Honoring the Stoeckel legacy

By Colleen Gundlach

The year was 1899 when Carl and Ellen Battell Stoeckel decided to honor her father, Robbins Battell, by starting a choral festival in Norfolk. The Stoeckels had been opening their home, Whitehouse, for musical gatherings for several years, so it was a natural offshoot for them to expand these opportunities. They invited choral groups from throughout the area to participate, and the Litchfield County Choral Union (LCCU) was born.

For five years, the groups from the various area towns rehearsed individually, and the Stoeckels paid a conductor to travel from town to town to prepare for concerts. During these years, the Choral Union rehearsed in makeshift venues in Torrington, Winsted and New Hartford. But the Stoeckels wanted a more formal home for the LCCU and for the internationally acclaimed musicians who would conduct and accompany them, so they commissioned a beautiful, rustic concert hall to be built on the Whitehouse grounds. On June 6, 1906, the Music Shed opened and the Norfolk Festival was launched.

As the LCCU celebrates its 120thanniversary, its current music director, Jonathan Babbitt, outlines the rich history of the Choral Union. “The Stoeckels wanted to draw amateur singers from the region to do one major work each year. They rehearsed 800 people and ultimately chose by audition the best 400 to be a part of the group. Then they brought in soloists and instrumentalists to support the amateur singers, with amazing results. This was the first great opportunity for amateur singers in northwest Connecticut, eastern New York state and western Massachusetts to perform with well-known, highly accomplished musicians.” Ellen Battell Stoeckel brought the New York Philharmonic to Norfolk by train in the early 1920s to accompany the Choral Union singers, and her devotion to the group was so strong that she was even able to entice Finnish composer Jean Sibelius to make his one trip to the United States—in 1914, to spend a week in Norfolk leading the orchestral accompaniment for the LCCU.

“Ellen and Carl Stoeckel’s critical mission for the choral union,” says Babbitt, “was to ‘honor the composer and his work in the most elevated manner possible.’ We continue that tradition today.”

Babbitt himself has a long tradition with the LCCU. He began singing with the group at age 10, and his mother has been a member since the 1950s. All of his siblings and his father have also participated. A Yale graduate himself with a master’s degree in music, Babbitt took over the reins of the Choral Union when then-director Fenno Heath retired in 1985.  

Now in his 35th year leading the LCCU, Babbitt is still going strong and looking forward to continuing the rich traditions of the group. One of his favorite traditions is actually a tribute to the Stoeckels. During the intermission of each performance, the Choral Union goes outside to the Music Shed grounds. “We walk to a rocky grotto above the Shed, which is the resting place of Ellen and Carl Stoeckel, and we sing the hymn written by Ellen’s father, Robbins Battell, ‘Sweet Is the Work,’” says Babbitt. “It is a wonderful  celebration in praise of being grateful to God. This is a very touching moment of tribute to the founders of the Choral Union.”

In celebration of this 120th anniversary, the LCCU will present a concert of opera choruses and arias in the Music Shed on Sunday, July 28, including works from Carmen, Madame Butterfly, Aidaand Nabucco, among others. The concert will feature soprano Louise Fauteux, mezzo-soprano  Allison Messier, tenor Giovanni Formisano, bass-baritone Alexander Prokhorov-Tolstoy and the LCCU Festival Orchestra. Tickets may be purchased by calling 401-864-9009.

The Litchfield County Choral Union welcomes new singers. Rehearsals are held every Monday evening during May, June and July at Battell Recital Hall in Norfolk from 7:30 to 10 p.m.  Feel free to join—no audition necessary—by contacting Babbitt at jono@jonathanbabbitt.com.

Photo courtesy of the Litchfield County Choral Union.