History of our Chorus - Page 10

The days were pleasant. On the terrace of the Sporthotel in Garmisch, there were leisurely meals, often accompanied by song. As luck would have it, it was exceptionally good weather when the Rheinische took the cable car to the Zugspitze. Masterfully recorded on video, it was an impressive sight when a few, all tenors undeniably reaching new heights, climbed up to the very peak. There, gathered around the cross, they sang "Wenn wir erklimmen, schwindelnde Höhen" (When we climb dizzying heights). Then on that perfect day, high atop the Alps, came the perfect song: "So ein Tag, so wunderschön wie heute."

The evenings were fun, too. Attending a play a the Bauerntheater (Peasant Theater) in Garmisch, the group had some language problems - event those who thought they knew Deutsch. The comedy was in Bayrisch (Bavarian Dialect) but there were plenty of laughs. Another night, clad in medieval garb supplied at a cellar restaurant in the town of Hall in Austrian Tyrol, the RSB had a blast as Dirigent Leo Alfassy, brilliantly at home on the organ, provided the entertainment. In Partenkirchen the MGV Hochlandchor hosted a fine evening during which the RSB Präsident Werner Heinrich and Sekretär Edel Hoeher were honored. At the farewell party in Garmisch, to everyone's surprise, Magda and Werner Heinrich, Martha & Hans Matz, appeared in stunning Hawaiian outfits and sang "Tiny Bubbles".

On the 1993 trip, the chorus traveled to Northern Germany, staying in the picturesque city of Celle. Form there, excursions were made to Lübeck, and then, for the first time through what had been known as East Germany, to Wismar and Schwerin. Sangesbruder Caspar Scheiper, knowledgeable and well-prepared, assisted Edel Hoeher as an ideal tour guide. Everyone enjoyed sighseeing in the region north of Hamburg known as Das alte Land. In Buxtehude, Werner Wilken's hometown, there was singing with the MGV Treue and in Nordenham, where Paul Schaefer comes from, there was an excellent joint concert at the Weserterassen with his former club, the Atenser Liedertafel. In the cellar of the Celler Rathaus, the group dined on regional specialty, Heidchnucke (heath mutton), compliments of Bierfuchs Ewald Unkrich. Auf der Lüneburger Heide in dem wunderschönen Land the club visited a famous bird sanctuary, the Vogelpark Walsrode. On the last day, baritone Horst Trebing (securing his eventual admittance into Heaven, if
not immediate sainthood) arranged a tour of the Kropf Brewery in Kassel. All then had a farewell dinner at the Hotel Rodetal, owned by a cousin of Sangesbruder Herbert Oetzel.

Here At Home

Building bridges between the "old country" and the United States, the RSB has been host
to a number of German organizations. At least a few over the past twenty-five years bear mention. The well known Mainzer Hofsänger were here in 1967 and 1970; the RSB was