Founded in 1861, the Yale Glee Club is the third oldest collegiate chorus in the country. The group sets standards for choral repertory—it helped introduce spirituals, folk songs and classical music to the glee canon—and has toured all over the world. Noted alumni include Vincent Price, William Sloane Coffin, Prescott Bush, Charles Ives and Cole Porter, whose “Bull Dog” remains one of Yale’s favorite fight songs.
Pentagram designed “Louder Yet the Chorus Raise!,” an illustrated history published to commemorate the landmark anniversary. Written and researched by Glee Club alumnus Timothy J. DeWer (Yale ’92), the book is lavishly produced, and the designers faced the challenge of weaving together over 200 images of Glee Club ephemera, 32 personal recollections, and sheet music for 16 favorite Yale songs, from “Gaudeamus igitur,” the first entry in the first Yale songbook (1853), to “Raise Your Voices Here,” a new song composed for the anniversary by current Yale Glee Club director Jeffrey Douma. A four-part appendix lists the club’s discography, tours, songbook and members from 1861 to 2011, and the book includes 2 CDs of performances from throughout the group’s history.
