Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Korsbaneret -- misc. clips, obits about Augie, Chicago, Andersonville

Directory for Korsbaneret, Kristlig Kalendar, 1881-1950, in the Hathi Trust Digital Library http://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/012100356

[HathiTrust is a partnership of more than 100 academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of titles digitized from libraries around the world. Pron. HAH-TEE.]

History of Immanuel Sv. Luth Kyrka i Chicago in 1881 and 1882

Augie mentioned in 1882, pp. 157-59.


Edgewater Historical Society has excellent neighborhood histories:

Transportation was crucial to this development. The Chicago and Northwestern Railroad originally had stops at Summerdale (Berwyn), Rosehill Drive and just south of Granville. Prior to 1908, the trains ran on the ground level. Beginning in 1892, as traffic increased, the train embankments were built to make travel safer on the roads intersecting with the tracks. By 1900, the Clark Street trolley ran north to Devon and south to 111th street, thus creating an important link across the city. This Clark Street trolley line was one of the last to be withdrawn from service.

In the late 1950s, Grant Johnson, a businessman on Clark Street, suggested that the district reestablish the name “Andersonville” for the area. In the early 1960s the Clark Street Businessmen’s Association changed its name to the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce. In 1972, the East Andersonville Residents Council was formed to include the area.

In the past 40 years, many ethnic groups have settled in Andersonville area including Mexican, Korean, Greeks, Persians, Japanese, South Americans, Vietnamese and Thai. Each of them contributes to the strong, unique identity that the Andersonville name retains today.


"Group Brings Atmosphere of Scandinavia to Area." Chicago Tribune 20 Sept. 1964 http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1964/09/20/page/290/article/group-brings-atmosphere-oef-scandinavia-to-area.


"Kurt Mathiasson, Restaurant Owner" Chicago Tribune 10 March 2000 http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2000-03-10/news/0003100237_1_restaurant-owner-punch-line-day-care-center">http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2000-03-10/news/0003100237_1_restaurant-owner-punch-line-day-care-center

A resident of the Andersonville neighborhood since he moved from Goteborg, Sweden, in 1963, Mr. Mathiasson could make quite an impression, said his son, Kurt S.: "He was kind of like a 70-year-old Viking." A burly, smiling man with curly blond hair down to his collar, Mr. Mathiasson liked to break the ice with strangers by telling a few jokes, though he often as not started laughing before reaching the punch line.

He came to America for the promise of greater opportunities and held a number of jobs when he first arrived, including working as a painter and owning a day care center.

But he really began gaining notoriety when he opened Svea restaurant (named for the tribe that gave its name to Sweden) in 1972, and the Swedish-American Museum Center four years later. Among the art displays, historical information and old Viking garb, Mr. Mathiasson's museum also featured exhibits on the creations of Swedish inventors, which included, among other things, the log cabin, dynamite, ball bearings and the zipper. "He wanted Swedes to know and understand their heritage, and he wanted to share that heritage as well," his son said.


Andersonville Mourns Community Leader Edgewater Historical Society 11.3 (Summer-Fall 2000) http://www.edgewaterhistory.org/ehs/articles/v11-3-05

Kurt Mathiasson immigrated from Goteborg in 1963, purch. Svea in 1970s

Kurt’s involvement with Andersonville began in the early 1970’s when he purchased Svea Restaurant at 5236 N. Clark. The neighborhood, which was settled by Swedes near the turn of the century. Kurt, however, got some idea he was going to reclaim Andersonville for the Swedes. Kurt began by dedicating a wall in his restaurant to the history of Swedes in Chicago.

With the Bicentennial celebrations of 1976 came a planned visit by Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf to the United States. It was time for a museum. A storefront was available at 5248 N. Clark and Kurt recruited the Andersonville Chamber of Commerce, of which he was a member to help raise funds. Sweden’s King Carl Gustaf dedicated the Museum on Easter Sunday, 1976. By 1988, the Museum needed to expand and moved to the former Lind Hardware building, at 5211 N. Clark.

* * *

Along with achievements as a community builder and diplomat, Kurt was famous for his congeniality and sense of humor. Along with the jokes Kurt often had a guitar slung over his shoulder. He could play any instrument by ear with tunes from Swedish folk to gospel. Kurt made you feel like family when you came into the restaurant. He helped restore a needed sense of direction to the community. He helped make the neighborhood a better place for everyone as well as for the Swedes. Mathiasson is survived by wife Solveig, sons Lars (Anicka) in Sweden and Kurt S (Esparanza) daughter Kristina (Dell) Oenning and seven grandchildren. Kurt’s ashes were returned to Sweden and scattered there at a family memorial on March 31, 2000.

