St. Olaf College music organizations collection

The St. Olaf College Music Organizations collection is composed of materials and records from the St. Olaf College music organizations. The bulk of the materials and records in this collection come from: the St. Olaf Band, the St. Olaf Choir, and the St. Olaf Orchestra. The materials in this collection include correspondence, letters, memos, copies of emails, newspaper clippings, advertisements, performance programs, posters, photographs, scrapbooks, audio and video recordings, and artifacts.

St. Olaf College is well known for its award winning ensembles. Over the course of the history of the college, the ensembles at St. Olaf College have continued to grow and expand. This growth and interest in music ensembles at the college is what created the need for the creation of the St. Olaf College music organizations manager and office to help with the organization and tour planning of these ensembles.

The St. Olaf Band was the first of the three main ensembles to be founded at St. Olaf College. The St. Olaf Band was founded in 1891 and was the first musical organization at the college. Professor John Dahle was the first “director” of the band with the help of student directors  within the band. The band gave its first performance in 1893.

In 1899 Andrew Onstad took over as the first paid director of the St. Olaf Band ensemble. Onstad conducted the St. Olaf Band from 1899-1902. In 1903. F. Melius Christiansen took over the direction of the St. Olaf Band. Christiansen took the St. Olaf Band on a tour of Norway in 1906 where they performed for the King of Norway. Also, while directing the St. Olaf Band, he created the St. Olaf College music department and started the St. Olaf Choir in 1912. In 1906, the St. Olaf Orchestra was also created and became a part of the St. Olaf College music organizations.

During his time as conductor of the St. Olaf Choir, F. Melius Christiansen directed the choir to have a perfect tone, which soon became well renowned throughout the country and the world. F. Melius Christiansen is also known for having the most influential a cappella choir in the United States during the tenure of his time conducting the choir. High schools even began to use his techniques with their choirs in their music programs.

With the expansion and growth of the St. Olaf Band and the creation of the St. Olaf Choir and St. Olaf Orchestra, each ensemble began to want to travel and perform outside of St. Olaf College and Northfield, Minnesota. This prompted the college to hire someone as the manager of these ensembles. This individual would help the ensembles plan and travel to perform nationally and internationally. Paul G. Schmidt became the first manager of the St. Olaf College musical organizations in 1912.

In 1919 J. Arndt Bergh took over as the director of the St. Olaf Band and F. Melius Christiansen focused his efforts on the St. Olaf Choir. Bergh conducted the band until 1945 and in 1946 Donald Berglund took over as director of the band and also the St. Olaf Orchestra. In 1952 Bruce C. Howden became the St. Olaf Band director until 1956.

In 1943 the son of F. Melius Christiansen, Olaf C. Christiansen, took over as conductor of the St. Olaf Choir. Olaf C. Christiansen continued to be committed to keeping the tone of the choir that his father had helped attain, but he also explored new genres of music with the choir that his father had not, which include more contemporary pieces and folk hymns.

After four decades, Frederick A. Schmidt took over as the manager of the St. Olaf College music organizations after his father, P.G. Schmidt, in 1958. He helped the St. Olaf Band, St. Olaf Choir, and St. Olaf Orchestra continue to travel and perform around the world.

In 1957 Miles “Mity” Johnson became the director of the band. Johnson is the longest-tenured band conductor at St. Olaf College, directing for 37 years until 1994. He took the concert band on tour to Germany, Denmark, Norway, England, Wales, and Scotland during his tenure. 

In 1968, Kenneth Jennings became the third conductor of the St. Olaf Choir. Jennings introduced more instrumental pieces to the choir's performances, which then led to more performances with the St. Olaf Band, St. Olaf Orchestra, and other instrumental groups. In 1988 the St. Olaf Choir was one of five choirs in the world that was invited to participate in the Olympic Arts Festival in Seoul, South Korea.

In 1978, Robert Clifford “BJ” Johnson was hired by St. Olaf College to be the next manager of the music organizations. During his tenure as manager, his office was responsible for arranging domestic and international tours, facilitating the technical production of the St. Olaf Christmas Festival, and overseeing the commercial recording business (St. Olaf Records). Johnson helped arrange 30 international tours and annual domestic tours taken by the St. Olaf Band, Choir, and Orchestra. Johnson worked with Twin Cities Public Television to help continually televise the St. Olaf Christmas Festival on PBS since 1983. In 2005 and in 2013 Johnson helped create two television Christmas specials in which the St. Olaf Choir filmed at the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. 

In 1981, Steve Amundson joined the music faculty at St. Olaf College and became the conductor of the St. Olaf Orchestra. Amundson is a commissioned composer and arranger and has had the opportunity to conduct and compose for many ensembles and groups. Anton Armstrong, a graduate of St. Olaf College, took over as conductor of the choir in 1990. While continuing to keep the tone of the choir that F. Melius Christiansen had helped create when the choir first started, Armstrong added new types of music to the choir's arsenal of pieces adding in music of the Pacific Rim, Africa, and Latin America. In 1994 Dr. Timothy Mahr took over as director of the band and took the band on tours to perform in Norway, Britain, Ireland, Mexico, Japan, Spain, Italy, France, Australia, and New Zealand.


