A Male Voice Choir (de:Männerchor) or Men's Chorus, is a choir consisting of men who sing with either a tenor or bass voice, and whose voices are arranged into high and low tenors (1st and 2nd tenor), and high and low basses (1st and 2nd bass) - and shortened to the letters "TTBB". The term can also refer to a piece of music which is performed by such a choir.
Male voice choirs were an innovation of the 19th century, which arose in the course of the Enlightenment or Age of Reason. The Age of Enlightenment or The Enlightenment is a term used to describe a phase in Western philosophy and cultural life centered upon the eighteenth century Traditional values, with an increasingly patriotic stance and coupled with the social pleasures of a circle of friends stood at the centre of the movement. Older folk songs found new popularity in the first half of the 19th century (Romantic Age). Romanticism is a complex artistic literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the A capella four-voice male voice choirs replaced the previous choral forms of a mix of male, female and children's voices. National musical education was supposed to be promoted along with the political and social Enlightenment. Carl Friedrich Zelter (1758–1832) and above all Friedrich Silcher (1789–1860) were instrumental in influencing the development of a choral life, where choirs took root with a constitution, committee and - in the full flush of enthusiasm - showed all the "bells and whistles" of an organisation. Carl Friedrich Zelter ( 11 December 1758 &ndash 15 May 1832)was a German composer conductor and teacher of music Phillipp Friedrich Silcher ( June 27, 1789 in Schnait (today part of Weinstadt)- August 26, 1860 in Tübingen) was a In Switzerland, Hans Georg Nägeli continued this movement. Hans Georg Nägeli (born Wetzikon, Switzerland, May 26, 1773 - Zurich, December 26, 1836) was a composer and
The choirs often gave themselves evocative names. If an enthusiast had spent a few days at the "golden Rhine", he would feel called on to found a choir on the River Weser with a name such as "Lorelei" or "Stolzenfels". Hoarse male voices called themselves "Harmony" or named their organisation "Concordia", or "The Warbling Nightingale". Such vocal enthusiasm was often bound with patriotism and love of nature. The life of such a club and the joy of singing in harmony was supposed to be especially helpful in diverting attention from a hard day's work. The musical content, after the initially more political forays, was accordingly: homeland, German forests, songs about the fruit of the grape, and of course - love. Areas which overflow with tourists today were once serenaded as quiet, romantic spots, in songs such as : ("In der Drosselgass“), "Zu Rüdesheim" and "Vater Rhein". Rüdesheim is a town in the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis, in Hesse, Germany. In such songs, one would roam as a musician ("Spielmann") or hunter ("Jäger") through the country, and one felt oneself to be as free as a gypsy. A gleeman was an itinerant performer in the Middle Ages. Gleemen were distinguished from other kinds of performers by their ability to Juggle, which was sometimes
After the Second World War, the survivors found themselves back in their choirs, at first with new members, but the more the dreams of travel and romantic interludes could be actually realised with increasing wealth, the less the members had to seek the experiences about which they sang in thoughts alone. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including Thus began a gradual decline as the members of the great choirs aged and died and no new members replaced them. Despite this decline, there were still about 9641 male voice choirs in Germany around the year 2002 - about 15. 9% of all choral forms.