Continuing the tradition to honor the composer

By Patricia Platt

The Litchfield County Choral Union (LCCU) and Yale’s Norfolk Summer School of Music will celebrate the chorus’ first concert at the Music Shed since 2019 with a tribute to its role in Norfolk’s musical history. The concert will present the pieces that were sung at the first performance ever held in the Music Shed, in 1906. The festival opener, “Sweet is the Work,” was composed by Robbins Battell, an accomplished musician as well as a major benefactor of music and art in Norfolk. It will be followed by Mendelssohn’s “Lobgesang (Hymn of Praise).”

Over 80 singers from the LCCU, the Yale Camerata and seven other Connecticut choral groups will be accompanied by the Norfolk Festival Chamber Orchestra. Jeffrey Douma, the internationally renowned conductor, head of Yale’s graduate program in choral conducting and director of the Yale Glee Club, will conduct the performance at the Music Shed on Saturday, Aug. 19, at 4 p.m.

The Battell and Stoeckel families enhanced the quality of life in Norfolk through their love of music, especially choral music. Robbins Battell founded the first glee club in Litchfield County, and his daughter, Ellen Battell Stoeckel, and her husband, Carl Stoeckel, established the LCCU in 1899, making it the oldest musical organization of the many for which Norfolk is known. By 1902, the group’s concerts were so popular that the Stoeckels decided to build a space where the LCCU could perform for one weekend each summer.

They hired the architect Ehrick K. Rossiter with the instruction to first build an experimental hall in which to test the acoustics. Satisfied, the model was then demolished, and the redwood-lined Music Shed was constructed as a means “to honor the memory of Robbins Battell . . . with the object of presenting to the people of Litchfield County choral and orchestral music in the highest forms. . . the sole object being to honor the composer and his work, under the most elevated conditions.” The Norfolk Historical Society on the village green is currently showing an exhibit, “Shedding Light: 200 Years of Art and Music in Norfolk,”that tells their story in-depth.

Ellen Battell Stoeckel willed most of her assets and Norfolk real estate to a trust that funds Yale University’s Norfolk Summer School of Music and Chamber Music Festival. Today, world-class musicians perform during the nine-week season and mentor approximately 40 student fellows during their visits. The LCCU presents a concert of a major choral work each year, still striving to carry out the joyous spirit of its original dedication in 1899.

Today’s Litchfield County Choral Union consists of 40-50 singers who participate in 10 weeks of rehearsal before the summer concert. They are always looking for new members and welcome all applicants. As Harold Niver, LCCU President, noted, “We have many retired people in the chorus and have been trying to recruit younger singers. We sing truly classic music—it’s an art form we are trying to perpetuate and keep alive.” He added that “I enjoy the camaraderie, and I enjoy the power of the sound you get from a choir of 30 to 50 voices singing in harmony together. It’s just an uplifting experience. They’ve done studies that show that people who sing in choirs are healthier because it makes you feel good. We encourage all interested people to join.”

More information is available at litchfieldcountychoralunion.com.