Sources consulted:

Gage, Amy.. “St. Olaf music legend and community volunteer Frederick Schmidt dies at age 92.” Accessed March 2, 2022. https://www.stolaf.edu/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=NewsDetails&id=1030&archivePage=93 
Morgan Breckenridge. “The History of Choral Music in the United States.” Last modified January 23, 2012.
https://prezi.com/hx5gevo2gxkz/the-history-of-choral-music-in-the-united-states/ 
Schmidt, Paul G. “My Years at St. Olaf.” Northfield, Minnesota: Centennial Decade Publication, 1967.
St. Olaf College. “About the St. Olaf Band.” Accessed January 17, 2022. https://wp.stolaf.edu/stolaf-band/about-the-st-olaf-band/
St. Olaf College. “About the St. Olaf Orchestra.” Accessed January 17,2022.
https://wp.stolaf.edu/stolaf-orch/about/ 
St. Olaf College. “Anton Armstrong, Conductor.” Accessed January 17, 2022.
https://wp.stolaf.edu/choir/history/conductor/ 
St. Olaf College. “In Memory of Robert “BJ” Johnson.” Accessed March 2, 2022. https://wp.stolaf.edu/music/2019/10/in-memory-of-robert-bj-johnson/
St. Olaf College. “Profile, Steven Amundson.” Accessed January 17,2022.
https://www.stolaf.edu/profile/amundson 
St. Olaf College. “St. Olaf Band, The Conductor.” Accessed January 17, 2022.
https://wp.stolaf.edu/stolaf-band/the-conductor/
St. Olaf College. “St. Olaf Choir History.” Accessed January 17, 2022.
https://wp.stolaf.edu/choir/history/ 
 

The St. Olaf College Music Organization collection is made up of correspondence, letters, memos, copies of emails, newspaper clippings, advertisements, performance programs, posters, photographs, scrapbooks, audio and video recordings, and artifacts pertaining to the St. Olaf College music organizations. This collection is divided into eight series and are titled as follows: St. Olaf College music organizations general files; St. Olaf Band: Organization records, small ensemble records, and touring materials; St. Olaf Band: Organization records, small ensemble records, and touring materials; St. Olaf Choir: Organization records, small ensemble records, and touring materials; St. Olaf Orchestra: Organization records, small ensemble records, and touring materials; St. Olaf College music organizations photographs; St. Olaf College music organizations scrapbooks and oversized materials; St. Olaf College music organizations audio and video materials; and St. Olaf College music organizations artifacts.
A large portion of this collection consists of materials and records pertaining to the three main ensembles of the St. Olaf music organizations: the St. Olaf Band, the St. Olaf Choir, and the St. Olaf Orchestra. 

Series 1 of this collection focuses on the general records of the music organizations at St. Olaf College. The materials in this series span from 1858 to 2018. The types of materials in this series include: correspondence, copies of email correspondence, photographs, genealogical research, memorabilia, newspaper clippings, faculty records, music organization records, performance programs, meeting minutes, pamphlets, sheet music, and expense reports. 

Series 2 of this collection focuses on the St. Olaf Band, the tours and performances of the St. Olaf Band, and the smaller band ensembles at St. Olaf College. The materials in this series span from 1890 to 2016. The types of materials in this series include: correspondence, copies of email correspondence, photographs, memorabilia, newspaper clippings, faculty records, music organization records, performance programs, meeting minutes, pamphlets, scrapbook clippings, bulletins, sheet music, and expense reports. 

Series 3 of this collection focuses on the St. Olaf Choir, the tours and performances of the St. Olaf Choir, and the smaller choral ensembles at St. Olaf College. The materials in this series span from 1887 to 2017. The types of materials in this series include: correspondence, copies of email correspondence, photographs, memorabilia, newspaper clippings, faculty records, music organization records, performance programs, meeting minutes, pamphlets, scrapbook clippings, bulletins, sheet music, and expense reports. 

Series 4 of this collection focuses on the St. Olaf Orchestra, the tours and performances of the St. Olaf Orchestra, and the smaller orchestral ensembles at St. Olaf College. The materials in this series span from 1889-2016. The types of materials in this series include: correspondence, copies of email correspondence, photographs, memorabilia, newspaper clippings, faculty records, music organization records, performance programs, meeting minutes, pamphlets, scrapbook clippings, bulletins, sheet music, and expense reports. 

Series 5 of this collection contains the photographs of the St. Olaf College music organizations. The photographs in this series span from 1891-2017 and include photographs of: the St. Olaf Band, the St. Olaf Choir, the St. Olaf Orchestra, small musical ensembles at St. Olaf College, and tour photographs from the United States and international tours.

Series 6 of this collection contains the scrapbooks and oversized materials from the St. Olaf College music organizations. The scrapbooks in this series span from 1858-1999 and include scrapbooks made and kept by students and music organizations at St. Olaf College. There are scrapbooks with materials from the St. Olaf Band, the St. Olaf Choir and tours from the various music organizations.

Series 7 of this collection contains the audio and video materials from the St. Olaf College music organizations. The audio and video materials within this series span from 1920-2017. Types of audio and video materials in this series include and are organized by: phonograph records, LP records, reel-to-reel audio tapes, cassette tapes, DAT tapes, CDs, and DVDs.

Series 8 of this collection contains the artifacts from the St. Olaf College music organizations. Many of these artifacts are from or were given as gifts on the various tours the St. Olaf Band, St. Olaf Choir, and St. Olaf Orchestra have taken since the creation of these ensembles. Artifacts in this series include: banners, plaques, candle holders, vases, trophies, and pins.