Reprinted with permission: Andersonville Together May, 2000


"`Mayor Of Andersonville` Dominick Lalumia, 97" Chicago Tribune 8 Dec. 1991 http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-12-08/news/9104200486_1_park-ridge-mayor-booster

Mr. Lalumia was a force in the revival and development of the Andersonville area at Clark Street and Foster Avenue, said his daughter Dorothy Olson. The Inn, which closed in 1977 after 44 years in business, was at 5240 N. Clark St.

Known unofficially as ``The Mayor of Andersonville,`` Mr. Lalumia is remembered as the man who walked Clark Street every morning at 10, ringing a bell to alert shopkeepers to come out and sweep their sidewalks, his daughter said.

``He really believed in the neighborhood and was its greatest booster,`` Olson said. ``He organized the banners on the poles and marched in every parade.``


Nordstjernan -- undated but probably 2008 -- http://www.nordstjernan.com/news/midwest/684/

The Swedish American Museum in Chicago.

In 1976 Kurt Mathiasson founded a small museum in a storefront log cabin, in which family histories were collected. A decade later the Swedish American Museum Center opened

A decade later the Swedish American Museum Center opened at its current location. With a mission to preserve and present the Swedish American heritage in the U.S, the Swedish American Museum Center offers a multitude of programs as well as the interactive Children’s Museum of Immigration. The first smaller museum had some 2,500 visitors. Today the museum has 43,000 visitors a year (2008) and is an important component in the Swedish Anderssonville community, on the north-side of Chicago. “We have 1500 memberships and 2000 members,” says Karin Moen Abercrombie, Executive Director. “Most of our visitors are 2nd and 3rd generation Swedes. Most people come to our permanent exhibition to learn about the Swedish immigration to the U.S. or they come to our arts exhibitions, which change four times a year. Then of course, families come to our Children’s Museum. I think the museum’s holiday celebrations are important to many and help keep the Swedish traditions alive – Midsummer, Lucia, and Christmas. We are also the ‘anchor’ for Swedes and Swedish-Americans here in Andersonville.”

Meeting place with traditions

Solveig Mathiasson, widow of Curt Mathiasson, says the museum has changed for the better lately. “Although many people keep coming back,” she says, “there’s a lot of new visitors, too, especially families. The museum is an important meeting place for Swedes, a meeting place with traditions.”

Read about the start in the words of the first and founding Executive Director: Kerstin Lane, creator, founder, visionary


Sun-Times obit of last owner of Verdandi Club, in the 5000 block of North Clark https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/alt.obituaries/tSCeIcubDH8/hB1BhmesT64J

Dead link to http://www.suntimes.com/news/obituaries/12216848-418/ingrid-bergstrom-91-brought-chicago-swedes-together.html -- takes you to the Sun-Times' homepage

Ingrid Bergstrom, 91, brought Chicago Swedes together
BY KATIE DREWS
Last Modified: Apr 29, 2012 11:00PM

Ingrid E. Bergstrom's Verdandi Club was the epicenter of Swedish-American life in Chicago during the 1960s.

With a huge painting of Stockholm behind the bar and a jukebox that played "Halsa dem da rhemma" and other Swedish songs, the Andersonville restaurant reminded immigrants of their homeland.

Nearly every weekend there was a wedding reception or other event, and once a month there was Scandinavian dancing that packed the house.

"That was the main place where everybody would meet, and those were the days when a lot of Swedes were coming here," said Annette Seaberg, former honorary consul for Sweden.

Along with running the restaurant with her husband, Mrs. Bergstrom, a Swedish immigrant herself, did whatever she could to help newcomers adjust to life in Chicago. She founded Svenska Gillet, the Swedish Friendship Society, and built a strong network of Swedes in the city.

"She'd help everybody," said Nels Nelson, a close friend. "They had people living with them all the time, total strangers that they'd run into. [The guests] would always be so amazed at her kindness and generosity."

Mrs. Bergstrom, a pillar in Chicago's Swedish-American community and also former owner of the Sweden Shop in North Park, died April 10 of natural causes at Swedish Covenant Hospital. She was 91 and a longtime North Side resident.

