Das Hilfswerk, Guide to Cincinnati German Community

              [corresponds to page 40] 
The Singers' Past 
While it is not possible in the scope of this short work to give a detailed history of 
the emergence of our city's singing clubs, the author is nonetheless in the 
position to draw out the tendencies and main events in the life of the joyful 
brothers of song.  This will give the reader a sufficient idea of the challenges and 
victories of the singers during the earliest periods of the emergence of the 
German song on American soil. 
On June 3, 1843 the members of the choirs of the Catholic Church of the Holy 
Trinity and of the German Protestant Church on Sixth Street came together to 
form a men's singing club.  Their purpose was primarily 
to cultivate the singing of German songs.  Unfortunately, there was not adequate 
leadership, and a number of this group's members split off and formed the 
German Song Club.  This group in turn threatened to 
disband, when fifteen from the above-mentioned organization convened in June 
1844 to found the Table of Song.  Its first director was Georg 
Scheidlin.  This club blossomed, and in 1844 the Liedertafel presented its first public concert 
attend by virtually the entire German community of that time.  The organization 
then presented a second major concert in the Mozart Hall.  It, too, was a splendid 
success.  The Liedertafel's contribution lay in providing the stimulus for the 
formation of the North American Singers' Federation.  The Liedertafel disbanded in 1856 
due to internal difficulties. 
The year 1848 saw the emergence of the Swiss Club (Schweizerverein), which 
developed in 1850 into the Swiss Singers' Club (Schweizer Gesangverein).  In 
October of that year, it united with the newly formed Northern Singers' 
Federation (Nordischer Sängerbund) that evolved into the Cincinnati Singers' 
Federation (Cincinnati Sängerbund).  Its first official performance took place in 
February, 1851 in