Fisk Jubilee Singers: the original

              FISK JUBILEE SINGERS


THE ORIGINAL Organized Oct. 6th, 1871


Figure




UNDER EXCLUSIVE CONTROL OF
THE CENTRAL LYCEUM BUREAU,



Management:
H. H. RICH, Rochester, N.Y.S. B. HERSHEY, Cleveland, O.
FRED. PELHAM, Western Department, Chicago, Ill.
A. E. PALMER, So. Western Department, Kansas City, Mo.



Representatives:
New York,K. M. WHITE, Rochester, N.Y.
New England,F. W. REW, Springfield, Mass.
Penna., Dell, N.J., Maryland and Virginia,
J. S. ARNOLD, Harrisburg, Pa.
Eastern Ohio and West Virginia,
C. M. PARKER, Cleveland, O.
Western Ohio and Indiana,
G. W. HENNEBERGER, Indianapolis, Ind.
Michigan,CHAS. T. MAINES, Flint, Mich.
Ontario, Canada,Address ROCHESTER OFFICE.




 FISK JUBILEE SINGERS


A Few Press Notices
Feb. 1st, 1900.
The FISK JUBILEE SINGERS presented a superb concert last evening, to a large and enraptured audience.  The twelve programme numbers were increased to nearly double under the glows of the encores.  The company was by far the best that has ever appeared here. 
--Carleton Place, Ont. Citizen.

Feb. 10th, 1900.
The cold last night was sufficient to test the interest of the citizens in public gatherings, hence the fact that Selkirk Hall was well filled was a compliment to the FISK JUBILEE SINGERS.  Not only by their presence, but by lively demonstrations, did the audience give expression to their appreciation.
--Manitoba Free Press, Winnipeg.

Feb. 12th, 1900.
The concert given by the FISK JUBILEE SINGERS on Friday night, in the Selkirk Hall, was very largely attended, and the sweet solo and ensemble singing of this famous troupe was greatly enjoyed by all present.  The opening numbers afforded the singers ample opportunity for an exhibition of that subtle blending of voices which has won for them their present enviable reputation.
--Morning Telegram, Winnepeg.

Jan. 27th, 1900.
The concert given last night in the West End Methodist church by the FISK JUBILEE SINGERS was a very successful and enjoyable one.  The programme, as arranged and rendered by the singers, was excellent, and well did they sustain their renown as ranking among the most pleasing and entertaining of singers.  Each and every piece seemed more attractive than the preceding one, and many were the encores which were responded to.
--Montreal Daily Star.


INTRODUCTION And History


When its age is considered, the original character of the work it was called to do, and the wonderful way in which its mission was accomplished, the FISK JUBILEE SINGERS may claim to be unique among the concert companies of America.  It was organized on the sixth of October, 1871, at Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn., and named for that leader of the temperance hosts and friend of the slave, Gen. Clinton B. Fisk, who at the close of the civil war established the colored school which in due time blossomed into the far-famed University.  Every year the sixth of October is celebrated at the University as Jubilee Day.

	
The company, therefore, is now thirty years old--probably the oldest concert organization in the United States.  For the first seven years of its existence all its earnings went to the endowment of Fisk University, the amount in money raised through the concerts, and in books and apparatus presented through the company, amounting to about $200,000.  Up to that time it had worked under direction of the American Missionary Association, but its mission (which was to try to raise $20,000) having been gloriously exceeded, the Association looked no further into the future, but relinquished its management, and the company was virtually disbanded.  The singers, all of them young and inexperienced when they started out, had now to face the necessity of earning their own living.  They were the less fitted for this because they had sacrificed their own opportunities for maturer study at Fisk in order to prosecute this new enterprise for raising money for the institution, and because during all the years they had been traveling they had been carried about like children, all their wants having been provided for without care or anxiety on their part.  Having made a great reputation, not only in American but in Great Britain, and in some parts of the continent of Europe, nothing could be more natural than that their organization should be continued as a means of livelihood for the individual for the individual members, and this it has been ever since.

	
It might be supposed that after such distinguished service, Fisk University and the American Missionary Association would always feel a kindly interest in the singers, and wish them God speed, but this was not the case.  From the first, the attitude of both Fisk and the A.M.A. was hostile to the continuance of the company.  They seemed to think that a record so unique should have no sequel, and that the name, FISK JUBILEE SINGERS, should lapse, even though they who made it lustrous should starve.  In this situation General Fisk was appealed to, and his great heart responded with an endorsement so hearty that the absence of approval where it had been most looked for was less keenly felt.  So the company went on, its title derived by express permission from the self-same source as that of the University itself--the distinguished Christian soldier of the Union army.  For years after the change it was customary to announce it at all concerts, but this was finally discontinued, under the belief that the fact was universally known.  However, the statement that the company had no connection with Fisk University has appeared on all their circulars.

	
At intervals of late years Fisk University has sought to recover what it never should have lost by sending out troupes of fresh students under the old name to give concerts, to take part in church services, and to solicit contributions, a praiseworthy object which should receive liberal support; but the regular concert goer, who pays for his ticket, demands money’s worth in music, and this he knows he will get at the concerts of the original company.

	
Of course, during these thirty years changes in the personnel of the company have been many.  All the men save one remained in Europe after their first trip abroad in 1873, being strongly attracted to counties where prejudice against color was unknown.  The one exception--Mr. Holmes--returned an invalid, and died soon afterward.  Others have died since that time, some voices have worn out, and many of the women have married and given up singing to care for families; but always enough of the old stock remained to lift the new members up to the company’s high standard of work.

	
Of the original members only one is singing to-day--Maggie Porter, not Mrs. Cole.  Perhaps to her and to Jennie Jackson, more than to any other two members, belongs the credit of the fame achieved by the company in its early years.  Mrs. Cole is still the leading soprano and musical directress.  She always has taken the greatest possible care of her voice and of herself, and at no time in her life has she sung better than now.  Indeed, the remarkable preservation of her voice, with all its beautiful qualities absolutely unimpaired, is one of the marvels of the company’s career.  In her are embodied all its early traditions, its lofty aims, the wonderful incidents of its history, and--herself a slave--a personal knowledge of the system of bondage out of which the company and its music grew.  She drills the voices, and inspires the singers with the tune motif of the song.

	
Eight times since its organization, the company has crossed the Atlantic, not to mention ocean trips to Bermuda, to Newfoundland, and to the West Indies.  On their last extended trip