* * *


Michael Gebert. "Swedish Restaurant Owner, Leader of Vanished Community Dies" Grub Street, nymag.com 2 May 2012. http://www.grubstreet.com/2012/05/swedish_restaurant_owner-ingrid-bergstrom.html

Occasionally an obituary seems like a dispatch from a long-lost world. That's how we reacted to the Sun-Times' obituary for Ingrid E. Bergstrom, 91, a prominent leader in Chicago's Swedish-American community in the 1960s and the owner of the Verdandi Club: With a huge painting of Stockholm behind the bar and a jukebox that played “Halsa dem da rhemma” and other Swedish songs, the Andersonville restaurant reminded immigrants of their homeland. Nearly every weekend there was a wedding reception or other event, and once a month there was Scandinavian dancing that packed the house.

[The Sun-Times misspelled the name. I'm going to skip over the Grub Street obit to the end, which has an embedded YouTube video with the correct spelling. Grub Street is the food section of New York magazine's nymag.com website.]

In any case, at some point in the 1950s or 1960s she opened her restaurant, the Verdandi Club, apparently (there's very little trace of it online) at 5015 N. Clark in Andersonville. She also founded Svenska Gillet, a Swedish friendship society, and seems to have been an important leader in the Scandinavian community. But times were changing in Andersonville; by the early 1970s the Verdandi Club was gone and, in a note of rather too obvious symbolism, the address has been a gay bathhouse since the mid-1970s. Her last business venture was The Sweden Shop at 3304 W. Foster, which she owned from 1971 to 1989 (it's now owned by the owners of the Swedish restaurant Tre Kronor).

Valsigne dig fröken, Mrs. Bergstrom. Let us say goodbye to your world with a chorus of "Halsa dem dar hemma":

Hälsa dem där hemma - played by Walter Eriksson

Friday, January 16, 2015

Augustana Founders' Day Reunion, Andover (where I'll present my April 25 "Pastor Esbjorn's Singing School" psalmodikon workshop)

This release, over the signature of Ron Peterson, acting dean of Jenny Lind Chapel in Andover, went out to churches in northern Illinois. Jenny Lind is the original Lutheran church erected by Swedish immigrants during the 1850s. Its pastor, the Rev. Lars Paul Esbjorn, was a founder of the Augustana Lutheran Synod, and his church in Andover was considered the synod's mother church. Link below for more information on the founders' day reunion, April 25-26, on the Jenny Lind Chapel website at http://helios.augustana.edu/jlc/.

The Jenny Lind Chapel is so named because in 1850 the famous Swedish opera singer, who was on a concert tour of the United States at the time, donated $1,500 to the Andover congregation's building fund -- after the walnut beams set aside for the sanctuary were sawn up for coffins during a cholera epidemic. (Click here for more information, along with dulcimer tab for the cherished Swedish hymn "Children of the Heavenly Father.") The 155th anniversary of the Augustana Synod and the 165th anniversary of the Andover congregation is in April.

More information is available on the Jenny Lind website at http://helios.augustana.edu/jlc/ and a detailed schedule at http://helios.augustana.edu/jlc/reunion_2015/index.html. Here's the blurb on my breakout session:

DR. PETER ELLERSTEN
"The Psalmodikon - Pastor Esbjörn's Singng School"

What in the world is that strange looking instrument in the Jenny Lind Chapel Immigrant Museum? That is Pastor Lars Paul Esbjörn's Psalmodikon, the first musical instrument used at the Chapel. Dr. Peter Ellersten, who is probably the most noted modern-day Psalmodikon researcher, has even had a replica made of Pastor Esbjörn's instrument, and will use it during his presentation.

In all fairness, I probably should point out that as far as I know, I am the only modern-day researcher of the Swedish-American psalmodikon.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Prairieland-Clayville jams: Some notes on HOLY MANNA, and some more notes on shape notes

We made such a good start Thursday night on HOLY MANNA, also known by its first line "Brethren, we have met to worship," I went home and found a couple of performances on YouTube.

Chords in D are available on line at http://guitarhymnbook.com/2011/10/brethren-we-have-met-to-worship-2/. A great big Stetson-sized hat tip to Fred and Judy for finding the chords and lyrics -- and in the right key!

