as they’d toured in Norway in 1913. However, it was their first domestic tour across the United States. This tour would set a choral precedent for something that would echo through history all the way to today, when the St Olaf Choir still tours, sometimes multiple times per year, frequently filling the house full of people eager to hear the St Olaf Choir sing. The program of the original 1920 tour lays out a much more sacred quest than selling tickets, however.

The Cover of the St Olaf Lutheran Choir 1920 Eastern United States Tour

When reading through the program of the original 1920 St Olaf Lutheran Choir Tour, it immediately differs from the common program notes that are found in Choral concert programs today. Nowadays, when opening your average program, one will find a brief description of the conductor and maybe some notes about the students, but that is often all. However, in this program, it goes into great detail about the purpose of the choir, which is, to quote the program, to “have a far-reaching effect upon the services of the Lutheran churches of America, proving a powerful factor for unity in the services of these churches.” Farther down, after the introduction, there lie several letters, one from the President of the College, another from the President of the Norwegian Lutheran Church of America, another from the President of the United Lutheran Church of America, and a final letter from the President of the Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio. The Norwegian Lutheran Church of America and the United Lutheran Church of America synods would eventually be merged into what is now known as the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, which is the synod that St Olaf College is affiliated with. Upon looking at the actual pieces programmed, it makes sense, as most of the compositions listed are by Lutheran composers, promoting Lutheran ideals. Oh, and don’t worry, Beautiful Savior is still there.

This tour is a direct contrast from another tour I analyzed, which was the Fisk Jubilee Singers Tour, almost 50 years earlier. While their tour came out of necessity, to raise money for their program, the St Olaf Lutheran Choir Tour was for a missionary-like purpose. Both are excellent examples of successful and impactful Choir Tours, especially as the St Olaf Choir program continues to sell out concerts, including their annual ChristmasFest, and the Jubilee Singers having won a Grammy in 2021 for Best Roots Gospel Album.

The Original Fisk University Jubilee Singers Program