Exhibit: “‘Sängerfeste’ — A German American Tradition”

Visit the Max Kade Institute Library for an exhibit on the history of German American singing societies and their festivals, the Sängerfests.

April 6 – June 30, 2023

Hours vary! Please contact the Max Kade Institute before your visit.

In the mid-nineteenth century, Gesangvereins, choirs that sang in German, became cornerstones of German American communities. Within a few years, many of these singing societies established regional and multi-state networks, the so-called Sängerbunds which organized a wide variety of singing festivals or Sängerfests. Ranging from regional gatherings of a few small choirs to mass events with thousands of singers, the Sängerfests became symbols of German American ethnic identity and, by the turn of the 20th century, especially for the host cities, visible (and audible) examples of a German American cultural and economic presence. 

This exhibit displays and interprets materials from the collections of the Max Kade Institute and Mills Music Library at the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a focus on Sängerfests in Wisconsin and the Midwest. 

For more information contact MKI Librarian Kevin Kurdylo at mki@libraries.wisc.edu.