The song comes from the shape-note tradition, and it is commonly sung as the opening song at shape-note singing events.(See information from Wikipedia below.) But it is also a favorite bluegrass gospel number. A couple of clips:

The Gospel Plowboys - Brethren We Have Met to Worship. Video (c) Carol McDuffie, Lovin' Bluegrass YouTube Ministry. Gospel Plowboys are a bluegrass gospel group based in Safe Harbor Baptist Church, in Salisbury, N.C.

Two other gospel arrangements we can pick up ideas from:

All of these bluegrass arrangements are pretty close to the spirit of the original. It's an old, old song, and the modern groups that come closest to it are Primitive Baptist gospel quartets (with extra instruments) down South like the Gospel Plowboys.

Wikipedia, per usual, has the most authoritative brief overview. It's one of the oldest published American folk hymns. The lyrics were written by George Atkins and first published in 1819. HOLY MANNA, the tune, is "a pentatonic melody in Ionian mode originally published by William Moore in Columbian Harmony, a four-note shape-note tunebook, in 1829. Like most shape-note songs from that century, it is usually written in three parts." Our arrangement, which we have licensed from Steve Eulberg, is in three parts. It's in a collection of Steve's that features shape-note tunes from Southern Harmony (1835).

Wayne Seymour, a folk musician, storyteller and composer of North Carolina -- wrote an article for Mel Bay's Dulcimer Sessions at http://archive.dulcimersessions.com/feb08/seymour.pdf with a different arrangement of HOLY MANNA, also from the version in Southern Harmony.

Seymour has some good advice on how to play it authentically. He's writing for mountain dulcimer, but music is music and what he says will work for other instruments, too:

There are a couple of things that make shape note music interesting to me on the mountain dulcimer. First , the harmonies are usually based on an interval of a 5th (Five notes distance in pitch between one note and another.) This is the same interval that we use in most common dulcimer tunings. (From D to A, for example.)

Second, in traditional shape note singing, the tenors carried the melody. There was a bass line, and women sang a part that was simply called "treble" since it was neither a conventional alto nor soprano part. This is quite a different arrangement from the usual soprano, alto, tenor, bass harmonies that dominate not only hymns, but a lot of secular music as well. As a result, the harmonies tended to be "droney.” What better fit could there be for a mountain dulcimer!

The tunes go slowly, but with a definite VERY strong rhythm. There should be strong emphasis or "punch" on the first beat of each measure and a detectable emphasis on the third beat. Stum across all three strings for the melody, and don’t let the melody get lost in the drone.

Why is it called shape-note music? Here's the original from Southern Harmony at http://www.ccel.org/ccel/walker/harmony/files/hymn/Holy_Manna.html. The melody (called the "lead") is in the middle line. The top line is a high harmony part called the "treble," and the bottom is the bass. Some people think (and I'm one of them) bluegrass harmony comes from the three-part harmony of the old shape note tradition. See how different notes of the scale have different shapes? That's why we call the shape notes.

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Nashville sound? Nashville songwriter's viral mashup shows why country music all starts to sound alike after a couple of minutes

Ever wonder why the songs on your favorite country music station all sound the same after a while? Nashville songwriter-producer Gregory Todd says his mashup "was made 'all in good fun,' not as a way to bash the music or the artists who are dominating the radio," according to an article in yesterday's Nashville Tennessean. Well, OK, sure. But it certainly does show what happens when songwriters and record producers have to hew to a formula in order to get airplay.

The songs are:

  • Blake Shelton's "Sure Be Cool If You Did"
  • Luke Bryan's "Drunk on You,"
  • Chase Rice's "Ready, Set, Roll,"
  • Parmalee's "Close Your Eyes,"
  • Cole Swindell's "Chillin' It"
  • And "This Is How We Roll," recorded by Florida Georgia Line.

Todd, whose YouTube user name is "Sir Mashalot," says his next project is "a new musical experiment: a song specifically written to fit his mashup formula." OK, sure. I don't know how new that is -- seems like that's what they all do -- but I'll bet it gets some airplay.

Tuesday, January 06, 2015

Swedish dissertation on J C F Haeffner's 1821 koralbok

Anders Dillmar, Publicly Defends his Academic Dissertation "Dödshugget mot vår nationella tonkonst": Haeffnertidens koralreform i historisk, etnohymnologisk och musikteologisk belysning in Lund, Skåne, Sweden, Saturday May 12 [?? year ??]. http://www.haeffner.se/JCFH/JCFH_Main.htm

English-language summary of Dillmar's dissertation at http://www.haeffner.se/JCFH/DillmarAvh2.pdf.

Discussion of Dillner, psalmodikon:

To improve the singing of the congregations the dean Johan Dillner did some pioneer work that later had several imitators who together secured the future of the chorale book. The problem was the general public whose insufficient ability to read music was solved by a musical notation using numerals in combination with a easily played instrument for the practise of the melodies. Dillner’s method was presented by Wallin in the Riksdag with support of several acknowledged [11] musicians, among others Hæffner. The KMA desired that all parishes in the Kingdom should be requested to use this method, since all were in need of improvement in chorale singing.

In his numerical chorale book Psalmodikon Dillner in 1830 presented not only the melodies in an easily comprehensible way, but also informed the readers of his theomusicological ideas. Here was a strong Moravian influence, even though Dillner in some respects also showed criticism towards this singing tradition. Considering the wide distribution of his edition the significance of this theomusicology should not be underestimated. Emphasized was the strong communicative ability of chorale music, founded on symbolism and style of music, thus both cognitive and psychological. However, for its effectiveness a carefully prepared pedagogy was needed. Though Dillner placed the old modal melodies in a unique position, he did not hesitate to recognize instrumental music and major/minor tonality as also being of value. The four-part singing of chorales was described as a musical religious exercise. However, his purpose was not to replace the unison singing of the congregation with a four-part choir, but to improve its purity and euphony. As a choirmaster Dillner encouraged singing in his parishes and the audible results surprised not only his neighbourhood but also the KMA.

Monday, January 05, 2015

Swedish fruit soup (fruktsoppa) recipe in Nordstjernan

"Mormor's [grandma's] fruktsoppa or something like it" Nordstjernan http://www.nordstjernan.com/news/food/3225/.

Ingredients ¾ cup dried apricots ¾ cup dried prunes 6 cups cold water 1 cinnamon stick 2 slices lemon 3 Tablespoons tapioca (quick-cooking) 1 cup sugar 2 Tablespoons seedless raisins 1 Tablespoon currants 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and cut into half inch slices

To make it, you either: (1) dump it in a saucepan and boil it; or (2) follow the recipe in the paper. Serve hot (which isn't mentioned in Nordstjernan) or cold (which is). Either way is delicious. You can also make it with fruit juice (e.g. white grape juice) as a stock.

Norwegian word is fruktsuppe. NRK has a recipe at http://www.nrk.no/mat/fruktsuppe-1.6786627 with pineapple, kiwi, passionfruit and pink grapefruit instead of prunes and raisins:

Del ananasen i biter. Skrell appelsinene i båter og skjær dem ut av hinnene, slik at det blir kun fruktkjøtt. Gjør det samme med grapefrukt. Skrell kiwi og del i biter.

Kok opp vann og sukker i en kasserolle. Smak forsiktig til med juice (du trenger ikke hele pakken!) Rør maissena ut i noen spiseskjeer vann og visp jevningen i det kokende vannet. Rør om til du har en passe tykk suppe. Legg all frukten i suppen og klem all saften fra restene av appelsinene og grapefrukten i kasserollen. La suppen småkoke til den tykner litt (blir den for tynn, kan du røre ut litt mer maissena i 3 ss vann).

[trans. by Google: Share pineapple into chunks. Peel the oranges into wedges and cut them out of your ear, so it will only fruit pulp. Do the same with grapefruit. Peel kiwi and cut into chunks.

Boil water and sugar in a saucepan. Taste carefully with juice (you do not need the whole package!) Stir corn sena out in a few tablespoons of water and whisk smooth nobody in the boiling water. Stir until you have a thick soup fit. Place all the fruit in the soup and squeeze all the juice from the remnants of the oranges and grapefruit in saucepan. Simmer until it thickens slightly (it is too thin, you can stir out some more corn senators in 3 tablespoons water).

Google doesn't have it, but maissena is cornstarch, and jevningen means thickening.

Sunday, January 04, 2015

"Guds Søn har gjort mig fri" -- in Grieg, Fire Salmer and Danske Salmebog Online

Guds Søn har gjort mig fri / (God's son has made me free) -- words by 18th-century hymn writer Hans Adolf Brorson, melody by 19th- and early 20th-century Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg ...

Koncert med Kammerkoret Al Dente 14.6.2011
Del 1 - i Vor Frue Kirke i Aalborg.
Edvard Grieg: Guds søn har gjort mig fri